The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1903-05-16
TONS OF TO0THPICKS
ss,5s...E@ - ssEe&,3 u
NUMBER MADE is SIMPLY meal
CULABLE. ~
Millions Upon Millions Turned Out
from American Factories Every Year
and Immense Importations Come
from Abroad-Various Woods Used.

There is one article of manufacture
that is used so extensively in the Unit
ed States that no one has an idea of
the annual quantity consumed, name
ly, wooden toothpicks. According to
an expert the number is simply meal
culable. Millions upon millions OF the
tiny wooden slivers are turned out
every year from American factories
alone, and on top of this tremendous
output come importations from Por-
tugal and Japan and other countries
nearly as large as the domestic prod
uct.
Most OF the American toothpicks
come from Franklin county, in Maine,
near the forest home of the white
birch, out of which 95 per cent of the
domestic toothpicks are made. This,
wood is soft and pliable and Of admir-
able resistance for the purpose for
which it is used. Whole mills in Maine
are devoted to supplying the country
with toothpicks, and in the industry is
to be found some of the finest and
most intricate of machinery. So ire
mendOus is the output of these ma
chimes that in brief season, during
the spring, enough toothpicks can be
made to supply the markets OF the
entire country for the year to come.
A further idea of the capacity of
the machines may be had from the
fact that only 100 men are necessary
to operate and run all the mills in
Franklin county, Other mills of this.
kind are scattered throughout Penn
sylvania and Massachusetts and west
ern New York, but the real home OF
the toothpick is Maine.
White birch is not the only wood
and poplar are employed as well, but
birch has the property of retaining its
forest odor and sweetness.
The telling of toothpick trees is only
Incidental to the regular lumber work
of the Maine foresters. No especial
men are sent out to hunt up suitable
trees But whenever the foreman OF
tree especially adapted to toothpicks
he orders it felled and laid aside. The
branches of the tree are then trimmed
and only the trunk itself is transported
to the mills There the bark is skinned
and the naked trunk is run through a
machine which sewers in into EepaeES.-s
"Veneers" is the techEical express
sion for thin strips of wqbd no thicker
than piece of plotting paper and no.
wider than the length OF a toothpick..
Once the trunk has been cut into
these sheets of wood, only one process
remains to turn out the toothpicks
fit for packing and shipping to market"
The vcneers are fed into a second
machine supplied with sharp, rotary
knives that whirl at tremendous high
speed, shipping the veneers into tooth
picks at the rate of hundreds of thouS-
ands an hour.
It is only the so-called fancy"
toothpick that is net made in this
country. In Portugal from where.
most of the orangewood picks are i'm
ported, the sticks are sharpened by
young girls, who, in return for turning.
out "picks" are paid three cents a day
The Japanese toothpicks are made
of fine reeds, and are distinct from
those sent to this country by the Por--'
tuguese manufacturers. A Japanese
toothpick is delicate and thin as It's.
sue paper, and nevertheless strong:
and pliable The Japanese toothpick.
maker earns even less than his Por-'
tuguese fellow-craftsman, his remuner-'
alton being but fraction more than'
two cents day. In short, 1000 tooth
picks may be bought in Japan for as
much as it costs only to pack and box
900 of American make.-New York,
Times.