The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-25

amazing what clever heads can evolve
in the way of new toys. All the machin-
cry of real industries is initiated: the ad-
vances of science are applied sometimes
In a grotesque form. Every material is
used-wood. iron, lead, copper, clay, leath-
err, skins. feathers, papers, straw. reeds.
india rubber and much else.
II an article is a success. in a short time
IL makes the round of the habitable globe.
Complicated toys, such as animals with
mechanical movements, locomotives etc,
are produced largely in the United States.
but we can scarcely compete as vet with
the French in their finer grades of Christ
mas toy novelties. In elegance nicely of
finish and refinement French toys have no
competitors.
Their dolls are veritable works of art.
Like the Partisan dress, the Partisan toys
change rapidly. And sometimes politics
exercises controlling influence over the
triiies exhibited to catch popular fancy.
Up to 1860 toys came to France from
abroad from Nuremburg. from Tyrol. from
Belgium and Switzerland But to-day Pa
ris has sufficient to satisfy the demands
of the children not only of France but
of foreign countries as we'll Paris sends
all owe Europe and America talking dolls
mechanical rabbits. pistols, guns, little
sets of furniture. theaters magic lanterns,
punchinellos, animals. rubber balloons and
tin soldiers. 1t was Partisan manufac-
turer who substituted tin for lead in the
manufacture of soldiers. and the number
of warriors that he mobfizes each year
amounts to 100000, an army about as
numerous as all the regular armies of Eu-
rope combined. These tin soldiers are
made from the old boxes of preserves
that the rag pickers pick out of the rub
Dish heaps. The boxes are Connected and
a let
separate the solder from the tin plates.
Not only tin soldiers but railroad cars
jumping frogs, pistol barrels and sock
cts of venetian lanterns are made from
these plates.
The little watches with movable hands
are manufactured by the hundred thous-
and, and the greater portion of then, find
a market abroad. The watch that is sold
for trifle in the street costs two cent
INES at wholesale, and passes through the
hands of twenty workmen, while the
high-priced watch of so centimes about
10 cents), with key and movable hands.
a ring and chain, requires the labor of
thirty-twO workmen. In Paris special fac
tories for toy watches employ hundreds
OF operators, and 3O.000,0O0 watches are
annually produced. In other words Paris
provides every year q. toy watch for every
child between and 10 years OF age in
France. Germany, Russia, Great Britain,
Italy and Austria.
Give to a small Paris manufacturer a
few tools and some refuse tin clippings
and it is astonishing what he will produce
In the first place he can make scales that
sell at % confines a dozen: also little
trumpets, dishes, teapots and coffee pots
There are factories for little military
equipments and the fashioning of uni
forms. Paris possesses about forty estab-
lishments for the manufacture of elastic
ba IlOOnS The
600 dozen a year, without counting the
gutta percha dolls, punchinellos and ami
mails.
In Partisan mechanical toys great prog
ress has been made, and they can be pur-
chased at very reasonable prices As
general thing, they are not made in the
great manufactures but find their Origin
in the homes of the skilled workmen. The
excellence of the workmanship and SUI
periority in design have almost entirely
driven from French soil the German toys
which once predominated. Since 1867
French toys have been rapidly making
their way, and during that wear / 500 900
francs worth of toys were sent abroad
In 1878 the value of the exported TOYS
reached nearly 100000, while for 1889 the
total reached the immense sum of $4,000
900. England is the best customer she
taking over a seventh of the whole toy
productions of Paris, and Spain comes
next. OlutI HdLlOnS come IN the following
order in their relative Importance as buy
.ers of French playthings: The Argentine
Republic Belgium the United States
(where dolls, dressed or undressed, pay
no duty, Italy Germany. Switzerland.
Uruguay, New Granada, Turkey and Rus
STA.
The doll furniture and the boxes Of
tools are made in the Faubourg St An
tome Everybody has seen the animals
mounted upon bellows, which utter cry
under pressure. They are also made in
the same quarter, are manufactured by
hundreds of thousands and sold very
cheaply
The history of the toy industry in Ger
many extends back to the middle
ages. In the thirteenth century Nurem-
berg toys were celcbratc Cd and TO this day
Berlin and Stuttgart also manufacture
large quantities, and, in addition in the
thickly wooded districts. where the people
are poor and agriculture bad, toy-making
has become a household industry. and
tends to keep the wolf from the door. IN
deed, the industry in Germany is essen-
TALLY a domestic one, in which every
member Of the family takes a part and it
is carried on side by side with the work
of the house and the field.
The large factories are principally for
special articles, such as transfer pictures
picture DOCKS, metal Soidlers ana the ike.
In France the industry is comparatively
modern, and is concentrated In Paris
where nearly 400 operatives are engaged
in the business, over 2,400 being women
They are far the most successful in the
production of light and fragile toys. Their
fingers become skillful and deft in hand
ling the material and the percentage Of
loss in rich materials is said to average
40 per cent. less with skilled female opera
tives in comparison with the best male
hands. For the most part they work in