The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-12-29
WOODEN TOOTHPICKS
BILLIONS OF THEM USED ANNUALLY
IN THIS COUNTRY.

Nearly All OF Them Are Made OF
White Birch Timber In Franklin
County, Me.-Portugaps Handmade
Orange Wood TootApicks.
In polite society 1t IL considered such
serious breach Of good manners to use
toothpick before others that naturally one
would imagine that the use Of these some
time accessories to the table is rather lin
tied and that their manufacture and sale
must represent very small industry. As
q matter Of fact, however, not millions
but billions Of them are annually used In
this country. The narrator, Of course, Is
speaking now Of those Of wooden make
and not Of quill toothpicks. When there
10 added to the domestic use of these
dental implements the enormous number
that 10 imported Investigation disclosss
tho foot that the industry Is really vast
one and has reached such proportions that
at last American ingenuity has found re-
course to the invention Of automatic ma.
chinery for the rapid and economical pro-
duction Of those thin splinters Of wood.
For this reason the number Of persons en-
ployed In tho manufacture Ia com parativs-
y small.
Ninety five per cent Of all the toothpioks
made In the United States are formed
from white birch timber In Franklin
county, Me-, and yet scarcely more than
roo persons are employed In the industry
In that state. Outside Of the Pine Tree
State the principal factories are in Penn
sylvania, Massachusetts and western New
York. Maple and poplar are sometimes
used in the manufacture Of American
toothpicks, but white birch 10 the standard
timber in all the factories. The industry
IL o very simple ono First, Of course,
comes the work Of the fOresters. In the
woods Of Maine every winter there are
great camps Of lumbermen engaged in
telling and hauling out timber for various
commBrcial uses Whenever the foreman
Of a camp comes across . particularly fine
white birch tree he orders 1t cut down
and the main part of the trunk laid aside
to be reserved for the toothpick factories.
When enough logs have been obtained,
they are sent to the boom nearest the fao-
tory, whence they are hauled by teams.
That the vast supply Of toothpioks comes
from q very small quantity Of timber Ia
shown by tho fact that not moro than
5000 cords Of wood are used In this indus
try annually.
When the logs reach the factory, they
are first stripped Of their bark. They are
then placed on trucks, moving on rails,
and pushed to the automatic machines by
which they are cut into veneers, which IRE
thin strlps Of wood of about the dinen.
sious of an ordinary piece Of blotting pa
por-that is, the strips are about as thick
as the t0othpicks are intended to be and
.rt, =, $ha inLo ,.,t1 1al L. uo,
caro- must be exercised in placing the logs
III the machines so as to have the grain
run straight in the strips. The veneers are
fed into machine composed of peculiarly
shaped and rapidly revolving knives, the
edges of which arc as sharp rs they can
he made. This machine works automatic.
ally and with tremendous speed and Is go
constructed that the finished picks come
forth sharpened at both ends ut the rate Of
tens of thousands an hour. 1t requires on
ly few weeks for the factories to turn
out supply sufficient to meet the demand
for whole year. Then the factories are
shut down again, to remain closed until
the following spring. The wages paid to
American workers in this industry range
from $3.50 to 81. so day.
Most Of the toothpicks made in Maine
come from timber that has been seasoned
in the open air and retain something of
the natural sweetness Of the birch and ma.
pie and are soft and pliable while retain.
ing sufficient flrmness. Kiln dried wood
Is apt to result In too much brittleress,
causing sharp splinters to break off, which
injure the enamel of the teeth. Recently
some Of the American manufacturers have
been putting up toothpicks In miniature
barrels highly orn8mented by carving or
hand painting. These are turned out al
the same factories. a
The best toothPicks made anywhere In
the world come from Portugal. They are
whitfield by hand from orange wood splints
by peasant girls, the only tool used being
an ordinary jackknife. These picks are as
smooth as ivory and will not break into
splintsrs. They are expensive. Only one
hotel in Philadelphia supplies them. The
girls who make the picks receive less than,
10 cents day As the duty on the foreign
sold here for less than picks Of similar
quality could DO manufactured in this
country, despite the improved American
machinery and skilled labor. The profit
on American picks is almost exclusively
on the cheaper products. Some of the Por.
tuguose picks are highly ornamented with !
hand carving. They are too expensive for
ordinary commerce Small quantities have
been imported into this country on rare
occasions for use at notable banquets OF
as unique specimens Of handicraft.
Next to Portugal, Japan sends the
greatest supply of toothpicks to the Unit.
ed States These are made by hand from
fine reeds They too, are sold in close
with the American product,
owing to the cheaper labor in Japan.
The cases in which the Japanese picks
are Enclosed arc fine specimens Of skill
with the jackknife. They arc Of wood, cut
into strips as thin and delicate rs tissue
paper, but very strong The cases are or.
with hand painted Japanese
scenes and are Of size convenient to be
carried in the vest pocket The competi.
ton between the Japanese and Portuguese
makers OH the ono side and American
on the other has become
very keen. An importer Of toothpioks
said recently that the Japanese picks can
be made and sold In the American mar
ket, cases and all, for less than the cost of
tho paper boxes that contain the domestic
picks. -Philadelphia Times
1t Didn't Arise.