Low Cost Imported Toys; some things never change

It is easy to believe that the concerns regarding Chinese dominance of toy industry manufacturing is a new phenomenon. That most toys were formerly made in the US and that things changed about 25 years ago.

That was why I had an "aha!" moment this week as I was researching some early 20th century toy companies that no longer exist. While doing my research I came upon a hearing that took place in 1921 whose purpose was to consider whether tariffs on imported toys should be increased (Here is a link). The toy industry went before the congressional committee led by none other than A.C. Gilbert, who pioneered toy chemistry sets and was known for the Erector Set.

It seems that with World War I behind them, the self-described "New American Toy Industry" was concerned about the import of "cheap" German toys. The Germans were said by the Americans to be using inexpensive adult and child labor. It's startling how the reactions to Chinese imports in the late 20th Century and German imports in the early part of the century closely mirror each other.

The parallels are not just in the reaction to cheap foreign labor but also to the sheer dominance that Germany exercised over global toy production. Below are figures I found in the Congressional record. They are the comparative figures for American toy imports (excluding dolls) from Germany, Japan, France, England and "All Other Countries" (not shown)  according to the Congressional record.

                      Germany         Japan        France        England        Total

1914           $5,926,941   $434,006    $206,134    $420,859    $7,267,523

1920           $3,186,650   $3,958,051 $164,688    $195,131    $7,898,162

What I find fascinating in these figures is that the demand for lower priced goods was so strong that as Germany lost market share due to the World War I years (America embargoed all German toys) that another low price provider, Japan, picked up the slack.

If you are interested in history, it is fascinating to read the transcript. One of the congressmen doing the questioning was Wisconsin's Progressive Republican Senator, Battling Bob Lafollette. Also on the committee was Senator Reed Smoot, the co-author of what was to become the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 that some blame for starting the depression.

The more you know about the past, the present appears a little less strange.