The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-12-25

Ior the STATISTICS OF the trade at the pres
ent day the custom house returns show
the exports to have risen to SO, 600. 600.
while the imports are only $1,OOO,OOO In
these returns, however, are included Ger.
tain fancy goods which are not precisely
toys.
III toy manufacturers each have their
specialties, and generally deal only in that
speciality. Arms, armor and military
equipments for children were manufac-
tured by %forty-one houses in 1878. The
workmen earn from five to seven francs a
day, and the women from two to three
francs. This branch of the industry has
increased greatly since the war of 1901.
and the French have now beaten all their
competitors, both in the %cheapness and ex-
ceilence of their wares, although for a long
time they were closely pressed and even
beaten by the manufacturers of Nurem-
berg and Belgium, particularly in the ar.
tlcle of tin soldiers. These tin soldiers are
made in the Marais quarter, where over
o'ooo,ooo are turned out each year, that is
TO say, as manyas all the European armies
united. One manufacturer alone at Belle
vile employs POO men and women. who
make nothing but tin soldiers.
Ten years ago nearly all the high priced
doll babies used to come from Germany
They were stiff in form and hideons in
color. One day a Partisan lady had the
idea of dressing one of these miniature ba-
bles with all the elegance she bestowed
upon her W person. Since that time the
tuil dressed Partisan doll baby has crowded
All the lobster red Gretchens out of the
market. The Germans themselves are now
oollged to buy their stock of porcelain
heads from the ceramic establishments at
Montreuil and St. Maurice, where tai
ented designers and skillful modelers are
constantly employed. Some of the most
celebrated sculptors do not disdain to
model heads for the leading firms. Paris
is still a center for cheap dolls, made BY
workwomen who earn only twenty or thir-
ty cents q day.
or metal toys-watches, kitchen utensils
and similar objects-there were seventy
nine manufacturers in 1878. The nav of
the men is six to eight francs a day and of
the women two to three francs. More than
LOO workmen are employed in this de.
partment of the industry, which was for
merly the monopoly of Germany. The
manufacture of these objects in France be-
gan about 1910. In 1867 the trade in these
articles reached 10000 francs and en-
ployed 400 workmen. At present the trade
t3ooO.ooO u Ill Der duuum. Ine
chief article in this section is the nine cent
toy watch and chain, invented by a camelot
named Herbaut about 1855. This Herbaut
now lives comfortably as a retired trades
man at Belleville, enjoying an income of
sl,oW a year gained by selling these
watches. This nine cent watch is now
popular all over the world, and it's price
has been reduced even to one cent. al.
though it passes through twenty-eight
pairs OF hands before it reaches the ems.
toner's. One manufacturer of TOW watches
at Paris employs $50 persons, and his bust.
ness amounts to 100000 a year, which is
equivalent to saying that he turns out
$4,000 watches a day at prices varying from
four cents to three dollars a dozen.
BESIDES the workmen who try during
their idle hours to invent some toy that
will have a run during the holiday season,
there are kind hearted men like Murser's
hero, Schaunard, who are continually
seeking to find some new %knickknack for
the amusement of children. There is a
hale Old gentleman in the Temple quarter
who has spent his life in inventing toys,
and particularly those of a noisy kind.
which, as we all know, are in high favor
children. This amiable old gentleman
is also tie author of the double sided rob.
-NN3 49, " 'fN ~ SiA"N ou ullIh "LCn VOL
don't, rubber Lizards and slugs. which
youngsters and others can surreptitiouslv
slip into the salad bowl, etc. All inventors
to produce an article that will have an
lmmense vogue, that will be the TOW of the
but while we find each year an in
Unite variety of curious objects, it is rare
any Ofthem strike universal attention.
In looking back for the last thirty wears
there are only two that had an immediate
and prodigious popularity-Pharcan's Ser
penis and the Roman Question. The idea
OF the serpent cauEe in a simple and unex-
pected manner one day to a young chem
zeal student while he was watching tina
combustion of Il product in the laboratory.
"That would please the boys" he said to
himself, as he saw the fantastical turns
nude by the burning product. He mod
eled some little pyramids, which only
needed to be lighted to start off on their
~serpcntine course, and sold the idea to a
pyrotechnist, who promised him q very
small royalty. The young chemist thought
that perhaps he might gain enough to
offer champagne once or twice to his table
d'hote companions. Three days afterward
wherever he went he found some one who
was playing with the little pyramid, and
at the end of each month, for a long while
afterward. his modest income was in
creased by several thousand francs as his
share of the profits.
TIL inventor of the Roman Question did !
not benefit by his discovery for a great
while. He had no registered trademark
for it, and an imitation was simple enough
for airy hardware dealer. But during the
first few days of its appearance he must
have made a sTal fortune. The puzzle
consisted in finding the way of separating
W pieces of iron in the shape of an inter-
rogation point. 1t was very amusing
and iriitating-to discover the trick your
self, and pleasing, as the late Mr.. Didsbury
would say, to watch your friends struggle
with the problem, which was naturally
very easy when you knew how it was done.
Nothing like these two crazes has since
aDpeared.-Paris Cor. New York Sun.