The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-06-12
GETTING READY
FOR SANTA CLAUS
In the Spring Toy Buyers Are
Very Busy
MANY NOVELTIES FOR BOYS
coney Island Has Been Reproduced
and There VIII Be All thrill
ers" of the Year-Girls
Not Forgotten.
MANY NOVELTIES FOR BOYS
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
christmas toys in April and May? Alb
surd.e you exclaim, but for the last two
months hundreds of men through out the
country have been talking and thinking
little else but Christmas toys. They have
about finished worrying now and proba-
bly, will not give them another thought |
until about September.
The men who have been doing all this I
thinking and worrying are the toy buyers |
for the retail stores throughout the coun- |
try They have to do their buying in |
FEBRUARY, March and April in order that
the toys may be imported for them. Very |
few toys are made in this country. The
great majority of those used now are
made in Germany. and the orders for
them must be placed nearly year ahead.
In September the toys bought now will
begin to arrive, and will be distributed to
the purchasers.
IJp in Fourth street, near washington
Square, is the wholesale toy district OF
New York There are whole floors there
devoted to the display of sample toys,
no two alike for the importers carry no
stock They sell from sample only, ana
the toys are ordered on the order OF the
retailer or 1ODDef. n WISH " OiiS VI NiSSS
big ware rooms makes one forget that
II is almost May. Santa Clauss sample
room IS a veritable fairyland, and the
t,,cky little boy who gets a glimpse INSIDE
this room can ADDRESS the saint more IN
diligently when the time comes to spe-
city the Christmas requirements me
word toy is 1sed advisedly. Tor the entire
ingenuity 81 santa's worlkmen and de-
sieners this year seems to have been ex-
nended on perfecting and improving the
mechanical toy, such as the American
boy delights In. For girls of course thefe
are the endless varieties of dolls OF all
sizes compilations, and shades OF opu-
Ience in dress. There are ooirs houses u
all sizes some of them exquisitely I'm
lshed out after all these are only develop
ments and improvements of the things
with which every girl and every boy too.
is familiar.
New Things For Boys.
1t is In the boys department that the
eaint is bringing out his new things. what
will first catch the eye. perhaps, IS no"
the toymaker has reproduced all the at
fractions of Coney Island. The loop the
loop is there in many forms, ana the IN
genuity of the German toymaker mas
improved upon the real thing There Is
double loop the loop which If repro
duced on large scale should prove ao-
solutely hair raising. Between the Two
loops is an elevator tower INTO which me
cars run when they have rounded one
loop The elevator works automatically
lifts the car IT, the top of the second
loop and launches 1t on the second round
Somewhat in the line with this Is the au-
tomato aerial railway in which the car
runs irto an elevator at the bottom, is
automatically shot up to the top, and
started on aonther trip.
Among the newest things are automob-
hot 10 nnraa
sizes from the tiny clockwork affair,
that sells for a quarter up to .-e machine
a foot or more long, operated by sto-
rage battery, and with a clockwork chauf-
feur. Electricity has entered largely into
santa Claus's field this year. The boy
whose tastes run to naval matters can
oct battle ship equipped with an cleo
+rically operated crew and real search
,iqtt. He can set a whole trolley system,
With tracks switches. cars, etc, all oper-
sted from the electric light wire, through
~ third rail system. One of the most
srranions of these electrical toys is an
teotr;c car system, in which one car
stsys On the switch until the other has
rassed, and then starts automatically.
Steam Still Popular.
Flectricity has not altogether displaced
+oar however in toyland The steam
railroad is there, but railroading has
given way to n ecEanical construction in
cantas domain The great thing TINS
Scar Is the steam workshop, equipped with
ali sorts of power tools from the circular
COW to the steam lathe. The power is fur
isbed bv an upright engine and transmit
red in the regular way by belts and shaft
Ing Some of these shops are large enough
to cover an ordinary dining table. and
some OF the engines alone are worth s15-
,rhe various tools and other equipments
ran also be pure based separately.
RTE war game has not been neglect
ed The boy with military taste can now
buv fully equipped fort. guns. garrison.
and all. and he can apply electricity to