Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-05-09
THE TOY INDUSTRY.
Making Children's Playthings in
Germany and France.

According to a pamphlet recently
published at Basic on Christmas toys
and their production, they may be di-
vided into two main classes-those of
German and those of French manufac-
ture. The German are noted for the
extreme variety of their forms, due to
the fact that the original forms have
been altered year by year until long
series Of varieties have been produced.
They deal mainly with ordinary every
day life, house and garden, kitchen and
parlor, stable and coach house, village
and town. The number of toys relating
to these is legion, and wcll-eqripped
toy warehouse would have 1900 to
Is, 600 varieties. They are made mainly
of wood and papier- mache, more rarely
of lead and tin. Cheapness in price is
invariable.
The French toys arc wholly different,
Here all is elegance, ingenuity, taste,
fashion, and refinement. The famed
taste of the French artisan is exhibited
here in the highest degree. Workmen
and manufacturers are always on the
lookout for new ideas, and it is amazing
what clever heads can evolve in the way
OF new TOYS. All the machinery OF real
industries is initiated; the advances of
science are applied, sometimes in gro,
tesque form. Every material is used
wood, iron, lead, copper, clay, leather.
skins, feathers, paper, straw, reeds,
India rubber, and much else. III an
article is a success, in a short time it
makes the round Of the habitable globe.
Complicated toys, such rs animals with
mechanical movements, locomotives,
ETC., are produced largely in America;
but the American toys do not exhibit
the same taste as the French. In ele-
gance and refinement French toys have
no competitors. The dolls are yeritable
works of art. Like the Partisan dress,
the Partisan toys change rapidly, and
sometimes politics exercises an iniiu-
ence ON them.
The history of the toy industry in
Germany reaches back to the Middle
Ages. In the thirteenth century Nurem-
berg TOYS were celebrated, and to tins
day it is the centre Of the German pro-
duction. Berlin and Stuttgart also man
ufacture large quantities, and, in addi-
ton, in the thickly-wooded districts,
where the people are poor and tho agri-
culture bad, toy-making has become a
household industry. Indeed, the indus
try all over Germany is essentially do
nestle one, in which every member OF
the family takes part, and it is carried
on side by side with the work of the
house and the field. The large facto-
ries arc mainly for special articles, such
as transfer pictures, picture books, met
al soldiers, and the like. In France the
industry is comparatively modern and is
concentrated in Paris, where recently
8, 400 persons were engaged in it, 2, 400
being women. For the most part they
work independently and sell their pro-
auctions to wholesale houses. There
are also factories of special articles, such
as toy balloons, magic lanterns, dolls
heads, articles for dolls kitchens, and
the like. In Paris special factories for
making childrens' watches employ hun
dreds Of hands, and 30,000,00O watches
are annually produced; in other words,
Paris provides every year toy watch
for every child between five and ten IN
France, Germany, Russia, Great Brl-
tain, Italy and Austria. The writer sums
up by saying that German toys appeal
to children. while the French interest
the intelligence Of grown persons
ondon Times.