St. Landry democrat., 1894-02-24
A TALK ABOUT TOYS,
GERMANY STILL LEADS TUEl,
MANUFACTURER,


Dolls-Aiany Wooden Toys Made i
America.
"Of all the toys sold in America,
said prominent Wholesale dealer to
writer of the phiIalcl phia Times "nin
tcnths come from Germany OF these
large proportion are IN tlc in one little
little place, SonncDcrg, a tomn Of abnu
10, coo inhabitants in Thulingcn. Al
most the entire industry Of this place j,
confined to the manufacture of dolls
| The inhabitants are very poor people anG
are brought up to doll making. Before
it is completed Il 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 diff
fcrcnt people, enc d ing the rough
work and the second the finishing
touches. The clothing is ma lie by
another person aud the dresses are put o.,
by still another
"All this work is done at such starva-
ton prices that Amer. cans cannot com
pete III the manufacture, although the
duty is thirty-tivc per cent. 70 this
town of SDnncbeig there comes every
year a large number of BUYERS from all
over the word. | 90 there myself and
never fail to meet u score or so of Amer
leans engaged in the same busine:s $.
There arc at least 1OJ diff rent kinds Of
dolls and the variety Is remarkable. The
French invent many Of the most attrac-
tive, but the Germans copy them so
chen Il hn rl, | Il,
latter chiefly for their Stock For the
manufacture Of fine dress dolls the
French still hold the lead by long odds.
1t is only in the cheaper gods the Ger
mans outspce! them. England fur
nlshcs very few dolls, and | can now re-
call only one kind that is distinctly
EngIish-the English ras doll, made
wholly of rags.
"There are French walking dolls,
smoking men and other automatic fig
ures, but they are mechanical and too
intricate to be clAssed as mere dolls. OF
the rubber dolls fully one half are made
in America, where anything that is ma
chlnc made prOsp'rs to the exclusion Of
the imported stutfs The prices of dolls |
range from l cent to so, but the most |
popular, of course, are those that sell for
25 cents, 50 cents and 81, although there
has recently been great run cn ) and I
10 cent dolls. AS with dolls 81 it is with |
other toys. The most of them come
from Germany, where they are made so
rheaply. The same town of Sonncbcrg
many of them, but more come
from Nuremberg and small towns in its
vicinity.
cit is in this district that magnetic
oys, Swords, guns. trnmpetS. horns,
Nooly sheep, jumping jacks, monkeys on
sticks, jacks in the box. and ingenious
mechanical toys are made The carved
wooden toys come chiefly from the Ba-
'arlan Highlands, but they are brought
o Nuremberg to be sold. The
hcaper GRADES Of wooden toys are made
Il poorer SaNony and comprise cheap
rks and sets OF furniture. How chcaply
hcsc things are made YOU may Judge
rom this instance: Here is toy set con {
lstlngof three chairs, Il bureau, Il table, {
sofa and mirror, carefully done up III |
substantial pastcboard box Now,
ftcr having paid s. per cent. duty, and ]
aVlng allowed 20 per cent for freight i
nd other expenses, We sell such furniture ,
1tS at ID cents a dozen and make Il t
oasonablc profit. Think Of that! You ,
an figure out the original cost if you I
hoOse 7
Porcelain toys-tea sets and things /
that sort-are also made very cheapIy, a
lie waste places in the potteries being t
lied up with their moIds without much II
)st. Toy horses, COWS, elephants, cats, n
ogs, lions. tig gers and all kinds of aui- t.
nls are made chiefly in German pris- t
rs. Many Of these are ingenious novel; "
es, being so constructed as to be able il
} move heads and emit noise re- II
mbIlng more or less the natural cries h
each animal. The retail price of these h
VS. runs from fifty cents to fifty dollars
the wooden toys, fully one half are it
AIDE in America. They include A B { IL
ocks building blocks and games, and d
e easily TUNED out by machinery Iron o.
Us are also made largely here, and so Il
e tin toys. The tin for the latter is i'm. W
'rted from Europe, and when The toys m
c finished they are exported for the 6,
lropean market II
"Thc majority of rubber toys come OF
om France, mostly from Paris, although al
Q manufacture of this line Of play s:
ing is constantly increasing in Amer
|, and the American rubber toys are
ally the best to be had The reason
at America has not taken the cad in
e manufacture Of rubber TOYS is found l.
the fact that the great demand for 49, ="
Ter goods shuts out the toys. Toy =.
'tches are remarkably cheap and are 49,
ldc in France. We sell watches with =" W
aims, charms and movable hands for "
cents a dozen, after having allowed 80
duty and freight. OF the standard ~
mes the best chessmcn come from lr
gland; backgammon and checkers are ~, ~,
de altogether in America; bone domi. ''
IS, dee and the cheap.r grades OF vo
'ssmcn co'-e from France; toy print no W..
presses, locomotives ant all that line w. w.
goods are domestic. ~
Toy printing presses were formerly 49,
lost wholly furnished by the Germans. va va
Iatterly The Americans have super ~,
ed their Teuton!c brethren. In cdu W.
lonal toys America leads the world ~,
exports large quantities. SO it does ~, ~.