The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-20
SANTA CLAUS HAS ALABAMA FAC TORY Over 5000 Dolls Made in
 Roanoke This Year  PLANT IS TO BE DOUBLED Santa Claus Snaps Up All of Them that Can Be Manufactured and
 Will Leave Large Number
 in Birmingham.
IS TO BE DOUBLED
By WALTER HARPER.

Little Children; I am going to tell you one of Santa Claus secrets. I am sure he will not care.
 You may not believe it but I found one of his manufacturing plants way down here in the hills of Alabama Yes, one of his big factories where he makes, or rather where he buys. some of those pretty things he puts in the stockings of good little girls at Christmas time
 This is one of his doll factories and one of the biggest of tue kind in the world. am told that Santa Claus takes all the mill can make and woufd take more if the plant could supply them.
 He has called for so many this year that new factory will be built next year and just twice as many dolls will be made for Santa Claus as were made this year.
 How many did he get at this factory this year?
 That is one of the secrets Old Santa may not want me to tell, but I am go- ing to tell anyway. Eight thousand and four hundred and they were just the cutest little and big dolls you ever saw. They range all the way from eight IlcItS lOlS LO dS DIE AS tne llttle S1TlS who will play with them.
 And they are good dolls, too. You can't break them. They are made of cloth and are as solid as the wax and bisoue dolls. They have pink cheeks and bright blue, brown. black and hazel eyes. The hair is fine and silky and will not come oii. There are dolls with black hair, brown hair and auburn hair; indeed all the shades and colors that can be desired.
 You can drop these dollies on the floor and they will not break or scar up. They are just the dolls to have lots of fun with and not be uneasy that they will fall and break. They can jllmp the rope with you, fall out of the hammock with you and do all sorts of funny things and still be the dear, sweet dollies that they were when Santa Claus left them in your stocking on the night before Christmas.
 These dolls have something that great many real people do not have. That is backbone. This backbone which extends through the body holds the doll steady and prevents it from breaking or cracking. The doll itself Is made of cloth with specially prepared face that makes it solid and durable. The doll is nicely painted and some of them are dressed with the dearest little frocks you ever saw.
 
 l will tell you how Santa Claus found these pretty dolls.
 About four years ago Mrs. Ella Smith, a dressmaker, made rag doll fof her own little girl. The little girl was pleased and she showed 1t to her plAy- mates. The playmates wanted some like it and induced Mrs. Smith to make them some.
 On the next Christmas when Santa Mo-, 1~ ts. %o 1aax, nice presents in the stockings of the little girls and boys in Roanoke he hap pened to see one of these dolls lying on the floor in one of the home, he visited. He picked it up and looked at it. It was pretty, he thought and then he wanted some of them.
 He found out that Mrs. Smith could make them and he went to see her He wanted her to make him a lot for the next Christmas He said f,e would take all she could make.
 So she got busy and began making dolls for Santa Claus instead of dresses for the grown-up women in the town. Her husband was a mechanic and he helped to make a special preparation for the face of the dolls that would hold them rigid and keep the shape. They also worked with paints and got a pItpdIdtiOn tii1t iiiohCo tiS oOiie AcNh like babies and then they patented the doll and began business on large scale.
 Santa Claus kept making his orders bigger and bigger until Mra. Smith had to build a big two-story factory and em- ploy IS young ladies to help her make enough dolls to satisfy uld Santa. Sut Old Santa is not satisfied yet. There are thousands of little girls tc whom he wants to carry these dolls and he is .q a..It +Hnf h0 "a larger. So Mrs. Smith Is going to build another factory in a few months as biz as the present one and employ 15 more girls so as to have enough dolls for next Christmas.
 She says she will make more than 15,- GOO dolls for next Christmas.
 I wish every little girl in Alabama could have been with me when I visited this factory the other day. There were more than 1000 dolls going through the various stages of manufacture. Some were just being cut out cf the white cloth like you cut paper dolls from your fathers magazine. Others were being sewed up and stuffed with cotton Some were being painted while others were having their hair sewed on and eyes painted Still others were having their cheeks painted. You know how that is done You have seen "big sister, paint her cheeks while Mandy was kfndling the fire in the front parlor? Well, it is something like that, only the paint on dolly's face won't rub off when it is rubbed against mans coat. There were some other dolls. jcst dozens of them, being dressed up in the sweetest frocks and were being packed in big boxes to be shipped to Santa Claus.
 did not get to see his address 6. the boxes. but I think it was Birming- ham.