The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-12-27
WOODEN T0OrHPICKs.
Billions of them Used Annually In
This Country.

In polite society tt Is considered such a
serious breach Of good manners to use a
toothpick before others that naturally one
would imagine that the use of these some
time accessories to the table is rather linn
tied and that their manufacture and sale
must represent very small industry. AS
matter of fact, however, not millions
but billions CT them are annually used in
this country. The narrator, OF course, is
speaking now of those of wooden make
and not of quill toothpieks. When there
is added to the domestic use of these
dental implements the enormous number
that is imported investigation discloses
the fact 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
ohinery for the rapid and economical pro-
duetion of these thin splinters Of wooo
For this reason the number Of persons en-
ployed in the manufacture is comparative
ly small.
Ninety five per cent Of all the toothpicks
made in the United States are formed
from white birch timber in franklin
county, Me-, and yet scarcely more than
100 persons are employed in the industry
al budU 6Ddt6. OubSlQ6 Vi bu6 Glu6 4r0b
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 is the standard
timoer In all the factories. The industry
Is very simple one. 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
commercial uses. Whenever the foreman
Of camp comes across a particularly fine
white birch tree he orders it 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 fac
tory, whence they are hauled by teams.
That the vast supply Of toothpicks comes
from very small quantity of timber is
shown by the fact that not more 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 are
thin strips of wood of about the dimen
sions of an ordinary piece Of blotting pa
per-that is, the strips are about as thick
as the toothpioks 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 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 are as sharp as they can
be made. This machine works automatic
ally and with tremendous speed and is so
constructed that the finished picks come
forth sharpened at both ends at the rate of
tens of thousands an hour. 1t requires on
~ 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 So. 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 firfnness Kiln dried wood
is apt to result in too much brittleuess,
causing shaf 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 ornamented by carving or
hand painting. These are turned out at
the same factories.
The best toothpioks 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
splintafs. 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 |
made picks is only 85 per cent they can be i
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 I
on American picks is almost exclusively |
on the cheaper products. Some of the Por-
tuguess 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 or
7S QAi4 dC SpOSttAOIS va kitsAA3OAtSA9s
Next to Portugal, Japan sends the
greatest supply Of toothpioks to the Unit
I'd States. These are made by hand from
fne reeds. They, too, are sold in close
with the American product,
owing to the cheaper labor in Japan.
The GASES in which the Japanese picks
are inclosed are fine specimens Of skill
with the jaokknife. They are of wood, cut
INTO strips as thin and delicate as tissue
paper, but very strong. The cases are or
1amented with hand painted Japanese
scenes and are Of size convenient to be
,arried in the vest pocket. The COMPETE
ion between the Japanese and Portuguese
makers on the one side and American
on the other has become
7ery keen. An importer of toothpioks
aid recently that the Japanese picks can
,e made and sold in the American mar
zet, cases and all, for less than the cost of