The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-14
WHERE TOYS COME FROM
Most Of Them the Product Of
Cheap German Labor.
why the United States Can Not Mako the
Cheaper Kinds Of ofPiaythings-Ai About
Dolls, Toy Locomotives. Ten-cent
watches and Othor Tribes.

watches and Othor Tribes.
"of the dolls sold in America" said q
prominent wholesale dealer In toys TO q
New York Times man, "nine-tenths come
from Germany. OF these large proper
tion are made in one little place, Some
berg, a town OF about ten thousand inhabit-
ants In Thuringen. Almost the entire In
dustry of this place 10 confined 70 the man
ufacture Of dolls The inhabitants are very
poor people and are brought up TO doll-mak-
ing.
"Before II Is completed doll passes
through many hands. The heads, hands
and feet are made by one person, the body
by another, the hair is fixed on by another,
and the face Is painted by two other diher-
ent people, one doing the rough work and
the second the finishing touches. The cloth
ing is made by another person and the
dresses are put on by still another. AL
this labor Is done at such starvation prices
that Americans can not compete in the man
ufacture, although the duty for importation
is thirty-fvc per cent.
ITO this town OF Sonneberg there come
every year large number OF buyers from
all over the world. go there myself and
never fail 10 meet al least a score Of Ameri-
cans engaged in the same business. There
are at least 800 different kinds Of dolls, and
the variety Is remarkable. The French In
vent MANY Of the most attractive, but the
Germans copv them so cheaply that the
worlds buyers 90 10 the latter for their
stock. For the manufacture Of fine dress
l - - -
odds. It's only in the cheaper goods that
the Germans outspeed them. England fur.
uishes very few dolls, and I can now recall
nnly one kind that is distinctly English-the
EngiIsh rag doll. which Is made wholly Of
raos. even In the face. the ewes being seved
mn. Tbere are French walking dolls, smok
ing men and other automatic figures, bui
these do not really belong 10 the family oi
dolls. They are mechanical figures, too In
tricate in their mechanism TO be classed az
mere dolls. OF the rubber dolls fully ono
half are made In America, where any thing
that is machine made prospers 10 the ex
.lusion of imported stuffs.
"The price OF dolls ranges from cent Il
t5O. but the most popular are those that sci
for 25 cents, 80 cents and 81, although
there has been great run recently on
cent and 1O-cent dolls.
aAa with dolls so Il il with other toys
The most of them come from GERMANY
vbere thew are made very cheaply. Thi,
.ame town NJ sonnebero furnishes many O.
them. bnt more come from Nuremberg ant
mall towns IN its vicinity. IL is In this dis
Irict that magnetic toys. swords. guns
trumnets. horns. wooliy sheep. jumping
iaclIs monkeys on sticks, lacks in the bo,
and ingenious mechanical toys are made
The carved wooden toys come principally
from the Bayarian highlands, but they are
brought TO Nuremberg TO be sold. The
cheaper grades of wooden toys are made IL
poorer Saxony and comprise cheap arks anC
sets of furniture.
.Uow cbeanlv tbev make these things yo,
can indge from this instance. Here Is ,
TOW ~ furniture consisting O of three chairs
n hnrean. a table a sofa and a mirror. care
fnJIv done nm IN a substan,ial pasteboard
box Now. after having paid s5 per cent
dn,v and having allowed N ner cent. 10,
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