The Portland daily press., 1893-11-13


and the face is painted by two other
different people, one doing the rough
work and the second the finishing touch
es. The clothing is made by another
person and the dresses aresput on by still
another.
"All this work is done at such starva-
tion prices that Americans cannot COM
pete in the manufacture, although the
duty is 35 per cent. To this town of
large number of buyers from all over
the world. go there myself, andsnever
fail to meet d score or SO of Americans
engaged in the same business There
are at least 500 different kinds Of dolls,
and the variety is remarkable. The
French invent many of the most attrac-
tive, but the Germans copy them SO
cheaply that the worlds buyers go to
the latter chiefly for their stock. For
the manufacture of fine dressed dolls the
French still hold the lead by long odds.
1t is only in the cheaper goods the Ger
mans outspeed them. England furnishes
very few dolls, and I can now recall only
one kind that is distinctly English-the
English rag doll, made wholly OF rags.
"There are French walking dolls,
smoking men and other automatic fig
ures, but they are mechanical and too IN
tricate to be classed as mere dolls. or
the. rubber dolls fully one-half are made
in America, where everything that is
machine made prospers to the exclusion
of the imported stuffs. The prices of
dolls range from one cent to $50, but the
most popular, of course, are those that
sell for 20, so cents and ST., although
there has recently been great run on
five and ten cent dolls. AS with dolls
SO it is with other toys The most of
are s,ade so cheaply. The same town
OF Son .'ehesg furnishes many of them,
but more come from Nuremberg ard
small towns in the vicinity.
1T is in this district that magnetic
toys, swords, guns, trumpets, horns,
woolly sheep, jumping jacks, monkeys
on sticks, jack If the box and ingenious
wooden toys come chiefly from the
Bavarian highlands, but they are
brought to Nuremberg to be sold. The
cheaper grades of wooden toys are made
in poorar Saxony, and comprise cheap
arks and sets OF furniture How cheaply
thesa things are msGe you may judg.
from. this instance: Here is toy set
consis ing of three chairs, bureau,
table, a sofa and a mirror, carefully
done up in substantial pasteboard box
Now, after having paid per cent duty,
and having allowed 20 per cent for freight
and other expenses we sell such furni-
ture sets at rs cents dozen and make "a
can figure out the original cost if you
choose. 4
" Porcelain toys-tea sets and things of
that sort--are also made very cheaply,
the waste places in the potteries being
filed up with their molds without much
cost. To horses, cops, elephants, cats,
dogs, lions, tigers, and all kinds of an
prisons. Many of these are ingenious
novelties, being so constructed as to be
able to move heads and emit noise re-
sembling more or less the natural cries
of each animal. The retail prices of
these toys run from SO cents to $50.
made in America. They include A, B,
blocks, building blocks and games,
and are easily turned out by machinery
Iron toys are also made largely here, and
so are tin toys. The tin for the latter is
imported from Europe, and when the
toys are finished they are exported for
the European market
@The majority of rubber toys come
from France, mostly from Paris, al
though the manufacture of this line of
plaything is constantly increasing in
America, and the American rubber toys
are really the best to be had. The reason
that America has not taken the lead in the
manufacture of rubber toys is found in
the fact that the great demand for oJher
goods shuts out the toys. Toy watches
are remarkably cheap and are made in
France. We sell watches with chains,
charms and movable hands for rs cents
dozen, after having allowed r duty
and freight. Of the standard games,
the best chessmen come from England;
backgammon and checkers are made al
together in America bone dominoes,
dice and the cheaper grades of chessmen
come from France; toy printing presses,
locomotives and all that line of goods are
domestic.
"Toy printing presses were formerly
almost wholly furnished by the Ger
superseded their Teuto tic brethren. In
educational toys America leads the world
and exports large quantities, So it does
also in the manufacture of the necessary
articles for outdoor games,