The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-05-30
THE CARDS WE PLAY WITH
An Account of the Present Mode
of Manufacture.
An Expert Tells Where and How
. the "Pasteboards' are Put To-
Gether in Their Present
Style.
New York World.

this city was asked where the most of
the cards were made and what be-
comes of them. He said: Il have
often wondered when thinking of the
vast number Of packs of cards manu-
featured in all parts of the world,
what became of them all, just as an
old woman was at a loss to know
what became of all the pins. Russia
mas population, | believe, of about
$4,000, 900, and they make the best
piaying-cards in st. Petersburg of any
place in Europe. Besides, the au-
thorized mandatory there by the
government is the only one in that
vast empire. 1t is a government in
stitution just the same as the mint of
the United States Treasury is gov
eminent institution here. 1t is licens.
ed by the government, protected by
the government and the net profits 60
TO the support Of a founding asylum.
The same system prevails in Mexico.
In France and Germany the manu-
facturers are licensed, but the bust
ness is not so much of monopoly
there as it is in Russia"
How is it in this country in this
respsct?"
The only restriction that exists in
this country is the imposition of a rev.
enue tax of five cents per pack, and
this tax has to be paid Oh all grades of
cards regardless of their value"
when and where and by whom
were cards invented"
1.-The idea, which has finally been
developed into the playing cards of the
present day, as We know them
HERO IN THIS COUNTRY
is supposed to have originated in Hin
doostan, and the seeds which have
produced such an enormous crop in
in Europe and America were un.
doubtedly sown by the gypsies who
migrated from that far Eastern cline
about the beginning of the fourteenth
century. 1t is pretty generally es-
tablished that they found their way to
Spain and Italy first, then to France
and Germany and finally into Eng
land in which latter country they
probably arrived some time in the first
halt of the fifteenth century. 1t is
claimed, however, that cards were
known in China at least as early as the
FIRST quarter of the twelfth century,
The cards introduced by the gypsies,
however, were very different from
those in use now in this country, and
we're used by them for the purpose of
fortune telling and not for playing
games of amusement or chance. 1t is
to the Spaniards We are indebted for
the invention Of gambling, while to
the French belongs the credit Of
transforming the original 'tarots,' a
pack of which consists of seventy
eight cards. into the present more
comprehensive compass of four suits
and fifty-two cards."
when was the manufacture of
playing cards introduced into this
country"
That is a question l can hardly an
swer. All the data | have given thus
FAR l have CLEANED from history of
playing cards published in England.
The subject has never been extensive
ly gone into by any one ambitious Of
enIightening the world SO far as this
country is concerned. Cards have no
doubt existed in this country for more
than a century. The first reputable
manufacturer of playing cards l have
any knowledge of in America was
Thomas Crehor, of Boston, and he was
burnt out in 1874
A MAN NAMED CALVIN bartlett
carried on the business in this city
from 1885 to 1910, and Frenchman
named Zanzade was also here from
1910 to 1874. But the best goods at
that time were manufactured in Bos-
ten by Crehor."
"How long have you been in the
business ?"
"Thirty-four years. And there has
been great change in it during that
time. In France and Spain there has
been no improvement in the methods
Of manufacturing cards for the last
hundred years. They use the same
old hand-presses, printing the sheets
IN black and putting in the colors with
The presses, too, are small,
because large sheets cannot be printed
on hand-press, and consequently it
requires several impressions to COM
plete pack. use steam presses,
print a whole pack at one impression,
and, what is more. print all the colors
at once"
''De the style ever CHANGE"
mo, not so far as the figures are
Ia,