Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-04-21


Fifty years ago well-pain.ed house
was a rare sight: to-day an unpainted
house is rarer. II people knew the real
value of paint house in need of paint
would be "ScarCer than hens teeth"
There was some excuse for our fore
fathers. Many OF them lived in houses
hardly worth preserving; they knew
nothing about paint, except that ii WAS
pretty; and 10 get a house painted was
q serious and costly job. The differ
ence between their case and ours Is
that when they wanted paint 1t had TO
be made for them; whereas when we
need paint we can go to the nearest
good store and buy 1t, In any color or
quality ready for use. We know, or
ought to know by this time, that to
let a house stand unpainted is LlOSt
costly, while a good coat of paint, up
piled in season, Is the best of INVEST
ments. II we put Off the brief visit OF
the painter we shall in due time have
the carpenter coming to pay us a losS
visit at our expense. Lumber is con-
stantly getting scarcer, dearer and
poorer. while prepared paints are get
ting plentier, better and less expensive.
1t is short-Slghted plan 10 let the val"
liable lumber of our houses so to pieces
TOT tne want OF paint.
For the man that needs paint there
are two forms from which to choose;
ene Is the old form. still favored by cei-
tGin unprUs lrsSiVe painters who have
not yet caught up with the tlmes-lead
and oil; the other is the ready-fOr-use
| paint found in every up-tO-date store.
The first must be mixed with oil,
drlers, turpentlne and cOlOrs before it
N pth
be stirred up in the can and ii is
ready to go on. TO buy lead and oil,
colors, etc, and mix them into paint
by hand is, in this twentieth century,
about the same as refusing to ride in Il
trolley car because ones grandfather
had to walk or ride on horseback
when he wanted to go anywhere
Prepared paints have been on the mar
-N-a---i-~.- +L~.,- Gftu wars hut thav buva
proved on the whole SO ineRxptltfsHfytes. mex tltfH tesSS IS
convenient and so good that the con-
sumption to-day Is something over six
ty million gallons year and still grow
ing. Unless they had been in the main
satisfactory, it stands to reason there
would have been no such steady
growth in their use.
Mixed paints are necessarily cheaper
than paint of the hand-miXed kind. he
machinery from materials bough; in
large quantities by the manufactures.
They are necessarily better than paints
mixed by hand, because they are more
finely ground and more thoroughly
mixed and because there Is less chance
of The raw materials in them being
adulterated. No painter, however care
full he may be, can ever be sure that
the materials he buys are not adulter-
ated, but the large paint manufacturer
does know ia every case. because
everything he buys goes through the
chemists hands before he accepts 1t.
OF course there are poor paints ON
the market (Which are generally cheap
paints). So there is poor -four poor
cloth, poor soap; but because Of that
do we 60 back to the handmlll, the
hand-loom and the sOap-kettle of the
backwoods? No, we use our common
sense in choosing goods. We find out
the reputation of the different brands
of -four. cloth and soap; we take ac-
count of the standing of the dealer that
handles them, we ask our ueighbOrs.
So with paint; if the manufacturer has
q good reputation, If the dealer is re-
sponsible, If our. neighbOrs have had
satisfaction with it, that ought to be
pretty BOOu eNluellCe ludI lue pulul 10
all right.
Many men of many minds"-
Many paints of many kinds;
but while prepared paints may differ
considerably in composition the better
grades of them all agree pretty closely
in results. "All roads lead to Rome"
and the paint manufacturers, starting
by different paths, have all the same
Object--tO make the best paint possible
to sell for the least money and so cap
ture and keep the trade.
There is scarcely any other article Of
general use on the market to-day that
can be bought with anything like the
assurance of getting your moneys
worth as the established brands OF pre-
pared paint. The paint you buy to-day
may not be like certain patent medi-
cine, the same as you have always
bought" but If not, it will be because
the manufacturer has found way OF
giving you a better article for your
money, and so making sure Of your
next order. p. q.