Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-21
NEWS FRoh TOYLAND
II.
Making P1aythings.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

1t is no small task to make a quarter
OF million tons of playtbings each year
Tor the children of the world. The mere
statement that this means 10000 carloads
OF toys is sufficient to indicate that the
industry is a significant one and that it
requires the all-the-year-round labor of
thousands of people to supply the annual
demand Of Santa Claus.
| Inc center of the metal toy-making
world is somewhere in the neighborhood
OF Sonneberg and Nuremburg. Germany.
In those districts they have studied the
question of universal child taste SO care
fully that they are able to delight equally
the youthful American, the japanese
child. the Mexican, the Eskimo, or the
Malay of the South Seas.
The making of metal toys is concentrat-
ed principally in large factories, although
in some cases the separate parts are
made and painted in the homes of the
peasant classes. In the making of tin
| toys the first process is to cut out the
| pieces of tin from which the toy is to be
| shaped. Other machines, driven by large
power engines, press the various parts
| into the required shape, and then they
| are ready for assembling and painting.
Some of the more complicated metal toys
pass through at least 80, hands before
the plain metal becomes the finished toy
In days gone by the completed plaything
needed only to be approximately like the
| real thing it represented. But the pres
ent-day child is not satisfied with an in
different imitation: he wants an exact du-
plicate. except in size. of the original
For instance, in the production of aero
planes he insists that the lines shall in
dictate whether his toy be a monoplane or
a biplane, and even whether it is a
Wright or Curtis model.
X x
This means that exacting workmanship
is required. There are thousands Of boys
and girls no larger
Toys MADE by than those who
Boys and Girls. Christmas il = up s' an.,l
ings in Americe employed throughout the
year in Germany in making toys. Most
of them are engaged in the production of
wooden toys.
The peasants of the Saxon Ore mountain
| region get little blocks of wood from the
Factories in the fall and all during the
long winters days and evenings the whole
family works away, producing wooden
horses. wooden soldiers, painted Santa
Clauses, Noahs arks, wooden wagons and
other toys. Each member of the family
makes some particular toy and sticks to
1t. One man will make wooden horses
and would be a complete failure at turn
ing out wooden cows. Another makes
elephants, but could not possibly make a
horse. Men have been known to work
| on one kind of toy for twenty-five years
in succession.
In some of the families they make the
complete Noah's ark. The father will cut
out the animals in rough outline with a
delicate little scroll saw, and each child
will play his respective part in bringing
them to perfection. They usually toll
from 8 o'clock in the morning until 10
| o'clock at night Their wages for piece
work are pitifully small. In making
| woody little lambkins, such as sell for 8
cents apiece in the toy store, the whole
| family is able to turn out from $50 to 300
dozen week, the material being fur
nished by the manufacturer For this
work they receive total of about IS.
The pencil boxes which sell for nickel
in the toy store cost only IS cents q gross
to make A girl who makes doll dresses
receives only s. week
TX
But the fact that they have to work
early and late does not affect the genial
ity of the little
Anxious to Get German peasants.
American Toys. f ,a, 'o with II their their
enjoyment of toys at Christmas time OF
course, the toys which they make do not
appeal to them as playthings. 1t is said
they are prcudest when Santa Claus
brings them mechanical toys which bear
the stamp of American ingenuity. There
is now a considerable demand i'm Germany
for the cheaper grades of American me-
| chanical toys. and many of them go to
| cheer the lives of these little men and
| women who work so faithfully that the
American small boy may have his Noah's
ark or his animal circus.
| When one travels through Germany
| strange sights Oftentimes crest his eye.
in one yard he may see a whole host OF
| hobby horses in another yard he will see
a thousand saints newly painted and set
| out to dry. At another place large
tention while their bright colors are being
set by the SUM- Travelling a little far
Their, he will come upon peasant door
yard in which are enough wagons to
make full army wagon train
| There is an association of German man
| ufacturers of tin toys, which was formed
| fer the purpose of mutual protection for
their original ideas There are many
| manufacturers in various countries who
will not hesitate to steal an idea. For
instance. an American dealer might get
French toy which he believed could be
| reproduced at a smaller cost In Ger
many. He would take the toy. send it to
a German manufacturer and inquire of
| him what it would cost to reproduce 1t.
| The German association was organized to
| protect every manufacturer no matter
what his nationality, from the theft Of
| his ideas. =
| The toymakers of the world keep in
close touch with the politics and economic
| conditions obtaining
Keep in Touch in the various i'm
| 1ry:AL n.1:A: port IN countries
| "A'AA OA'AoS' IT he manufacturers
of tin soldiers have noticed a revival of
| interest in their line. Whenever there is
tendency toward miltarism the de-
mand for tin soldiers increases Tariff
legislation has stimulating or depress
| ing effect upon the manufacture Of toys.