Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-04-23
THE PLAYING CARD.

last year moro than 81 GOO 600 packs Of
playing cards were printed and sold at A
profit by the manufacturers in Great Brit
ain. France, Germany and the United
States lndustrinlly regarded, the play-
ingcard business is one OF tho hest manuiac
turing adpmcts % the world Of workers.
AS contributor to the revenues Of those
countries where cards are produced in
quantity says the Chicago Tribune, il is
4 gold mine
AT tile same time. however. the expert
player who Is making record &C cards, or
who has q desire 70 win money az the gam
ing table finds little use for d card costing
more than 70 or 80 cents q pack His obiec
tiun to the finer card Is that Il doesn't
feel right and shuiiles too easily. For
the card sharp. too, a card which has
the standard back serves his illicit purpose
of marking better than the most elahor-
ate of art backs that can be designed in
gold and colors Incidentally, too, the
necessities which the players feel for a ire-
quent renewal ol the pack makes the item
Of expense for hand made cards seem use
less Ia whist games where some one OF the
four players Is likely 10 ask for a new deck
after two on three gnmes az the most
Cards OF retail may be bought for 10 cents
3 cents, - cents. 35 and 80 cents pack
Considering the band made cards that
cost from 75 cents to 81 pack, 1t IS inter
esting Go remark that whatever elaborate
departure may be made ia the artistic
effects Of the back, the consuming public
will have n0 change made in the conven-
tional card face. which has been IN Use for
more than fifty years. This card iace. rs
an expression OF artistic design, Is consid-
cred far below the standards OF the de
signer Of the present time. For the per-
SON who will afford a Bible in an edition
de luxe up to SIS. or even $50, the stand
ard card face is quite enough to satisfy his
artistic temperament. Time and again
/ some enterprising card manufacturer who
has made a hit with a novelty ia n card
/ back has tried TO make the face Of the
card meet IN artistic measure-and has
/ failed. Not even Tie variation Of the card
| spots win be tolerated; not even the
"saueezerN mark in the corners may be
I altered. The players FIRST wish is that
ne shall recognize a card the instant that
he turns its face, and to do this he insists
/ upon the card face as it has stood for hall
a century al least.
That tho back of the card shall not soil
| easily Is one 81 the FIRST desideratums Of
the player In many Of the ornate backs
! that have been put On the market thee i
too much light surface % carry the i'm
print 81 q finger Then IN the cardboard
base there ire two sheets 81 paper pasted
together. making the handmade card toe
thick. while the double coat Of ename
with its composition slip makes i toe
smooth for handling by the player, who
does not stick always TO this style Of card
The cheaper cards are printed from Z
continuous roll Of cardboard, the back
printed first and the faces last, afterwarc
covered with d coat OF enamel which hai
the "slip" introduced by secret process
The handmade article is made virtually
4 deck at time from a flat sheet Of card
board On this the backs are printed hrs
upon The first coat OF enamel, then th'