Delivery of Toys Interrupted by War

A reporter with the Pantagraph observed on this date 100 years ago, that it was going to be a sad Christmas. He interviewed W B Read, who reported that the previous Christmas about 75 percent of orders came through, but in 1915, very few toys from Europe were being delivered. The shipments of toys of course were being blockaded by the British Navy.

Why were Americans so dependent on European toys? American manufacturers could not produce the same toys that were produced in Germany and certainly could not produce them for the same price. There were no doll manufacturers and no mechanical toy manufacturers in America. Germany had cornered the market on beautiful dolls, and among antique dolls they are of course the most treasured now. "America cannot