Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-19
In Ten Years Santa Claus
Has Spent Millions for Toys

~ANTA CLAUS has to be multi
millionaire to lay in his Christmas
- stock of toys. If he were not
youngsters by the hundred Thousand
would be disappointed yearly.
1t is a new thought to contemplate the
jolly old patron saint Of the greatest
holiday of the year as a sort of rotund
| old John D. Rockefeller, but he has to
be something like that in order to have
the needed funds to get the stock for his
young charges.
The United States government, which
is getting to be sort of busybody,
looking into all kinds of propositions and
getting statistics about them. has been
investigating the Santa Claus business,
and finds out that in ten years it has
taken $oO.OOO,OOO to get the toy crop.
The Department of Commerce and La
Dor is responsible for the compilation OF
these figures, and they represent the
subject. with data examined and veri-
fed by experts.
In addition to buying fifty million dol
lars worth of toys from the foreign ma
tons, the United States has also sent
abroad some five million dollars worth
of toys in the last decade, and. in adj
dition to this, the american manufacturer
of toys has found home market that
ACllCu Oh al average OI I'VE MIL
lion dollars year, which makes fifty
million dollars worth of American-made
toys sold for the pleasure of American
children.
With fifty million dollars worth coming
from the other side and an equal amount
made at home, the sons and daughters of
Uncle Sam have therefore put Santa
Claus to the expensive outlay of one hum
dred million dollars. a sum equaling the
amount of the United States gold reserve
to keep them in playthings.
These figures give an idea of what the
business means.
The esteem in which American-made
toys are held on the other side is shown
by the fact that last year for the first
time the toy exports attained the million
dollar mark.
On the import side the greatest figures
in the history of the industry were at
tanned in the year 1907. when $725O,OOO
represented the value of toys brought in
from outside. This was in the midst of
period of boom. When the hard time
| came the Santa Claus industry was
among me sufferers and the amount fell
to about $5,NO,OOO
This year there is every indication that
with the return of good times the i'm
portation of toys will swing back to the
high water mark of two years ago. and
perhaps even surpasS il.
There are certain classes of toys in the
making of which Europe excels, and
there is no falling off in the demand in
spite of the fact that IN the three dec
AIDES since 1880 the amount of capita
invested by American manufac turers in
the making of toys has increased 500 per
cent. and the output has advanced in
corresponding proportion, the importa-
ton of foreign toys has seen no slump
The American child is an autocrat. He
| knows what he wants, and he must
have It,
Those toy-making villages in the Black
Forest section of Germany, where toy
making has been an art for centuries.
and where every member of the family,
man, woman and child, is employed in
the making Of playthings for children.
| have attained in some lines proficiency
| that the American made article has not
| yet reached.
| The American youngster knows no
| problems of an International kind, nor
| is he interested in tariff questions. He
| is keen for certain kind of toys. he
! must have them 10 be nappy. and so the
| Black Forest section continues to send
In its great importations.
| Under the general title of TOYS the
bureau OF statistics reports imports
| 1909. S7.2O6 i23 worth in the fiscal year
| 1908. $6.993,561 worth in 1907 and $685.
81 worth in 1906 In 1904 the total was
in round terms. s5.oOO.OOV worth; in 1903.
] s.. $50. 600 in 1902, $4,000, 900: in 1901, 49,
| 10000 and in 1900 about $4,000, 900
worth, making the aggregate for the dec
ade approximately sJo.0G0.OOO in value.
/ Meanwhile, toy manufactures in the
United. States apparently amounted to
about an equal sum. or an average of
| about $5OOO.OOO a year. since the CEN
| sus record shows the product OF 1865 at
| $5.577 ,693, and that of 1900 at 4,024 9.}9.
This would indicate that the toys sup
| piled 10 the people of the United States
during the decade have aggregated about
| $1OO.OOO.OOO. stated in the valuation of
the importers and home manufacturers,
| and not in the prices at which sold to
consumers. OF this. approximately $780,
100000 worth Of home production. how
ever, there was exported during the dec
ade about $5.UO.OOO worth
The trade in toys both as to imports
and exports. Is ltrgely a development of
the last decade The total value of toys
| imported in 1899. a decade ago. was but
$2.2JO.0O0; in 1900 it, as already indicated,
reached approximately $3OOO.OOO. then
slowly but steadily increased passing the
$4,000 900 mark In 1902, the $5OOO,OOO
mark in 1906, the $6.OOO.OOO line in 1907
and the $7.OOO.0OO line in 1908, but drop