The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1906-09-11
Americans Arc Paint Users.


In the aggregate and per capita, than
any other people in the world. In a
recently published article on the sub
Jet 1t was figured that our yearly
consumption is over 100 100000 gallons
OF paints OF all kinds. of which over
one-half is used in the paintings OF
houses.
The reason for this great consump-
ton is twofold: a large proportion OF
our buildings, especially i'm small
towns and rural districts. are con-
suucted of wood, and we. as people,
are given to neatness and cleanliness.
For, take it all in all, there is nothing
so Clearly or so sanitary as paint
Travel where we will throughout the
country, everywhere we find the neat.
cheerful painted dwelling, proclaiming
at once the prosperity and the self
respect Of our population.
Fifty years ago this was not so;
painted dwellings, while common in
the larger cities and towns. were the
exception in the rural districts: be-
cause, on the one hand, a large pro-
portion of those buildings were tenn
porary makeshifts. and, on the other
hand, because paint was then a luxury,
expensive and difficult to obtain I'm the
out-of-the-way places, and requiring
special knowledge and much prepara-
ton to fit it for use.
The introduction of ready mixed or
prepared paints, about 1860, changed
the entire aspect Of affairs. AS the
Observation-Disclosures told the Walking
Delegate in one of Octave Thaners
stories ANY one can slather paint"
The insurmountable difficulty with
our predecessors was to get the paint
ready for "slathering." That the coun-
try was ready for paint I'm convenient,
popular form is shown by the imme-
date success of the industry and it's
phenomenal growth in fifty years from
nothing to 60,000,00O gallons-the est.
mated output for 1900
Some pretty severe things have been
written about and said against this
class OF paints, especially by painters
and manufacturers Of certain kinds of
paste paints. Doub less in many In
stances these strictIres have been JUS
tilted and some fcarfully and wonder
fully constructed mixtures have I'm the
past been worked off on the guileless
consumer in the shape of prepared
paint. But such products have had
their short day and quickly disap-
peared, and The too enterprising man
ufacturers that produced them have
come to grief in the bankruptcy
courts or have leaTne ! by costly ex-
perienCe that honesty is the best pol
icy and Lave reformed their ways.
The chief exceptions to this lule are
some mail order houses who sell direct
to the country trade, at very low
price-frequently below the wholesale
price OF linseed oil. The buyer Of such
goods ike the buyer Of gold brick"
has only himself to blame if he fines
his purchase worthless With gold
selling at any bank or mint at a fixed
price owners of gold do not sell it at
a discount; and with linseed oil quoted
everywhere at fifty to seventy cents
gallon, manufacturers do not sell a
pure linseed oil paint al thirty or forty
cents a gallon
The composition of prepared paints
differs because paint experts Lave not
yet agreed as to tho best pigments
and because the daily results of tests
on a large scale are constantly inn
proving the formulas Of manufacture
ers; but oil have come to the cOnclu-
sion that the essentials of good paint
are pure linseed oil. fine grinding and
thorough incorporation, and I'm these
particulars Pll the products Of repu-
first class prepared paints are thor
oughly mixed and ground and the liz
uid base is almost exclusively pure
linseed oil, the necessary volatile
"thinners" and Japan dryers.
The painters opposition TO such pro-
ducts is based largely on self-interest.
He want to mix the paint himself
and to be paid for doing #; and to a
certain class Of painters 1t is no rec
ommendatlon for a paint to say that il
will last FIVE or ten years. The longer
a paint lasts the longer he Will have
to wait for the job Of repainting. The
latter consideration has no weight with
the consumer, and the former IS a
false idea OF economy Hand labor
can never be as cheap or as efficient
as machine work. and every time the
painter mixes paint. did he but know
it, he IS losing money. because he can
buy better paint than he can mix
at less than it costs him 20 mix st.
Prepared paints have won not only
on their actual merits but on their
convenience and economy They are
comparatively cheap. and they are in-
COmparably handy. But when all is
said the experienced painter IS the
proper person TO apply even a ready
mixed paint He knows better than
any one else the when and chow
and the difference between painting
and "slathcrlng' is much greater than
81 appears TO- q novice. Every one 30
his trade. and after an painting is the
painters trade and not the household
or.fa