The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-01-15

Astoria l.. OF soon will BE-. wide
open town.
II 1. not In accordance with the pro-
gram Of the Boss" Of course. but the
agencies that contributed 10 the recent
sncces Of the Democratic party in this
city. are tired Of waiting for their re.
compense and are slowly but surely a..
seriing themselves by deliberately tax.
Ing the privileges for which they bar.
tered their support. and indulging
themselves. willy nilly, In those lines
and departures that we're TO b..
The boss l. powerless to prevent the
encroachment. Il seems. and June l.
too far away and too full OF uncer'
tainties. TO satisfy the sports that gave
much and we're promised much There
/. no one TO blame them. either. A bar
gain !. bargain, whoever makes t.,
and IT, terms Must be lived up to and
not prescribed until an expedient mo.
ment -hall roll round.
The dance hall. the bank games and
the slot machines are all In evidences
and Il viii not b. long before all will
be In open swing again. The true and
natural outcome Of the late November
deal.
Will the whole thing is apt and con.
secutiye and in strict alignment with
the forecast made by this paper during
the city campaign.
The worst evil Of the lot Is the slot
machine. A man does have some sort
of show al a banking game once In
while; he may get suit Of clothes OF
a months rent OF trip TO the metropo'
IL or elsewhere, upon the odd chance
tina, falls his way frequently in game
at the table; but the slot machine has
nothing to offer him but a measeiy and
infrequent winning no matter how
much he bucks them. There are. OF
course. slot machines and slot machines; ;
some OF them are mot plugged. and
some of them are; in fact. the most OF
them are. Aud plugged slot machine
is absolutely invulnerable; the little
sums that are permitted to drop into
the players hands at remote intervals
are 40 few and 80 meagre. that the
owners and the house that furnishes
them for use. take about % per cent
Of the money that goes into them. o
this heavy ratio the agent in Astoria
gets a. per cent and the Kalamazoo
plant takes the other IS and the cheer
ful idiot in Astoria who plays them
ha. to be satisfied with his niggardly
little 8 per.
They are the openest and simplest
aud most allnring route for the money
Of the beardless and gum'chewing
sport. Of city, that were ever devised,
Astoria has had her experiences with
this open evil; she has her record
slowed away for reference; aud il Is
no, unlikely the history will be re-
peated. One man in this city cleaned
up $4,000 year while they were in
opcration here before. and that with
the plant money that went back to
Michigan will easily account for
of S20OOOO or more, of good
money that belonged to honest accounts
to home maintenance, and in number
Of cases, to trusting employers, whose
forbcarance was sorcly and often tried
under the regime Of the slot machines
but, all this is part and parcel OF the
doctrine Of the open town, and the
open town was the price agreed upon
aud the price vii be paid in full for
the sporting fraternity, whatever else
may be said Of II, keeps its word in
bargain, and II exacts a square deal.
from those with whom Il deals, and II
win get Il, or know the reason why.