The San Francisco call., 1903-09-18
ANNUAL OUTPUT OF
THE USEFUL TooTHPICK
Millions Of Them Are Manufactured
in America and More I'm
rnnrfed

There is one article Of manufacture that
is used extensively IN the United States
that no one has an idea Of the annual
quantity consumed, namely, wooden
toothpicks. According TO an expert. the
number is simply incalculable Millions
upon millions Of the tiny wooden slivers
are turned out every year from American
factories alone. and on top of this ire
mcndOEs output come importations from
Portugal and Japan and other countries
reariy as large as the domestic product.
Most of the American toothDicks come
from Franklin County. in Maine. near the
Forest home of the white birch. out Of
"a hiCh - per cent of the domestic tooth
picks are made This wood is soft and
piiabie and Of admirable resistance for the
purpose for which it is used. Whole mills
ia Maine are devoted to supplying the
country with toorhpicks, and in the in
dustry Is TO be found some of the finest
and most intricate of machinery. SO ire
mCndCus is the output Of these machines
that in a brief season during the spring
enough rOothpicks can be made 10 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 l00 men are necessary to operate and
run an the mills in Franklin County
Cther mills Of this kind are scattered
throughout Pennsylvania and Massachu-
setts and Western New York but the real
home Of the t0othpick is in Maine. White
birch is not the only wood used for the
domestic tOOthpick; maple and poplar are
employed as well. but birch has the prop
erty OF retaining its forest odor and
sweetness.
The Telling Of toothpick lumber 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 a gang of
WOOdsmen comes across a tree especially
adapted 10 tOOthpic4-- he orders il felled
ard laid aside The branches Of the tree
are then trimmed and only the trunk is
transported to the mills. There the bark
is skinned and the naked trunk IS run
through machine which sewers il into
Eeneers. "Neneers" is the technical eX-
preston for thin strips Of wood no thick
er than piece of blOtting 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
10 turn out the tOOthpicks fit for packing
and shipping TO market The veneers are
fed into a second machine supplied with
sharp rotary knives that whirl at tre-
mendously nigh speed, shipping the
Eeneers into toOthpicks at the rate of
hundreds of thousand an hour.
IL is only the sO-called fancy toOthpick
that is not made in this country In Por-
tugaL from where most of the orange
wood picks are imported the sticks are
sharDened by young girls who. in return
Tor turning out picks sharp as needles
and smooth as ivory, are paid cents
day. The japanese toOthpicks are made
of fine reeds and are distinct from those
sent 10 this country by the Portuguese
manufactures. A japanese toothpick is
delicate ana thin tissue paper and
nevertheless strong and pliable. The Jap
anese tOOthDick maker earns even less
than his Portuguese fellow craftsman.
his remuneration being but a fraction
more than cents a day. In short a
thousand toothpicks may be bought in
Japan for as much as it costs only 10
pack and box 5000 Of American make
New York Times.