Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1886-02-26
A CARD TO THE PdB6Ic.
Roseburg, Feb. a6, 1886.

| Roseburg, Feb. 26, 1886.
As worker in marble and stone wish tc
say a few words concerning the merits of those
materials for building and cemetery purposes.
The white bronze company of detroit Mich.
in way that seems to me very much like an
effort to lobster UP tottering establishment,
have made savage attack on all kinds of stone
as being unfit for use. Hear what they say.
"one of the principal advantages over stone
is the legibility of inscription" Il would ask
any person Of ordinary intelligence, how would
sign, painted with black letters on a darl,
back ground, look beside one with black leg
ters on white back ground, which is a III.
allel case with letters on bronze For there is
about as much sense in using the expression
white black bird, as white bronze. Evidently
those who dubbed this subslance white in the
sense that marble is white were either poor
judges Of color or had poor opinion of their
customers IN the matter of distinguishing be
tween colors. l beg to differ with the gentle
men and must say that an inscription properly
executed in marble either raised or sunk looks
fifty per cent better than that on your so called
white bronze. The same is equally true Of
carved work. Flowers foliage and figures in
marble, clay and wax, never fail to repay the
patient and ingenious mechanic with satisfac
ton by reason of the material used, while many
q man Of more than ordinary ability has been
,Ioop,oJ 70 Iittcr 4 -,
work transferred TO bronze, by the absence Of
expression and erasure of fine lines of his fig
ure, while his flowers foliage and drapcry are
SO clogged with molten matter as to exclude
the artistic effect of contrast produced by the
mass OF shade and shadow capable of being i'm
parted 10 marble. As to the s'indestructibiI.
ity" of bronze and ''disintegration" of marble
harped upon by the "white bronze I" champions
would remark, the Pharoahs should have
been apprizcd Of the fact when they undertook
to build the pyramids and Solomon before he
put the masons 10 work on the temple, of what
material is the finest statuary in the world
manufactured? Is it of white bronze of De
troit, or marble? And what Of the marble ed
iice Of y. T. Stewart, the brown stone front
Of 9Th avenue, and the Bunker Hill monument
Does their present condition corroboratc the
Co.'S. quotation of Prof. a. Julien Of Columbia
College New York? "That some buildings
less than ten years old show signs of decay"
If your white bronze, gentlemen, had been all
you proclaim and wish it 10 be ID would have
driven marble and stone to the rca many years
ago, instead of struggling now TO obtain for
itself bare recognition, but the loud poise Of
all the hollow bronze in Michigan will not be
able to force it to the front, stock holding pro
fessors Of chemistry to the contrary notwith-
standing. We cordially invite inspection of
our style of work, and feel confident of our
ability to secure that patronage which has here
toiore been accorded TO non residents whose
interests are not in the least identified with
the growth and prosperity Of the city and sur
rounding country. All orders for building
stone such as caps and sills, watcrtables, steps,
coping for cemeteries, tagging &C. also mon
uments, head stones of any design, will be ex-
ecuted on the most reasonable terms. Further
more we will furnish models in clay of any
carved work required on marble, free of charge
and guarantee satisfactory copyI
Respectfully, PHILIP KELLY,
J. II. O'MALLEY.