| OCR Text |
Show v NOW IT IS SOLOMON NELSON. City License Inspector Ilnlvorscn claims to have disposed of his Interest in tho slot machine business to Solomon Solo-mon Nelson, who is interested In another an-other class of machines. It Is understood under-stood that Halverson did this to save his official scalp; that the city authorities au-thorities were talking of removing him If ho did not. Well, that Is a step In tho right direction. Tho next one to take is the abolishment of Solomon Nelson, unless thnt worthy comes to time and makes good. If tho city Is going to engage in wholesale gambling gam-bling by mnchinery and Is to profit by it, why, let us sell tho prlvllogo to the highest bidder. Solomon Nelson Is making all kinds of money off slot machines. Tho saloon men and tho city are getting tho short end of It. A has Solomon Nelson unless ho pays tho price. What a hot situation it is. isn't It? a great city like this jonlng hands with a man who runs slot machines where tho unwary ono drops his nickels. nick-els. Petty gambling permitted becauso tho city needs tho money. They call Solomon Nelson's machines "trade machines" becauso when a man wins he can take his choice; a drink of boozo or a cigar. They aro no moro trade machines than a faro bank Is a trade machine. And tho fellow who plays Is always a loser. Ho cannot play and win, because In order to lose all ho has to do is to stick to It. The machines win a great deal moro than they lose; if they did not Solomon Nelson would go hunting nround for a now job. Solomon Nelson's now machines are a cinch. Tlioy give a follow no chance at all. Tho man who bucks one of them might as well throw bis money away nnd go homo. Ho may win a drink or two while playing a dollar, but that Is all. Solomon Nelson gets tho money. What sort of a condition is this that prevails anyway? Is this city going cahoots with every gambling device out? If so why not liavo a fair field and no favors? Hero is a letter written writ-ten by a slot machine man to Truth which is a better offer than any mado: "Editor Truth: If tho city will give mo a chance to put in slot machines to tho exclusion of others as Is tho caso at present, I will agree to turn in one-half the profits to the treasury and will post a bond to guaranteo the salary of the official sent around with mo every day to take in tho rakeoff. I figure that In a year I can clean up $25,000 nnd the city an equal amount. Is not this a good thing?" There Is a chance for the city to do some business; if It insists on letting Solomon Nelson nnd others do business busi-ness why not open up and give every ono a chance? o |
