Omaha daily bee., 1900-12-16
MAKING OF CHRISTMAS TOYS
How and Where Old Kris Gets His Sleigh
load Of Good Things
eLInPsEs OF TOY FACTORIES IN ACTION
skill aud Muscle Employed in FASH
foning the Joys and Wonders
Of the Nursery-MiI-
lions Invested.

You are In the workshop OF Santa Claus.
The air Is heavy with the dust Of action, for
these are busy times. All about are the
AIDS and assistants Of the patron saint OF
Christmastide. And a strange company
they make.
There, looming out OF the dim atmos-
phere, says a writer in Harpers Weekly,
stands a row Of noisy, champing monsters,
all bent over in the queerest shapes and
curves. Turning neither to the right nor
the left, they are steadily biting great
mouthfuls out Of shining sheets Of tin.
Their appetltes and capacities are ap-
palling Observant attendants, grimy with
sweat, are feeding the monsters From
daylight to dark the process goes on and
sometimes 1t continues until well after
midnight But the monsters never seem to
get enough. The champing Of their steel
Jaws Jars and shakes the workshop and
keeps the dust floating. At their feet are
great baskets and boxes filled to the brim
and overHowing with such an array Of
spoils as would make the little girl down
In the city gasp with delight. Plates and
cups and saucers. spoons and knives and
forks, and stoves and horses and cows, and
wagons and kitchens. Hundreds OF thou.
sands, all cleaning and shining in a way
time a steel jaw goes down-and they go
down at the rate OF about 200 times a
mnute-new treasure appears bitten clean
and perfect out Of the shining tin sheets.
over in the corner yonder a half dozen or
more tiny green flames are licking the
air. curling in and out, appearing and dis
appearing In a way that is strangely sug-
gestive OF uncanny things These flames
have their attendants just like the champ
ing monsters, black faced creatures with
smutted hands and clothes, until you won
der IL they ever were washed These per-
sons epushing wicked looking irons In and
out OF the green flames in manner SO
energetic that you imagine their very lives
must depend upon their agility. Closer in
spection shows that when they take an
iron out they pass IL deftly about two OF
the bright shapes that the monsters have
formed and there appears in a twinkline
before your astonished eye a finished hort
or round -bellied horse, or fat, over.
grown elephant, or any other one Of
dozen wonders.
Scurrying back and forth, carrying trap
and baskets and wheeling trucks, are hal
dozen or more juvenile attendants. Al
Is hurry, rush and noise, and to add I,
tho racket there is a steady cannonadc o
shrill and deep-toned blasts. These COM
from the attendants who test the trumpet
before they are thrown in the towering
heap.
In Europe there has been very littl
change In the process of toy manufacturing
There practically everything is still mad
BY hand. The workers earn sums as pitifu
as did their predecessors. The American
toy makers, on the other hand. earn YER
fair wages. A single adult here will max
twice as much in week as a who'll
family Of toy makers get on the other side
American Machinery.
IL Is only through the Introduction q
machinery that the American has been abl
to compete with the foreigner and his handi
work. The development in this machiner
has kept pace with the general develop
ment of mechanical appliances on this sid
Of the water. and the result is that tn
trade has learned to depend more and NOR
upon local production. Only a few years ag
comparatively all the toys sold In tn
American market were imported from Ger
many, Switzerland and France. Today tn
importations are confined to Noah's ark:
dolls, Il cheaper class of china dishes and
few specialties. Some tin toys are st
brought over, but the market for them
growing more and more contracted. Amer
tli toys are HOW plouuttu dDuut u
cheaply, thanks to the improved appliances
And they are much more durable and bette
finished in every way.
The two principal tin toy factories in tn
United States are located in Greater Ne
York. One is in Crosby street, just back {
the site where Niblo's garden stood,
Broadway and Prince street. The other
over in Brooklyn. These two concern
produce annually millions of separate piece
and they are able. despite the wages the
pay, to sell them ut a figure that make
the German toy look almost expensive b
comparison Sets of Ave and six piece
packed in a pasteboard box, retail for
cents. The manufacturer gets about 2 cent
for his product.
Wooden toys too. are now made almos
b, exclusively over here. The only notabl
exceptions are the Noahs arks and thei