The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-12-16

All our Toys Came From Europe, \
but Now Our Factories surpass the I
Foreign Product In Most lines, and I
There u n Large and Growing Es-
port Trade-The Yankee Doll I
However, IL Stiu an Inferior In
dividaai, aud American Johnny .
aud HIS sister sue VIII Have No
MachIne-Made Noah's Arks-But In .
Metal and Rubber knick-knncks .
Uncle sam l. NJ the Head.
/ New York Dec. 1.-THE American peo- 4
/ pie will spend over fifteen million dollars .
/ for Christmas toys this year. The total
sale Of toys for the year has been esti-
r.ated at twenty millions or this sum
about seveuty-ive per cent IS spent be-
tween December LIST and 24th Absolute
/ figures have been compiled. but careful
canvass among manufacturers. lobbers
and importers approximates the sum
given. Fully three-fourths Of the money
spent for toys PASSES through the biz
department stores. which OF late years
/ have practically absorbed the retail trade
| one firm that has houses In two different
/ clslcs sells In It's toy department over
] -FOUR NANAAAtu AllVuHAAl NVlAHAH WI NiA a
year These sales are made up prime pay
OF small sums ana represent the handling
Of millions OF pieces. Yearly sales rang
! Ing from one hundred 70 one hundred
and nifty thousand dollars are effected
by scores OF big retail concerns through
out the United States. In large cities
few important toy stores pure and simple
stu survive. In Chicago there are none
az all. There are any number OF small
I places that sell toys. notions and STA
tsonery. but they make up a very small
proportion OF the total sales
Until recently nearly all the toys that
we're sold in America were made abroad.
The manufacture In the United states
was uncomfortable. In the last ten or
twelve years all this has been changed.
SO that to-day less than one-third OF
! Santa Claus offerings TO the little folks
come from Europe. The other tWo-thirds
are made in the New England States.
Pennsylvania ana Ohio. and ia small
factories here and there IN some OF the
other states New Eng and Is the great
producing center. The distributing ls done
I chiefly from New York city whore
wholesale toy district has grown up which
/ Is almost AZ distinct as the dry goods
district or the shoe district So great o.
the demand for toys when the holiday
] season comes lnAA AfAN AAAAa4ttn ANtAtAatta
run until midnight from the btn 20 the
0th OF December II was formerly the
case that Immediately after Christina.
factories and iobbers both shut down toi
several months hut now the toy trade
has grown TO such enormous proportions
that work for the following year Is begun
as soon az the holiday rush Is over.
Toy Making Begins Nearly "A Year
In Advance.
The main stocks are al manufactured
/ before July. The drummers take the road
| late In March and cary Ia April Long
before that time. IN january and Feb
! ruary buyers have started for Europe 10
I select the foreign stocks These consis'
almost entirely OF the cheaper grades
wooden TOYS. the more expensive mechan-
I zeal toys che cheaper sets OF china dishes
great focks Of woody animals, and dolls
! The importations run from hvc 20 sever
l millions per year and OF this sum thfce
, and a half 20 five millions goes for dolls
/ Nearly au the dolls come from Germany
The French az one time had a MONOPOLY
but the Germans have learned 20 max
heads so cheaply and 50 well that th,
psople across the Rhine have been prac
tically put out OF business only th'
very expensive dolls are now bought 80
France. America. 20 far. has been ur
able to produce any sort Of dolls exec
OF the very cheap kind. several concern
Ia this country have gone into the ma
tnR OF dolls. but their progress has bee
slow and very little Roadway Il promise
one concern IN New York has fair out
out IN dosls with indesructib.e comps
lion heads and cloth bodies. The peop
employed .here are generally foreigi
ers.
Machinery has enabled the Amerlca
IN other lines 20 drive out the Europe
manufacturers entirely. This Is noiab.
true in tin and iron toys. In the
branches DEVELOPMENT on this side D.
been so great that a considerable exp
trade has been built up. Fire engin.
book ana ladder trucks. trains OF car
patrol wagons. ambulances and scor
1 Of similar shnEs are turned out by 3D.
ton. They are highly finished and almo
indestructlble. The iron toys made
foreigners are fiimsy. crude a1airs ono
when brought into competition with ou
own productions stand no show his
tarf has kept the American out Of it'
tov market in Germany and France. d.
in Russia. England. Italy and other FL
ropean countries there Il hardly a storr
to-day that does not carry at least
small line OF these ingenious productions
nearly all Of which come from Connection
and Rhode lslanu-
Domestic OUTFITS NJ microscope,
Prices.
In the pewter TOYS. too. America he's
made much progress. Switzerland az OF.
time sent about all the pewter toys made
in America. This continued until the doe
mestlc manufacturers invented stamping
machinery. by means OF which they pro-
duce sets Of pewter furniture ana dishes
al figures that defy the cheap labor OF
Europe IL Is one OF the maryels u the
trade that an entire set q pewter dishes
comprising six pieces and packed IN
paateboard box. can be retalled at hve
cents. IL brings the manufacturer about
two cents. and this though the FIRST pro
cess. the casting s. done by hand The
rough casts are made IN steel aud brass
r,olds ana passed 90 the machinery for
final shaping and polishing. From a
mere handful. the workers engaged in
making the toys N America hay
grown 10 an army OF nearly twenty
, ave thousand Their wages compare
with those Of the toy makers OF France
and Germany are almoss prlncely. on the
other side moat Of the toys are made Ia
the home with the entire family enFlrrd
In the work. their united earning VIII
average from three dollars 10 six dollars
"a week. the latter sum only where the
family II unusually large ana exception
ally industrious Here the toy makers