The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-08-12
TOY factories
ARE MAKING GUNS
American Children, However,
Not Robbed Of PIaythings,

Y.
WASHINGTON, Aug l2--The next
time you are near a flying field yos
may see some speedy young bird msu
cunning after a flight OF tiny red, blue
and yellow balloons. And you will prob-
ably feel that those balloons bear 50
marked a family resemblance TO the toy
sort, of circus day and old-home week
that they might almost be the same
thing. They might he. For. allowing
for a certain difference in sire, that 10
precisely what they arc For some tims
now the American toy maker has been
IN the war
II is not a pleasant thought Ever
| the fact that II is for the good and hap
piress Of all future kiddes we are fight
| ing can't quite make IL that And II We
| follow EnRland's kindly lead we'll never
allow the maker OF toys to cease. wholly
and altogether, from making them. To
insure that, the mighty British muni-
TONS board has. year after year, given
up a settled proportion even OF 10
precious lead.
The German WAY. Al
BY Germany we have been shown the
road in a rather different way. Whilc,
by the paid propaganda OF both trade
and government, we have been asked.
10 see in the simple rustic toy maker
Of the Hartz and the Black forest the
true soul and spirit OF great, children
Z ipytug daen- ba.rteJ n.uasr rhla,d tha
entire industry has long been at work
upon every sort OF Internal war sup
plies, from bombs 10 flame throwesa
As early as 1915 Aessrs Bing of So
nenberg. Germanys leading toy man
uiacturefS, were. from such work, pay
ing the greatest dividends in the his.
tory OF their business Our toy makers
are not making bombs and flame throw
ers. But they are with the government
heart and soul. And one contribution
they have been able to make is in
sense, psychological
, This war" it has often enough been
SAID, is going to be won by Yankee in
genulty IL is some new thing thai
will turn the trick Most of our toy
men are Yankees. The very nature af
their. business has made an unceasina
quest for the new thing part and parcel
: OF their mental processes. And, i'm.
probable as II may sound, already that
has begun 10 make itself felt. In cer-
E tam OF our time fuses in parts Of our
2 gas masks, and in dozen other places
e IN the great war machine They are
= small inventors, but again and again
;, they have had exactly the idea that
It was needed, which, for the best reasons.
: must be enough on that line What are
:. they actually making in their factories
7. Toy Desks for Officers. ,.
H you took no more than a first looa
.. you might easily come away with ~
p belief that they are still making oul,
az toys. The red and blue balloons of{e
good example. But here are sem
- Others supplied by the makers q
II wooden toys. Two factories. or factor
units, make respectively tool boxes an
II toy blackboards. When you see tIpur
II IN section before they are finally -
together you would be quite sure, II 1
II weren't for the absence OF certain vi
| pieces and the presence of certain iona
n ones, that they were going to form jusl
the same tool boxes and blackboards
as before As matter of fact, they
II are gong TO end up as trench peril
II scopes. The toy-furniture section Il
II headed in the same direction, and only
slightly different is the goal OF the good
old stereopticon of the corner whatnot
now representing an industry which
the war has survived. But the toy desk
gives us the best case in point. The
II toy desk is now a knee, or field. desk
for officers
II Fire Engines.
Magic lanterns and postcard pro.
II leetors' have now become similar thing.
with very different purposes; call them
toys for ,the kaiser. If you like. II this
> years bathing beaches do not seem Ia
be spread with quite so many thousand
, patriotic sand pals as before. it is be.
e cause their manufacturer is now max.
It ing TIN tubes for soldiers toothbruslics
Il As any gentleman between the age oI
and can tell you, one OF the mos,
perfect and priceless objects found in
Christmas stockings is the iron fire en-.
, glne. The molding sand which once
made its small castings will soon, il /,
believed be making things which, wher
6 exported to the German side OF No
10 Mans Land, WY be little fire engines
?; OF quite another sort. Our "educa-
= tional toys'-that is, chemistry boxes
wireless sets, and the liSe--haye for
u years been famous. While We need not
= be too specific, their makers are going
TO do some much-needed educational
: work for Deutschtum
,r The biggest contribution OF all. how.
10 ever. IN war supplies. il not in ideas
" is likely to be made by our manufae.
: turers OF fine die-made toys. The elec-
trio train running on lis self-switchina
tracks. the miniature steam engine, and
Y the three-foot aeroplane that can fly
for half a mile are not found on every
/. Christmas tree. But il is into them that
4 our toymen have put their finished art
For one electric train alone the dies
J. cost sl2s,0O0, and il took two years 20
n make them. For a well-known Ameri-
,, can air rifle the dies cost $4,000 Ard
d toy factories OF that kind are now at
work for Uncle Sam In one case the
, output was so nearly perfect that the
4 government increased its demands three
y times within the year, and that factory
' is now making no toys at all In an.
y other case the whole product in the
E form Of one exceedingly necessary fit
/ A. T.. L. a.