In the creative thinker of Reverend Michael Esper , teddy bear were public enemy identification number one .
In July 1907 , Esper , the leader of St. Joseph ’s Catholic Church in St. Joseph , Michigan , addressedhis congregation about a forthcoming church social . Church members were being encouraged to get along a doll for resale to help fundraising sweat . All dolls were welcome , Esper said , but the teddy bear — the plush , furred ursine that had become the miniature course of the here and now — was not .
“ Though I shall not interdict it , I would like it understand by all who are to take part in the event that it is my earnest desire that no one bring a teddy bear to add to the collection of dolls , ” he aver .
Such bear were “ a bundle of horridness ” that he found “ loathsome . ” At another point in time , he referred to them as “ pretender animal . ”
Esper was not alone in his condemnation of the teddies , though it stands as one of the more bizarre protestations of the twentieth C . What could a human being of the cloth , or anyone , have against one of the most innocuous plaything ever devised ? What had the bears done to provoke such ire and be condemn as bestow to the moral radioactive decay of society ?
Esper had his understanding .
Bear Country
Theteddy bearemerged out of a presidency . In November 1902 , PresidentTheodore Rooseveltwas on a bear hunting excursion in Mississippi at the invitation of its regulator , Andrew Longino . Roosevelt , a magnificently tough outdoorsman , intended to put a bear in his sights and blow the hapless animal into non - macrocosm .
Nature , however , was uncooperative . Roosevelt did n’t see any bears . finally , his tracker cornered a bear and tied it to a tree , but Roosevelt was n’t give it : He considered attacking the defenseless bear unsporting and refused to shoot . ( The bear was still tag for death , however — it was pop by another person on the hunting . )
The spiritualist had a field day with the President of the United States ’s perceived nobility . So did cartoonist Clifford Berryman , who eviscerate a panel forThe Washington Postdepicting Roosevelt ’s refusal . The cartoon was such a hitting that Berryman kept summate bears to his drawings of Roosevelt .
The storey caught the attention of Morris Michtom , a confectioner in Brooklyn who think there might be public interest in a gormandize bear . His married woman , Rose , began sewing them by hired man ; Michtom sought and plug the permission of Roosevelt to dub it the “ teddy bear ” after Roosevelt ’s “ Teddy ” soubriquet . Though the Chief Executive reportedly hated being call “ Teddy , ” he had no issue with Michtom using it for the stuffed beast . ( gorge bear had , of course , existed before this , mostnotablyin Germany , where lucullan toymaker Margarete Steiff peddled bears , elephant , and other animals . Her nephew , Richard , reportedly sketch a stuff bear as early on as 1894 . )
Michtom soon take form the Ideal Toy Company . Ideal and other manufacturers watched as the bears flew off retail shelves , bolstered by the notoriety of the Roosevelt narrative . Priced between 50 cents and $ 5 , the toy created a teddy bear diligence that was soonbringingin $ 2 million in annual sales .
By 1907 , it appeared as though the bears would become an evergreen plant toy category , one that could potentially replace the long-lived dame market thanks to their unisex appeal . While boy of the era largely ward off dolls , the teddy was socially acceptable . bear , after all , were count to be maraud killers .
Yet the teddy drift did n’t escape the tending of critic . The most vocal was Reverend Michael Esper , whose admonition made national headlines . It was n’t just his anti - teddy position but his abstract thought . Esper believed that teddy bears threatened to undermine the maternal instincts of minuscule daughter he conceive were better sustain by doll babe , declaring that the peddling and hugging of teddy would lead to “ wash suicide . ”
The concept of race suicide wascirculatedby a prominent sociologist of the era bring up Edward Ross , who admonish that a combination of immigration and low birthing rates could load American culture . ( His concept are not unlike those of the “ great replacement possibility ” of today . ) Esper built upon this brazen theory by surmising teddy bears would direct to few child being born .
“ There is something natural in the forethought of a doll by a little girl , ” he said aspartof his 15 - minute fulmination on the bear . “ It is the first reflexion of the intuitive feeling of maternity . And in the development of these motherly instincts is the promise of all nations … It is a grotesque crime to do anything that will tend to ruin these instincts . That is what the teddy bear is doing , and that is why it is going to be a factor in the race suicide problem if the custom is not suppressed . ”
Father Esper seemed to be unreasoningly sicken even by the presence of the bear . “ What is more disgusting than to see a child of tender years fondle and caressing and even osculate these pseudo animal ? ” he asked .
In Defense of the Teddy
Jane Close , a supervisory teacher of sewing for a New York schooltime district , agreedwith Esper ’s teddy bias , if not precisely his motive . “ The teddy bear is not skillful for little girls , ” she suppose . “ The bear is keeping the youngster from the pleasure of handle for a dolly . He ca n’t get into pretty frock and dainty underwear , and the petty girl who has him for a pet gets no inducement to make these things . Hence she lose the education involved in dainty garments . The teddy bear is all right for male child , but not for girls . ”
Another critic , W.A. Ramsay — who wasdescribedby theNevada State Journalas “ childless and single , yet an observer”—concurred . “ I concord with the non-Christian priest , ” he said . “ I never liked the teddy bear . The old - fashioned doll is the matter for the child to bet with . There is something human about a doll , at least it has the human range , but these toy animate being have nothing to urge them . ”
The teddy was charter sullen fire . But it had its share of defenders . “ Anything that awakens as much love and fellow feeling among child as the teddy bear is certainly good and sane,”saidMrs . Dwight Goss , a instructor in Grand Rapids , Michigan . “ I have observed that piddling girlfriend often favour the teddy bear to their dolls , but I think it is because the bear is less perishable … as to the paternal instinct , nature has planted that too cryptical to be imperiled by a teddy bear or anything else for that topic . There is nothing to occupy about on that score . ”
Mrs. George Murphy , a executive program of Grand Rapids kindergarten , chafed at the trace bears might overrule the chick . “ There is no probability that the teddy bear will ever become a usurper in the realm of dolls , ” she said . “ Little girl make love their skirt and playhouses because they represent the crime syndicate and the home . With them , they regurgitate the little drama of family life . The teddy bear is a gaud , and one can bank the nestling to give it its proper place . ”
Richard Osmun , editor program ofPlaythingsmagazine , believed Esper had made a difference . “ Father Esper of St. Joseph ’s Catholic Church is not alone in his fear of the teddy hold evil , ” Osmunsaidin August 1907 . “ At first , when the bear were something of a gewgaw , there was no protest to their use on the part of mothers . But now that the novelty has wear off some mother are run to the idea that nothing should supplant the quondam clock time dolly in the heart of their shaver . ”
The bears , of course , suffer no permanent injury from Esper , though the same could not be said of Harold Smith . In 1923 , the 14 - year - old boy cross paths with the Father , who was by thenaffiliatedwith a Detroit church . Esper catch Smith as he was seek to steal contribution boxes . As he was strike Smith to the parish house , the male child set about to flee . Esper took heading and shot the child with a revolver . luckily , Smith was said to not have been in earnest bruise . With all due respect to Esper , it seems like he may have been a far big risk to children than the lowly teddy bear .
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