Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-01-16
WHERE THE TOYS COME FROM.
An Industry Which Germany Re-
CARDS as One of Her Greatest.

CARDS as One of Her Greatest.
Any one looking at the store win
dows would know when Christmas and
the holiday season were approaching
That which attracts the most attention
probably in all the displays is the
wonderful assortment of gifts in the
shape of toys
A retired dealer observes that Amer
lea is getting to be more and more a
toy market each year, and that the
industry is gaining very rapidly. This
Is undoubtedly true. Indeed, public
approval of the manufacture Of toys
was foreseen over 200 years ago when
the first patented toy was invented
abroad
1t is known that in New England
and especially in Massachusetts, the
manufacture of educational and me-
chanical toys has increased consider
ably of late years, but the bulk of the
toys that amuse the children so much
come from Germany and Switzerland.
Germany still counts the manufac-
ture of toys as one of her greatest in
dustries. She sends at least three.
fourths of the toys she manufactures
to other lands. the United States pur-
chasing the most, and Great Britain
ranking second. Out of toy product
valued at over So2,OOO,OOO the United
States purchases nearly S6,OOO.OOC
worth
In the Saxon Ore mountains wooden
| in the Thuringian mountains leather
and in Nuremberg metal toys are pro.
duced, while from several other sec.
tons there is a contribution Of other
types.
Germany has forged to the front as
a producer of toys because thousands
of families are engaged in the making
Of them at home. The little town of
Sonneberg produces 45 per cent of all
the toys that come to America. A pop-
ulation of $4,000 in this town and near.
by hamlets devOtes most of the year to
the making of toys, principally by hand
labor, although there are some fac
tories which have achieved high rep
utatiOn for their products.
The wages paid all workers in Ger
many are extremely low. A whole
family constructing toy dolls may not
receive over SO week for their labor.
In fact, the percentage of women work
ers in all callings there has rapidly in
creased Of late years, owing to the
enormous number of men required In
the army. 1t is estimated there are
more than 100000 German women
who earn their own living, and this Is
an increase Of more than 100000 In
the last dozen years. The toymakers
get mere pittance for their work, and
all the working women in the empire
labor for very small pay. Wages In
the factories are slightly higher than
in the home industries.
During the first half of the last cen
fury Young Americas toy supply came
from across the water. Germany even
then supplied the larger part and
Japan also share About 1850, how
ever, several toy shops started in a
small way in the United States, and
Yankee ingenuity has since added this
country to the toymakers of the world.
America then being a forest country
began the production of wooden toys of
grades which could be turned out by ma
chinery. In the manufacture of these
wooden toys the United States had an
advantage, as Europe had but little
wood and worked mostly by hand,
while America had an abundance Of
wood and her inventors were always
perfecting machines to do the work.
The principal advantage Of the Amer
lean wooden toy manufacturers was in
the wonderful woodworking machinery,
certain patented forms of which even
the Germans have found necessary to
buy in order to keep abreast Of Ameri-
can rivals. Mechanical toys have also
fiourished in the United States. The
field. however, Is wide, and should be
covered better by Americans.-Bosto1
Globe.