Morning journal and courier., 1893-12-07
Where the Toys are Made. From the PhIIadalnhla Times

lrEOLn lno fullaueipnlA Times
 "Of all the toys sold in America" said prominent wholesale dealer in toyp ''nins-tenths come from Germany. oi these large proportion are made in one little place, Sonneberg, a town of about ten thousand inhabitants in Thuringen. Almost the entire industry of this plsce Is confined to the manufacture of dolls. The inhabitants are very poor people and are brought up to doll making. Before 1t is completed doll passes through many hands. The head, 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 different peo. pie, one doing the rough work and the sec ond the finishing touches. The clothing Is made by another person, and the dresses are put OF by still another.
 "All this work Is done at such starva- tion prices thst Americans cannot com pete in the manufacture, although the duty is thirty five per cent To this town Of Sonneberg there comes every year a large number of buyers from sll over the world. go there myself and never fail to mest score or so Americans engaged in the same business. There are st least five hundred different kinds of dolls and the variety is remarkable. The French invent many of the most attractive, but the Germans copy them so chesply tbst the worlds buyers go to the latter chiefly for their stock. For the manufacture of fine dress dolls the French still hold the lead by long odds. It is only in the cheap or goods the Germans outspeed them. England furnishes very few dolls, and I can now recall only one kind that is dis lsah .A l-Tf made wholly of rage.
 "There are Frerch walking dolls, smok- ing men and other automatic figures, but they are mechanical and too intricate to be chased ss mere dolls Of the rubber dolls fully one-half are made in Americs, where anything that is mschine-msde proepers to the exclusion of the imported stuffs. The prices of dolls range from one cent to fifty dollars, but the most pop ulsr, of course, are those that sell for twenty, fifty cents and one dollar, sl- though there has recently been 8 great run on five and ten cent dolls. As with dolls, go 1t Is with other toys. The most of them come from Germany, where they are made so chesply. The same town of Some berg furnishes many of them, but more come from Nuremberg and small towns in its vicinity.
 E. swords, guns, trumpets, horns, woody sheep, jumping jscks, monkeys on sticks, jacks in the box and ingenious mechanical toys are made. The carved wooden toys come chiefly from the Bsvarisn highlands, but they are brought to Nuremberg to be sold. The cheaper grades of wooden toys are made in poorer Ssxony, and comprise cheap srks and sets of furniture. How chesply these thinge are made you may judge from this instance: Here is & toy set consisting of three chairs, a bureau, 6 table, sofa and mirror, carefully done up in @ substantial psstsboard box. Now, after having paid thirty five per cent duty, and having allowed twenty per cent for freight and other expenses, we sell such furniture sets at seventy-fve cents & dczsn and make reasonable profit. Think of thatl You can figure out the original cost If you choose.
 Porcelain toys-tea- sets and things of that sort-sre also made very chesply, the waste places in the potteries being filled up with their molds without much cost Toy horses, COWS, elephants, cats, dogs, lions, tigers and all kinds of animals are made chiefly In German prisons. Many of these are ingenious novelties, being go constructed as to be able to move heads and emit noise resembling more or less the natural cries of each animal. The re- tail price of these toys runs from fifty cents to fifty dollars. Of the wooden toys fully one-hslf are made in America. They include A B c blocks, building blocks and games, and are easily turned ont by ma chinery. Iron toys are also made largely here, and 60 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"