Evening star., 1934-12-07
Continued From First Page.)

udlly tuSIUllltlo III lIlC INCW IOlh Icl -
ritory; a Boston observer reports that
literally the whole working popula-
ton plays the game. in one form or
another In Cleveland, more than
two thousands persons engage in the
racket.
Relief Workers Worried.
An ironical slant to a sometimes
amusing but usually sinister story Is
the fact that the Government, through
poor relief is assisting thousands CT
citizens who regularly divert part of
their relief money from bread, rent
and shoes into the pockets Of the num-
bers statesmen. In most cities this is
constant source of worry to social
service workers.
Recalling that annual figure of
$500 100000. you may observe that it
is lot of money for any business. 1t
is. Any corporation would be glad to
be able to show such totals. and would
welcome business which could be so
arranged that profits would net 25
per cent of gross income Unfor-
tunately for the legitimate business
man or corporation wrestling with red
and black ink, such favorable bal
anceS do not come easily or often
Let us take the totals on business
done by two corporations. well man.
aged and comparable to the numbers
game in that they. too. deal mostly
with small units Moody's Index gives
these 1888 figures:
Go Mot
wooworth S35n !1S? 1s'eS =" Ne5 i"coi,e Ing
Sears Roebuck 3S9."S9 541 II 24g "95
But the Index does not list the fol-
lowing figures, which are also very
important:
Gross Sales. Net Income
Numbers ....... $500 OO0. 900 $50 600 900
The net profit, of course. is the
amount remaining after deduction of
police protection costs. the cost of
murders and the expense of retaining
legal counsel.
Are Police Estimates.
Perhaps the figures are too high. or
are just an imaginative guess? No.
the estimates come from police and
the numbers statesmen themselves
both are likely to minimize the amount
of business done. the police desiring
to keep it in the class of inconse-
uuential. petty larceny crime; the
gangsters preferring to have the scope
Of their operations remain secret.
About S140,OOO,000 is estimated as
the annual amount wagered on num-
berS in five cities along the Atlantic
sea board-New York. Boston. Phila-
dclphia. Baltimore and Washington
and their immediate trading areas,
This does not include the minor in
dustrial cities of the East. or the big
cities of the Middle West, the South
and the Pacific Coast. AS you can
see. the Million day figure IS, in
reality, probably too low. And low.
too. is the estimate on the margin os
profit. considering the various meth
odS which the numbers ring uses to
fleece its ten million customers-and
its own SubordinateS.
The danger in the situation lies in
what United States Attorney General
Homer S. Cummings calls the setting
up of a government within a govern
ment." That. he says. we cannot con-
tinue to tolerate When repeal came,
many citizens thought that it would
it didn't, and hasn't.
When repeal cut down their rev.
enues, the gangsters turned to the
numbers game, then minor industry
and took it over. They ceased to be
known as gangsterS, and became
"mobsters' They call their organ
izations ''mobs." The term gangsters
is out Of date.
Gunners Often Needed.
The numbers racket is an ideal set
up for this gentry. The gunmen come
in handy for use in plotting out
rivals: the lawyers find that their
previous connections are useful lit IS
simply matter of outwitting differ
ent set of laWS): and the privates in
the ranks, the fellows who formerly
sold quarts of gin, now run around
writing out numbers slips.
The analogy of big business is not
bad one to use in considering the
present makeup of the numbers
racket. What we may term the
Dutch Schultz Holding Corp which
has gotten its orders from Dutch
Schultz-New York gangster under
indictment for income tax violation,
who surrendered for trial recently
may be regarded as the parent body.
A system of mobs gives it an entry
into almost any city it decides to in
wade. There is a local corpora
ton" of course in each town, the
heads of which serve on the inter-
locking directorate All is arranged
with keen eye toward the profits, and
is run in buSiness-like fashion.
The mobs need cash revenue. In
large amounts, each week. Their polit-
ical fences must be kept in good
state of repair there are favorS to
be done for magistrates and judges,
and these require cash; and police
protection is expensive. Some people
believe that sporadic hold-upS and
kidnapings keep the gang treasures
replenished, but neither hold-up nor
kidnapping is a drop in the bucket.
and many of the abductlonS have
been strategic maneuvers for control
of the numbers racket.
Something New for Gangs.
The gangs wanted something new,
and they found it. They have popu-
larized numbers as efficiently as an
advertiser does in introducing a new
brand of soap. They opened one mar
ket after another. Their sales crews,
or numbers writer's, are visited by the
district manager, or collector, who
takes their receipts and turns them
over to the branch manager, or
bank" Thus taking tip on organ
ization from big business, the racket
gained favor with amazing speed, in
dozens of cities. In every industrial
district you can bet on the numbers.
at almost every other store. news stand
or barber shop; or your factory fore
man or Office clerk will solicit your
bets. The numbers writers get COM
missions of around 20 per cent on
their sales, usually: the district man
ager. or collector, 5 per cent.
Let us assume that you want to