The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-11
MILLIONS OF TOOTHPICKs.
Made by M%nrhinrr, In Maine Chiefly. and by
Hand In Portugal and Japan.

nv ~ WV -"
Hand In Portugal and Japan.
Nobody knows how many billions of wooden
toothpicks are made and used in this country
every year. The aggregate il so enormous as
10 DO practically incal"ulable. And to tho
total Of the domestic product must be added
the imported toothpicks-
While the output Of this industry Ia so vast.
American ingenuity has int ID
machinery until It rec uires IL" employment
OF comparatively few persons. Ninety-hve
per cent. OF all the toothpicks manufactured
In the rnited SIT ts arc made from white
birch timber In Franklin county, Maine. and
yet scarcely more than q hundred persons are
employed In the indnrtry In that State. Out
side Of the State of Maine. the principal fac
.ortcs are in Pennsylvania. Massachusetts, and
western New York. Some maple and poplar
are used in the manufacture Of American
tcothptcks. but white birch is the standard
timber In all the Histories.
The Industry Is a very simple one. First, Of
course, comes the work Of the foresters. nr
lumbermen. In tho forests OF Maine every
winter there are great camps of lumbermcn
engaged In Telling and ! aulinE out timber for
various commercial uses. Whenever the fore
nan of camp comes across n particularly
ine white birch tree he orders IL cut down, and
the main part Of the trunk laid aside to be re.
served FOR the toothpick factories. When
enough logs have been obtained, they are sent
along down to the boom nearest the factory.
whence they are hauled by cams. TO show that
the vast Lupply OF toothpicks comes from a very
small proportisnate quantity OF timber. 1t may
be said that not more than 5000 cords OF
wood are used la this industry annually.
When tho logs reach the factory they are
first stripped OF {. cir bark. The legs are then
placed on trucks. moving on rails. and pushed
up to the machines by which they
are cut into veDeers. Neneers, as applied
10 this industry. are thin strips OF wood Of
about the dimensions OF an ordinary piece Of
plotting paper-that Is, the atrips are about as
thick as tho toothplcks are intended to be and
as wide as the picks will be long. Extreme
care must be exercised in placing the logs in
the machines 60 as To have the grain run
straight in the strips. The veneers are fed INTO
a machine composed of peculiarly SHAPED and
rapidly revolving knives. the edges Of which are
as sharp as they can be made. This machine
work. automatically and with tremendous
picks come forth shaI pened At both ends at the
rate of tens Of thousanlsa an hour. 1t requires
only a fen n weeks ~ Tor nt the ia tsc tor t9 ,6 turn s ont a
year. Then tho ~factories are shut down again.
70 remain closed unit the following spring.
dustrv range from $3.50 to s 3 so nday.
Most OF the tooihpicks made in Maine come
rom tulDeT IDAt nus Detn teaSOneu IN the open
air. Picks OF THAI material retain something
of the natural sweetness Of the birch and ma
pie and are soft and nliable while retaining
result in too mnch brittleness. causing sharp
s~nliptcrs to break of. viii h iniure the enamel
manufacturers have been putting up tooth
picks in miniature barrels highly ornamented
by carving or hand painting. These are turned
out at tho came factories.
This beet Ioothp,cks made anywhere in the
world come from Portugal. They are Whitfield
bv hand from o~rangewood spiints by peasant
knife. These picks are ss smooth as ivory and
will not break into splinters. They are expen-
sive. The girls who make the picks receive
foreign-made picks IL only So per cent. they
can be sold here for less than ,picks,o similar
quality could be manufactured in this coun-
rioks Is almost exclusively on the cheaper
R RfiGSSrIot orns sn%s Cd With sae f hana enrvin %ioki rb asS
are too extensive for ordinary commerce.
Small! quantities have been imported into this
tanauets. or as unique specimens of handicraft.
Next to Portugal. japan sends the greatest
snpDly of toothpicks TO the. United States.
too. are sold in close competition with tho
American product. owing to the cheaper labor
liz Japan. n The cases SCI. IN INV which the Ja ~ IHs;
with tho jackknife. They are of Vood. cut into
strips as thin and delicate as tissue paper. but
hsnd-paintsd Japanese scenes ana are Of a size
The competition between the Japanese and
lean manufacturers on the other has become so
keen that Mr.. DtnRley has proposed for the
new tariff law a duty y, on ,pt foreign r tooth ri Dic x 81,
racertiy Iha. the Japanese picks can be made
and sold In the American market. cases and all.
for less than tho c~osl'of the paper boxes that
contain the domestic picks.