Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-09-09
SANTA CLAUS MAY
HAVE A LEAN PACK
Foreign Toys Promise To BE Missing
When Christmas Rolls Around.
This Year.
GERMANY GREAT PRODUCER
OF CHRISTMAS TOYS
Great Bulk of Shipments From That
Country to America Tied Up on
Other Side.

Whole regiments of German SOL
diers which annually cross the At
lantic to America about this time are
being kept at home this year, and
there is no telling when they will
come, if at all. Some of them pos
sibly have started the transatlantic
voyage and perhaps now may be on
their way to New York or other coast
ports, with the danger of being cap
tured by the British warships said
to be on the lookout for prizes"
But these regiments of soldiers in
reference, while gaily attired in the
colors and uniforms of the Father
land, are not troubled whether they
fall into British, French or American
hands, for they are of the TIN and
wooden variety, manufactured for
the Christmas trade.
Tin and wooden soldiers are about
the only kind that Germany is will
ing to have leave her domain now,
but it begins to look as if the SOL
Giers, the dolls, the mechanical toys
and various other Christmas pro-
ducts of German ingenuity and han-
dicraft are not destined to take their
accustomed places on American
shelves and shov eases this fall and
winter unless Germany succeeds in
gaining mastery of the seas. 1t is
a far cry to Christmas, perhaps. and
possibly bit incongruous 20 be-
talking of Christmas toys in the
same breath with general Euro
pean war; but looking at the matter
from another standpoint, the fact
that one has decided bearing upon
the other is just another example of
how far-reaching are the effects of
a great war and what a multiple of
channels of both trade and pleasure
that they strike.
Volume o. Foreign Toys.
Foreign toys probably amount to
business done in the American toy
market each year, figured in dollars
and cents, even though the cost of
their manufacture on the whole is
considerably less than the domestic
product. OF the toys brought to
America from abroad, the greatest
preponderance are from Germany In
the year 1911 the value of the toy
impOrtations into the United States,
according to government statistics
was sS,151, 1913. In 1912, for some
reason or other, the total fell of to
s7,727, ,4O9. but last year it jumped
more than a million dollars, with a
total of $S.S56,575.
From these figures it may be seen
that the effect Of the European war
even upon such triviality as toy
is worthy of the consideration OF the
economists in their estimates of the
cost of a war both to those peoples
involved and those who, ..Ough
merely lookers-on, at the same time
are affected in one way or another.
Germany is the great toy-produca
ing nation, the volume of its returns
last year from this industry being
close to $3O.OO0,O00, in round fig
ures.
A few shipments of toys from Ger
many were received before the war
assumed serious aspect. But the
great bulk of the German toys de-
signed for the holiday trade this
year are still awaiting shlpnent from
the other side, in German steamships
from Hamburg. The superstition is
that they will remain at home indef-
initely
Last year during the month or
August there were received into the
United States toys valued at sl,4O5,-
.5S4. of which Germany contributed
S1,272,437 and other countries only
s133,147. In September OF 1918
Germanys contribution was S1,67l'-
92S, while other countries sent $l45-
625 worth, so that in the months OF
August and September combined
last year the toy importations am
ounted to $3.22S,1S7 in value, or
more than one-third OF the supply
received during the entire year, and
Germany's part in this total was
nearly the three millions.
1912 Was Banner Year
Last year was a banner YEAR IN