Evening journal., 1897-07-06
BY THE BILLION.
Tho Enormous Output of Tooth
picks Each Year.
Maine Leads All other states I'm the
Output - Made by Hand In
Portugal and Also
I'm Japan.

Nobody knows how many billions of
wooden toothpicks are made and used
in this country every year. The aggre-
! gate is so enormous as TO be practically
inealculable. And to the total of the
domestic product must be added the
imported toothpicks.
While the output of this industry is
30 vast, American ingenuity has in
tented automatic machinery until it re-
qures the employment of comparative
ly few persons. Ninety-fve per cent. of
all the toothpicks manufactured in the
United States are made from white
birch timber in Franklin county. Me-,
and yet scarcely more than a hundred
persons are employed in the industry
in that state. Outside of the state of
Maine, the principal factories are in
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and west
ern New York. Some maple and poplar
are used in the manufacture of Ameri-
caH toothpiclSs, but white birch is the
standard timber in all the factories.
The industry is very simple one.
IiFst, of course, comes the work of the
i
o. Maine every winter there arc great
camps of lumbermen engaged in telling
spd hauling outtimber for various COM
mercial uses. Whenever the foreman Of
a camp comes across a particularly fine
white birch tree he orders il cut down,
and the main part of the trunk laid
aside to be reserved for the toothpiclS
factories. When enough logs have been
obtained, they are sent along down
tosthe boom nearest the factory, whence
IL are hauled by teams. To show that
taegast supply of toothpiclSs comes from
avery small proportiOnate quantity of
tiEiber, it may be said that not more
than 5000 cords of wood are used in this
industry annually.
When the logs reach the factory they
are first stripped of their bark. The
logs are then placed on the trucks, NOV
nAssen rails, and pushed up TO the au-
t9aahtic machines by which they are
ef$Snto veneers. Neneers, as applied
t6fhis industry, are thin strips OF
y38n of about the dimensions of an
oftlKary piece of blotting paper-that
iss4fe strips are about as thick as the
tsSfPicks are intended to be and as
VIZ as the picks will be long. Extreme
Clsaamust be exercised in placing the
lckfcin the machine SO as to have the
s1Nlsrun straight in the strips. The
veessrs are fed into a machine COM
posed Of peculiarly shaped and rapidly
revolving knives. the edges of which are
as sharp as they can be made. This ma
fFtna xvnrlrc aufomoticoIl,, ,,d ,,.;+b
Tremendous speed, and is so construct
ed that the finished picks come forth
shsrpened at both ends, at the rate Of
tehs.of thousands an hour. 1t requires
oaly a few weeks for the factories to
turn out a supply sufficient to meet the
demand for whole year. Then the fac
toEiss are shut down again, to remain
elesed until the following spring. The
wages paid to American workers in this
indsstry range from $3.50 to $3.50 day.
Most of the toothpicks made in
I Maine come from timber that has been
seasoned in the open air. Picks of that
material retain something of the natur-
al sweetness of the birch and maple and
arc soft and pliable while retaining suf-
fcient tirmness. Kiln-dried wood is apt
to result in too much brittleness, caus-
iAg sharp splinters to break off. which
isiurss the enamel of the teeth. Recent
" some of the American manufacturers
Faye been putting up toOthpicks in min
iatufe barrels highly ornamented by
carving or hand painting. These are
turned out at the same factories.
The best toothpicks made anywhere
in the world come from Portugal. They
are Whitfield by hand from orangewood
splhts by peasant girls, the only tool
used being an ordinary jackknife.
These picks are as smooth as ivory and
: will not break into splinters. They are
expensive. The girls who make tho
picks receive less than ten cents day.
As the duty on foreign picks is only 80
per cent. they can be sold here for less
than picks of similar quality could be
manufactured in this country, despite
the improved American machinery and
skilled labor. The profit on American
picks is almost exclusively on the cheap
er product. Some of the Portuguese
picks are highly ornamented with
hand carving. They are too expensive
for ordinary commerce. Small quaint.
ties have ben imported into this coun,
try on rare occasions for use at notable
banquets. or as unique specimens ol
handicraft.
Next TO Portugal. Japan sends the
, greatest supply Of toothpiclSs to tn,
United States. They are made by hand
from fine reeds. They, too, are sold il
e,nse competition with the American
product, owing to the cheaper labor il
Japan. The cases n.which the Japan
ese picks are inclosed are fine speci
mens,o Of skill with the jacl1knife. They
are ofwood, cut into strips as thin anC
delicate as tissue paper, but very strong
The cases are ornamented with hand
Z RSjated japanese scenes and are Of
. size convenient to be carried in tn
ve;e pocket. The competition between
tha JaDanese and pOrt1lo1ieSp makers on