The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-18
New High Mark In Retail Trade Expected To Be
 Set This Year

NEW YORK, Nov. 1T-A new high | mark in the retail /toy trade will be set during the coming holiday sea son, if the sales of domestic manu- lecturers to the wholesale and retail | trade are taken as an index for es- timating the volume of retail turn | over of this merchandise. This was stated yesterday by Fletcher D. | Dodge. secretary of the Toy Manu- facturers of the U. A Inc, who add ed that the manufacturers were | greatly pleased with the large num- Der of carly orders that were placed | in the spring. This enabled then1 to start production promptly and ar range for shipping the goods early | enough to meet the requirements of | the dealers.
 There should always be such CO., operation between dealers and manu- lecturers" continued Mir. Dodge, | because 1t Is about physically inn possible to make and ship the enor- nous quantity of American toys now sold every year, If the bulk of orders from the wholesale and retadl dis tributers are held up until after June 1. The present satisfactory condi- iton represents big improvement over the early buying last year.
 T was talking few days ago with the sales manager of 8 concern which is a big factor in two important in dustries and which makes It's toys from what might be otherwise waste material. He stated that because orders were placed with his firm early this year 1t was possible to keep prices down in spite of the in- creases in labor charges and ma terials. Continuous production en- abled them to reduce certain ele- ments of factory costs enough to balance these increases in expense. Born A long Time Back.
 Millions of dollars worth of toys are bought for the children of this country every month in the year. When any one expresses surprise at that statement and wonders why toys minded that the explanation is like the answer which the colored cen tenarian gave to the question: TO what do you attribute your. long life, Uncle Mose2' Because, you see, An was bon long time back the old gentleman replied. Toys. too, were bon long time back
 Among the articles found in ex- cavations of the habitations of pre- historic man, toys were almost al- ways present. Make-believe has al- ways been source of joy in child
 
 dowed with imaginary attributes that make it one moment horse, the next doll and then a boat, or any one of hundred things which nay be needed for the game the child is playing at the moment. ways will love simple toys, which their imagination can quickly change from one thing to another.
 In recent years there has been a remarkable development in the toy industry, which has marked a com plete change in playthings for older children. This has come about in response to the demand from both boys and girls for toys with which they can do something useful. Today children are gaining knowledge from their chemistry sets. construction and all of the other playthings in a long list of practical toys which only 3 short time ago no one would have dreamed they could acquire before they entered high school.
 "One question which I find it hard to answer is: What novelties this season have made big hit?' Thi is natural question, because new play things are demanded by dealers. parents and children. It has been my observation. however, that an overnight success is a srare In the
  Toys, like anything else, are a matter of evolution from the crude begin nings in savage times. What we have all seen happen to things we use In our homes, offices and factories hap pen to toys. little improvement here, & little change there, year by year, with no great difference notice able at any one date. but In gem eration the dealers shelves show that complete change has been going on. o 0 O
 Startling Changes Noted.
 There have been toys which marked just as startling & change in playthings as the automobile caused in transportation or the motion pie lures brought about in amusements. The toy industry/mov as do other industries, by filling new need as 1t arises, or by creating new de- nnand by designing new toys that leap ahead into an untried field of play. Occasionally there comes new toy whic his just as totally different from the old toys as the automobile Is from a horse and wagon. but both came because there was need for them. We have seen the iron trains that moved only when they were pulled by a string changed into me- chanical trains which run by clock work. These, in turn were followed by the wonderful reproduction of our latest electrical rallroad equipment which goes whizzing around curves, over switches and through tunnels driven by the same power that runs the largest locomotives.
 "But, just as the horse and wagon Is still the best means of transpor- tation in many communities, so the iron trains are still with us They are the kind with which the younger children get their first Knowledge of railroad Instead of the iron train, however, lasting for a>whole child hood as it- once did, 1t is now soon put aside for a mechanical train. which, in turn, gives way to an cleo trical train. A child of 10 years of age, by simply playing with his toys, has learned more about lrailroading than most adults knew generation ago.
 Change, constant change. is the order of the toy industry. But this does not mean that retail purchasers try to find onl ytoys that are differ ent from those they saw year ago. They should and do remember when they go out to fill the children's stockings that the toys which have proved popular wit hthe boys and girls in their neighborhood are likely to be the playthinga which their children will like best"
 when I was a boy--it was several years ago.
 was passing the Half Moon Lot. whose thirty acres include a number of fox Ndens and lust as l reached