The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-07-11
Americans Are Paint UA~rs.

Americans Are Paint UA-rs.
It has been remarked that the Amer
ican people consume more paiut, both
In the aggregate and per capita, thar
any other people in the world. In
recently published article on the SUBJ
ject 1t was figured that our yearly
consumption is over 1O0,000,0OO 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 twofod: large proportion OK
our buildings. especially in small
towns and rural districts, are con-
structed Of wood, and we, as people,
are given to neatness and cleanliness.
For. take it all in all, there is nothing
so cleanly 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, large pro-
portion of those buildings were tem-
porary makeshifts, and, on the other
hand, because paint was then luxury.
expensive and difficult to obtain in 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
Jack-of-ail-trades told the Walking
Delegate in one of Octave Thanets
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 in convenient.
popular form is shown by the imme-
diate success of the industry and It's
phenomenal growth in fifty years from
nothing to G0,000,000 galions-the estl'
mated output for 1000.
Some pretty severe things have been
written about anG said against this
class of paints, especially by painters
and manufacturers Of certain kinds or
paste paints. Doub. in many in-
stances these strict1res have been JUS
tilted and some fearfully and wonder
fully constructed mixtures have in 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-
poared, and the zoo cnteTprising man-
ufacturers that produced them have
come to grief in the bankruptcy
courts or have .earne! by costly ex-
perience that honesty IS the best pol
icy and Lave reformed their ways.
The chief exceptions to this .Ule are
some mail order houses who sell direct
to the country trade, at a very l1W
price-freQuently below the wholesale
price Of linseed oil. Tile buyer of such
goods, ike the buyer of a gold brick"
has only himself to blame if he fin
his purchase worthless With gold
selling at any bank or mint at fixed
price owners of gold do not sell it at
q discount; and with linseed oil quoted
everywhere at fifty tc seventy cents
gallon, manufacturers do not sell
pure linseed oil paint at thirty or forty
cents a gallon.
The composition Of prepared paints
differs because paint experts lave not
yet agreed IS to th> best pigments
and because the daily results Of tests
on a large scale are constantly i'm
proving tie formulas of manufactur-
ers; but ell have come to the conclu-
sion that the essentials Of good paint
are pure linseed oil, fine grin1ing and
thorough incorporation, and in these
particulars all the produces CT repu-
table manufacturers correspond; all
first class prepared paints are thor
oughly mixed and ground and the liq-
uid base is almost exclusively pure
lInseed oil, the necessary volatile
"thinners" and Japan dryers.
The painters opposition 20 such pro-
ducts is based largely on self-interest:
he want. to mix the Iaint himself
and to be paid for doing it; and to a
certain class Of painters 1t is no rec
ommendation for a paint to say that 1t
will last five or ten years. The longer
paint lasts the longer he will have
to wait for the job Of repainting. Inc
latter consideration has no weight with
the consumer, and the former is
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 lie but know
it, he Is losing money. because he can
buy better paint than lie can mix
at less than it costs him to mix it.
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
aud "sIathering" is much greater than
Il appears to a novice. Every one to