Show SANTA CLAUS HARD UP santa claus is going to td be a hard pushed man this christmas to supply all the kiddies with the various contraptions la iii which they delight for foxy word nord comes from his big headquarters in that there is a dearth in many of the lines i which he has so generously disben dispensed sed in the past and the pitiful part of it will be that he will be forced to use discrimination for toys are either soaring in price or are unobtainable and unless there is a more generous opening oftie pure strings of philanthropic persons perhaps some poor little boys and girls baynot may not be so happy this year despite the prosperity on every hand and the war is the cause of the trouble in just as it is in many many other instances dealers say a more severe blow than many other lines for the reason that athas ia has shut off a large proportion of the cheaper and more popular contrivances this year there will be no german toys anid and its it is from that country that a very large per has come in the past few toys have been shipped to this country from germany since early in 1914 and even the leftover stocks are exhausted neith er will there be toys from aus tria and only a few from japan france switzerland and england and dealers say they ara artreal real ly in a quandary ih as a result of this situation they may obtain american anade toys in limited quantities qun aliey hardly know just which lines to purchase or the quantities of each in addition to what they have taken in previous years orthey they are not familiar with what the fancies of the trade will turn cum to in these homemade home made ar articles even american toys gavery afe very hard to buy the store maniL managers gers say for many manufacturers have turned their attention to larger things which area are more profitable as the results resul tsy of the war i As for the beautiful beautt ful scintillating tree ornaments which have been so cheap arid plentiful in the past they aie are practically unobtainable and those who coll contemplate the usual christmas tree spectacle will havo to rummage in the attic andr ferret out the ornaments used in past years or else figure out some other sort of decoration most of these ornaments are of german origin I 1 mechanical toys and the dolls which the youngsters love are also mostly gernan made mad e and although attempts are being made to duplicate them in this country ahe they k are crude dealers dealer s say arfel an dlack lack the careful finish of the foreign goods although coi considerably iside ra bly higher in price A large retailer of toys predicted that american manufacturers will not be able to fill half the orders on their books and that there will not be one third enough dolls to take care of the demand and this in the face of the fact that the christmas trade is expected to be larger this year than ever before |