Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1923, Page 61

Part 5—8 Pages Toys Sold in BY GEORGE H. DACY. OY time in America—the happy Yuletide season—is the hey- day of a remarkable industry and the capitalization of the Juvenile demands for unusual and serviceable playthings—a business Which features an annual importation of $7,488,000 in toys from Europe and the profitable marketing of many more millions of dollars’ worth of made-in-America dolls, animals, boats, cars, tools, magic lanterns— and what not. Saunter through the Washington shopping district if you will, and you will see groups of speculative chil- dren excitedly clustering around the toy-shop windows, enraptured over the many wonders of the modern toy factory and wishing that Kris Kin- | rle might bestow some of his extra- ordinary gifts among them. Watch these children and listen to thelr noisy chatter and you will be able readily to interpret the under- current of juvenile window-shopping pathos and sadness, as evidenced by the actions of some of the youngsters, while their mates perhaps may be ubllantly hilarious in the assurance that some treasures, at least, of the mintature fairyland will become their property the morning of December 25. | Hundreds of Washington depart- ment stores and special purpose ahd general shops engage in the side-line | business of selling toys during the pre-Christmas period. Latterly, the toy industry of the National Capital has extended its activities to include | manufacture on a small scale of the many and varied types of wooden playthings and articles of the nursery Wwhich are the outstanding joys of childhood. ' Curiously enough, the toy-making | industry of Washington is not cen- tralized in commercial plants or in epeclalized wood-working establish- ments. It is a feature of the occu- pational therapy operations at St Elizabeth’s Hospital. Between sev- enty-five and 100 patients at that institution work diligently as am: teur, toy makers three to four half| days each week. Youthful Washing- tonians benefit thereby, inasmuch as many durable and practical toys are produced which subsequent! are either sold or presented to charitable institutions, such as orphanages. PEEE INJECESSARILY the toy work at St Elizabeth’s is fundamental and rudimentary. To begin with, the ma- jority of the patients who are assign- ed to the curlous woodshop opera- tions, under the experienced direc- tlon of Mrs. Eva Tracy, are unskilled in the use of hand tools and utterly unfamiliar with even the most ele- mentary methods of construction. Gradually the instructress trains her pupils in the strange art. They be- come interested and temporarily for- get their mental troubles and wor- ries during the toy making perfods. After a few weeks of elementary work they gradually acquire some mastery of the hammer, saw, chisel, sandpaper and paint brush. Practically all kinds of wooden toys are made as soon as the amateur artisans gain the knack of tool handling. ‘Tov furniture, benches, eds, chairs, tables, dolls, animals, wagons, carts, trains, boats, machin- ry and every other kind of a wooden iiaything ere ultimately produced v these craftsmen. The inteffor of the toyshop looks for all the ‘World ke the workroom of Santa Claus. here are a couple of dozen work jy nches in the matn shop at St izaboth's. Vislt this headquarters toy production and you will see , carts, wagons, ships, blocks and n animals in every stage of con- ‘ruction. Twice or thrice a vear an iction sale is held in some centrally d building in downtown Wash- on. generally under the auspices some woman's club or similar civic ianization. Not uncommonly the oceeds from these extraordinary v bazaars range from $1500 to 000. Sometimes Washington toy tealers visit St. Elizabeth’s before toy selling season begins and pur- hase the playthings and nursery squipment by the dozen or dozen Gozen of articles. At one time or another erroneous rumors have been circulated to the cifect that the toy making activities have accomplished notable and miraculous cures out St. Elizabeth's way. All these . stories are pure bunkum. The simple manual train- ing activities divert the attention of the patients and are beneficial in Jieeping them occupied and interested. unusual restorations have been accomplished at the great national hospital, where more than 1,200 pa- tients are now maintained, solely as a result of the curative panaceas asso- ciated with the homespun manufac- ture of toys. All kinds of wood are used in making the toys, including white pine, Virginia pine, vellow pine and plywood. Odds and ends such as crates and packing boxes have been converted into hun- dreds of attractive and substantial toys at this most novel toy shop. At the outset ‘the patients devote their time to simple construction and whittling such as the making of Tom Thumb chairs and tables or the cutting out of the heads or figures of men and animals. Then as they gain in ex- perience and ability they undertake more complicated assignments. One of the most popular and durable toys made at St. Elizabeth’s consists of a standard toy wagon and horse. The outfit is about elghteen inches in length and cight Inches high. It takes one of the adept toymakers about four hours to make one of these playthings. The cost of the materfal is about eighty cents, while the toy is generally sold for about $1. The boys and girls of Washington bemefit from this cut-rate system of selling the toys. Many parents who ctherwise would be unable to purchase the more costly toys are able to make {heir children happy at Christmas with the cheap, wooden toys—the prbducts that flow into the toy trade channels of Washington from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Some very superior toys have also been made which havegsoid for prices that range from $2.58 to $25 apiece. * ¥ ok N ORE than 700 patients at St. Eliza- beth's, are engaged in occupation terapy work of one kind or another under the direction and supervision' of forty expert instructors. There are a poultry plant and a piggery for those interested in farming, as well as prac- WASHINGTON, D. C, - "MAGAZINE SECTION - A i he Sunday Star. SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 23, 1923. Big Christmas Trade Include Some Made in the District Output for Local Buyers Receives Additions From Shops of St. Elizabeth's Hospital—American and Foreign Manufacturers Contribute to Holiday Spirit of Youngsters of National Capital—Lumber Now Used in United States for This Industry Totals 28,000,000 Feet Annually—Uncle Sam Becomes Rival of European Toy Centers, Which Furnished Large Proportions Before War—How Production Has Developed in Homes. s ights of Colum to eeimens 01{9 ys beth's hospital. E Under the direction of ents at St Elizabeths make fine toys tical instruction in weaving, rug mak- ing, curtain production, cabinetmaking, iron working and other forms of man- ual art. Altogether there are more than thirty looms used in the rug, blanket and curtaln weaving work. Usually, after several months' expe- rience in the production of the more complicated kinds of “toys such a$ elaborate ships, wooden animals, ma- chinery and similar materials, the pa- tients who show the greatest talent and native ability are promoted to the higher wood working classes and to the cabinet shops, where they engage in the making of furniture and similar articles. There are two toyshops at St. Eliza- beth's Hospital. The larger one is operated exclusively by the Veterans' Bureau, the equipment and personnel being provided under powers conferred by Congress. The second toy shop, which is large enough to accommodate fifteen to sixteen workmen at a time, is a gift from the Knights of Columbus. / B W The building, equipment and raw ma- terlals dre provided by that organiza- tion, while the - toyshop is operated under the exclusive direction of Uncle Sam's Veterans' Bureau. All the toys made in the Knights of Columbus toy- shop are given away to charitable in- stitutions, in order that they may bring joy and happiness to orphan. children or other juvenile unfortunates, Toys from Germany are once more prominent in the Washington toy shops during the current Yuletide season. During the war and for sev- eral vears after the war, juvenile America was deprived of the great volume and variety of toys, which formerly came to this country from Europe. The season of 1923 again sees the German toys In the American market in plenty and profusion. Many of them are. made from the small pieces of wood and scrap materials emanating from the carefully conm- served German forests. Small pleces ©f wood and chips and blocks, which Mrse EvaTrace s 'work- it F 3% LN y, the pati we Americans customarily destroy by fire in order to get rid of them are providently husbanded by the Europ- ean toymakers and finally are made into playthings for the young folks. The European toymaker is usually an expert wood carver and specialist. The trade is handed down from gen- eration to genefation. The remuner- ation usually is small. In many In- stances’ the toymakers work in the fields during the daytime and devote their evenings to toymaking. They are extremely adept, work chiefly with waste wood and thus are able to produce beautiful and marvelous toys at low prices, which delight the children despite the fact that these articles generally are fragile and casily breakable. One explanation of the remarkable progress of the American toymaking induustry is that Uncle Sam’s repre- sentatives have made durable and In- destructible toys and have developed thousands of néw designs, while the A Aboubt owe-third of ma foreign producers have continued to turn out the more fragile articles. The.United States as a toymaking center has attained considerable prominence recently to the extent that American manufacturers'are now exporting $1,950,000 worth of toys an- nually to Canada, Cuba, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. During 1923, American toy manufacturing plants shipped $223,000 worth of dolis and dolls’ heads as well as $1,724,000 worth of other toys abroad. More) than $30,000 in wooden toys were ex- ported to Germany, & country which has been famous as a toy production center ever since the incetlon of the custom of presenting toys to the children at Christmas. * ¥ ¥ % 'Y making in America has even penetrated to the private home where some fathers now devote their spare moments to the homely pursuit of carpentering or carving curious wooden toys for the children. - One point in case is that of a certain American scientist, who formerly was a resident of Washington. This man was a self-traincd woodworker by | bobby and a research physicist by ed- ucation. He originated an extraor- dinary innovation in the usual prepa- rations for Christmas by dedicating all his time for ten days to two wéeks previous to the holiday season to the home manufacture’ of toys for his_children. He made original de- signs and manufactured extraordi- nary toys—the like of«which are not avallable on.any toy market. During the last seven years, this man has made a most novel collection of toys, which is worth approximately $1,600. The excellence and substantibility of the toys are amply evidenced by the fact that all of them are still in use. | batteries. A remarkable miniature of a merry- go-round is one of the outstanding toys of this collection. It is a perfect reproduction of a commercial outfit. The horses and’charlots are made of i ’pl.\ the lumber used 1w tou- king 1s Basswood.. ; Making toys entirely of Basswood except the hair and cyes ~S- v00d and so operated mechanicaliy as the merry-go-round- revolves that cach second pair ‘gallop. A small efligy of a man cranks an automobile as the machine goes around while & mechanieal ticket seller functions as in life. A small toy steam engine op- erates the merry-go-round. The en- tire equipment is made of stout and durable material Another feature of t of homemade toys, s collection which formerly delighted many Washington children, | was a set of 100 building blocks made of cedar of Lebanon and so-shaped that each block was twice as wide |as thick and twice as long as wide. A perfect model of a Swiss chalet was guother masterplece of the toy world!provided with.a system of elec- tric lights generated by small storage The front side of the house was removable and the interior was furnished with every conceivable sort of doll furniture, all of which the scientist made during the pre- Christmas working season, which he annually dedicated to the manuface ture of toye. A fine ship—a perfect small-scale pattern of a great ocean liner—was also outstanding. s0on as his oldest boy reached the age of nine years the former Washington scientist presented him with a work bench and a set of cars penter's tools. The lad has reacted kindly to the gift and now is busy making eimple toys for his younges brothers and sisters. According to the only avallabld compllation of toy manufacturing stas tistics, more than 28,927,000 feet of basswood, maple, beech, birch, white | pine, elm, oak, chestnut, ash, ‘yellow | poplar, red gum, cottonwood, hema i?nr'k cypress, sycamore, butternuty | tupelo, cherry and spruce wood are now used annually in the manuface {ture of American toys. In addition {there are ions of other toys, which lare made of metal, rubber or cellus {loid. Wood is used in toy manuface lture because it is light in weight, durable and does not present raw, {rough edges against which the chile {dren may cut their han . N ca toy fashions depend ab entirely on the foibles and ifancies of the children who are to play with the articles. Toyve enable | children to imitate things that they around them. Toy automobilesy animals, toy machines, toy sole sallors and policemen are the The varieties of toys now » American toy shops is and includes educational es small maps, globes, most al toys and are machinery, constitute an- imitative of homes and n every- other dings, ent ate to certain trades size models of the ma- stry. Stiil other play- | things the form of water craft, i musical instruments, furniture, ani- | mals from the pages of natural his- + of the sports, amusements games of dhood. Building | blocks now enable the child to copy everything from the simple ridge or hut the stateliest casile € ULlocks of the nursery remain popular on the oy calendar until the mil- re among the most common- | piac wooden playthings which sooner {or later find their way into the trea jure chest of every American young- | ster. Ushally these blocks are made |of basswood, red gum, tupelo, white |pine or cedar lumber. Farm buildings, farm machinery land farm animals are all suggestive |of country 1 d, in no small de- | gree. otten arou e desires for ru- jral life, which in subsequent vears ‘govrrn the destinies of the children that once played with such to; Wagons are probably the most com- mon of all toys, just as they have long {Leen standard vehicles for nauling {and freigtage rural lite. Fire- | fighting engines and equipment of every type as well as firemen's suits and helmets are to be found in all | American shops at present, as | these standard articles lend them- ‘ue\\'es readily to small size imitation. | Toy malkers, as a class, however, istudy the wants and desires of town znd city children es | their parents are the ones who pur- {chase the most toys. Country chii- jdren generally reqifire fewer artifi | cial playthings, becatuse they have so many real pets su ts, dogs, mbs, chickens, calves, pigs, rabbits !_’nul other domestic live stock in N the category tire mo of musical tops, pi- popular and ail tov nianos are now vooden whistles also mong the juvenila : are pre-eminengly nopulaf in ol parts of the United States. The qualities of certain small straight-grained wood perfection of various toys, which are keys with anos ars | tvpes and sizes manu 1 {rank prc playthings special mallets nd clapper is { the 10w+ of wooden musical { toy while or flute is a modi- j fication of the whistle at wood floats has led to ad in the perfection of toy ships and other sraceful and beautiful really will sail and | float re marketed by the mil- | lions American toy factories. | Noah's arks and their collections of { enimals extremely popular, but thes ly are grotesque and lornamental rather then waterworthy when it comes to a matter of expos- ing them to the viplence of the rural millrace or babbling brook. Submarine types of toy boats have teen popuiar on the American toy market since the cessation of the world wa Then, there are a hundred and one other styles of toy ships. Indeed, the ('nited States Navy and sur merchant merine never should lack for recruits, if the juvenile in- terest in maritime toys is any indica- tion of the vocations which many of the youngsters when grown to man- hood will elect to follow. Toy furni- ture is always in great demand—not fragile, upholstered pieces of parlor furniture, but bedroom and library sets, tables, stands, chalrs, chests of drawers, dressers, bookcases and rockers. Camp furniture is always in demand with the youngsters. Every Karimless variety of living thing that crawls, creeps, _files, swims or walks has at one time or another been the model.for toy mak- ing activities. In fact, a survey of the toy animal business is a miniature edition of an inventory of the popn lation of our leading zoological parks and gardess. Toy makers, not con- tent with the offerings of the jungle, desert and morass, have al drawn fon their vivid imaginations and pro- duced strange and uncouth carica- tures of land and water animals an@ reptiles which never relly existed. Brightly painted amphibians and jointed reptiles usually mounted on wheels are very attractive to the youngsters of the present generation and provide opportunities for Amer- ica’s leading toy makers to surpass the fables of Aesop and Grimm in the dragons and gobline, which they an- nually manufacture in great quaati- ties, | The fact its wide of all k craft. jtoy t use | { to;