The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1906-04-25
THE WHY AND WHEREFORE
OF READY MIXED PAINTS

in Oil with slab and muller and either
t'cut" shellac in alcohol in churn or
boiled up gums and solvents in a pot
lover the Kitchen fire.. 1t was the
physical iIllpossibiltyp of meeting iii
this way the demand of a rapidly grow
ling population OF wooden-1louse build
lers that led. to the establishment OF
paint factoriesi. 3IF ih5ut- 80
AT first only white tealead and colors
lwere ground lin oil and supplied in paste
form to painters who combined them
with the necessary thrnrerS in the
| shop. But custom is tyrant, yield
ing onlyfto force, and up to fifty years
| ago there were still old painters who
bought and sinrulled'' their own colors.
The second step towards specializa-
tion was the Yankee invention of
ready mixed paint; about the middle OF
the last century The formula was pat
| ented by the inventor, and in some
sections of the country all rea jy mix
ed paints are still popularity known as
patent paint" though they bear no re-
semblance to the original patented
| article, and none of them are now
patented. @ .'>
The step was perfectly logical: if
white lead ground in oil by machinery,
and pigments ground in oil by machin-
cry are better and cheaper than the
same materials ground by hand in the
paint shop, why wouldn't it be better
and cheaper to leave the whole process
of paint making and mixing to the
paint factory? Hence. the modern
paint factory and the modern ready
mixed paint, And they have come to
stay. According to DR.. Toch, who has
lcarefully compiled the statistics OF the
subject the annual consumption of
ready mixed paints Increased from
zero in 1860 to something like :3o,ooo,-
900 gallons in 1908" In comparison
with such figures, the increase in the
consumption of lead in oil during the
same period is, not worth considering.
Painters as class are opposed to
ready-mixed paints; partly because
they have been educated to the use Of
another form Of paint; partly because
the workman is always conservative;
and partly because painters believe,
wrongly of course, that shop mixing
is profitable, whereas it is a self-evi-
dent fact that hand labor can never
compete, either in cost or efficiency,
against machine 1abor--it is the old
case of the "grain cradle" against the
| reaper and binder, the hand-loom
against the power loom, the planning
mill against the carpenters plane, the
sewing machine against the thread and
needle. The whole, history of human
progress lis filled with illustrative in
cldents, showing that increased facili-
ties of production and decreased cost
always lead to increased consumption
and a consequent increase of demand
for labor. The sewing machine, to
take but one instance, has increased
the demand for needle-work so that
ten, yes hundfedseamStreSs are now
Ihealthily employed where $briea foaild
precarious5 and unwholesonie occupa-
tiot before the days Of Elias, Howe.
So it will be with ready-rrixed pain
lin fact is already so: Before 1860
paint was something Of a luxury; to-
day an unpainted building in the more
progressive parts of the country is ex-
ceptional and "sticks UP like a sore
thumb! 1T will become rarer and
rarer as property, owners come more
and more to- realize the fact that it is
cheaper to use paint than to save it.
he statement sounds like a paradox,
but it is bare truth Unpainted wood
Or metal will decay while the regular,
Judicioas use of good paint will pre-
serve wood or metal indefinitely. 1t is
cheaper and safer for a property own
er to neglect his, fire insurance than
to neglect painting, because. while
Jew buildings burn all buildings de-
cay unless protected with paint.
That fact being self-evident the
choice OF paint becomes the important
considerations and here we are led ,in-
eyitably back to ready mixed paint as
the logical up-to-date conclusion.
llle case seems to me so clear and
simple as to be4scarcely worth arguing
about. On the one hand, we have
white lead, etc, ground TO a thick
paste in linseed oil and tinting colors
Iof various kinds (pure or irnpure) all
so ground to thick paste These the
painter must mix with paddle in a
paint bucket with large quantities Of
iinseed OIL trrpentine and liquid dryers.
Whatever his skill or patience he catl-
not in this way produce a uniform
mixture. This fact can be proved at
any time by taking few drops Of such
a mixture on ground-g glass slab and
rubbing it with a muller The tint will
gradually deepen, proving that the
colorIng matter was not thoroughly
incorpo and il the coloring mat
ter, which We can distinguish is not
evenly distributed, neither are the
other ingredients which we cannot dis
|tinguish. Moreover, the painter IS
more likelyftflar not to get adulterat-
ed oil and turpentine and cheap rosin
dryers. He does not know, the dealer
does not know, but those who study
paints know that this condition is at
the root of more than half the COM
plants OF poor painting.
| On the other hand we have ready.
mixed paints, prepared by machinery.
IN a paint factory. equipped for analy-
SIS and testing, The paint manufacturer
living depends on His ability ia give
the best satisfaction at the lowest cost
1t IS q n1atter of experience that the
manufacturer iii any line who fails to-.
make good does NOT tiast. II paint