The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-12-10
THE TRADE IN TOYS.

There are $50 manufactures of TOYS
in the United States. having a total cap
ital of s2500.00o. They turn out i'm a
year about $SO0O,OOO worth of toys, the
material used in their construction be-
ing worth about one half that sum. The
importation of toys from other coun-
tries amounts i'm a year to about $3.-
100000, so that IL may be said generally
| that the entire output of foreign and
! domestic toys for the American mar
ket reaches the value Of about Sc 900. .
200 year, though thei selling price at
retail OF such articles IS, OF course, con-
! slderably more.
BY the Federal census of 1890 there
! were i'm the United States at that time
IoOOo,OOO personss between the ages of
ilVe anu seventeen, and taking the ages
or children between five and twelve the
number was about ~, ,o00, 900. This would
give the average expense for the chill
dren OF the United States at so cents
each year for toys, though IL is an
average not impartially distributed and
not uniform i'm any state. The higher
grade of toys, the more intricate me-
chanical toys such as talking dolls. au-
tomato soldiers, steam cars. boats, and
animal groups, are imported from
abroad, and the chief country of sun
portations in 1897 were 81, 900, 900 of the
80. 100000 of all countries.
Germany has retained for many
years this peculiar distinction of fur
nishing toys for the children of every
country. and Ii has suffered of late
years OF diminution OF the trade. The
centre of the toy interest OF Germany is
the town of Nuremberg. and the chief
market OF expectation is the city of
Hamburg.
Following Germany as an exporter OF
toys is France with total i'm year of
ABOUT 100000 worth, an almost insig- |
nihcant figure when compared with the |
export OF Germany, but which would be |
even smaller but for the fact that what |
are known Ito the toy trade as Paris |
dolls' are not duplicated successfully /
elsewhere. and in the construction of |
them the French mechanics seem to ex-
eel To small extent The Italian doll
makers rival the French. but the total
importation of toys i'm 1897 from all Eu-
ropean countries, Germany and France
excepted was less than 500 600 and |
from countries not in Europe less than |
s25,O0O. The Germans have a peculiar |
knack for toy making. and another ad-
vantage which they enjoy in the Bava-
rian and Saxon provinces, from which
chiefly toys come. is the cheapness of
labor, the artists and designers receiv-
ing only So 20 $25 a week each. while
the pay of the girls who do the me-
,hanical work OF preparing the flows |
,or market varies from % to 80 cents n
lay.
For the sheaper grades az toys. that
s toys in which the chief article is
wood the American home supply is adj !
'quate. The toy-making business here
;ives employment to about 1000 persons !
If whom nearly one-third are i'm the
tate of New York. Toys are also made
n Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and
>ew Jersey. but very few in Connecti-
ut, fewer in the west. and practically
zone i'm the South. though there is one '
oy factory in the state of KentucLv {
Whatever be the condition of the tov 8
BUSINESS for manufacturing il is one 5
ihich allows OF large profits. and {
'hich entails some times. large losses '
D the retailer.
AS articles OF merchandise. TOYS arc S
cry perishable. They break easily. tho v
ashton changes i'm them often they are a
ilable only at certain times i'm the u
ear. and then only in certain grades l
nd the carrying of "a large stock" en- l
ills obligations upon "A dealer which no g
nds it sometimes difficult TO meet. But | v
holiday season, under a normal de- | n
and the percentage Of profit is large. u
rs largest on foreign made TOYS "a a
let which may account for the big inn a
,rtation. one-half of the total supply u
The sun. "