Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-06-21
AMERICANS ARE PAINT USERS

JUL III tAC a66iC6otO 0hN POI S&PA1 Il
than any other people in the world.
In a recently published article on the
subject it was figured that our yearly
consumption is over 100, 100000 gal
Ions of paints of all kinds, CT which
over one-half is used In the paintings |
OF houses. .tN
The reason for this great consump-
ton is twofold: a large proportion
of our buildings, especially in small
towns and rural districts, are con-
structed of wood, and we, as a people,
are given to neatness and cleanliness.
For, take it all in all, there is moth
ing so clearly or SO sanitary as paint.
Travel where we will throughout
the country, everywhere we find the
neat, cheerful painted dwelling, pro-
claiming 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 lux
ury, expensive and difficult to obtain
in the out-of-the-way places, and re-
curing special knowledge and much
preparation 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-all-trades told the Walking
Delegate in one of Octave Thanet's
stories, Anyone can slather paint"
The i~nsurmountable, difficulty with
our predecessors was to get the paint
ready for "slathering." That the
!, country was ready for paint in a con-
, !, venient, popular form is shown by
: the immediate success Of the indus
> try and it's phenomenal growth in
, so years from nothing to 60,000,O00
: gallons-the estimated output for
. 1900.
u Some pretty severe things have
= been written about and said against
: this class of paints, especially by
painters and manufacturers of GER
u tain kinds of paste paints. Doubtless
y in many instances these structures
u have been justified and some fearful
!, ly and wonderfully constructed mix
u lures have in the past been worked
$ off on the guileless consumer in the
shape of prepared paint. But such
W products have had their short day
IL and quickly disappeared, and the too
y enterprising manufacturers that pro-
~ duced them have com to grief in
the bankruptcy courts or have
IL learned by costly experience that
honesty is the best policy and have
III reformed their ways.
The chief exceptions to this rule
are some mail order houses who sell
or direct to the country trade, at a very
~ low price-frequently below the
10 wholesale price of linseed oil. The
III buyer of such goods, like the buyer
he of a gold brick" has only himself tt
III blame if he finds his purchase worth
VI less. With gold selling at any banl
liz or mint at a fixed price, owners o
ri gold do not sell it at a discount; ant
with linseed oil quoted everywhere
at so to 70 cents a gallon, manufac
turers do not sell a pure linseed OF
paint at 80 or 40 cents a gallon.
% The composition of prepared paint
differs because paint experts hav
ID not yet agreed as to the best piE
ID ments and because the daily result
n of tests on a large scale are constan
y ly improving the formulas of mani
2 facturers; but all have come to tn
conclusion that the essentials of goo
\ paint are pure linseed oil, fine grint
n ing and thorough incorporation, an
y In these particulars all the product
of reputable manufacturers corr
spond; nil f1rst-class prepared pain,
are thoroughly mixed and ground an
- the liquid base is almost exclusive
pure lirseed oil, the necessary vol
J tile "thinners" and Japan dryers.
The painters opposition to SUE
products is based largely on self
terest. He wants to mix the pail
himself and to be paid for doing
and to q certain class Of painters
is no recommendation for a paint
say that it will last five or ten veal
cen, The longer a paint lasts the long
OF he will have to wait for the job
dis repainting. The latter considerati
alter has no weight with the consum'
Win and the former is a false idea
hg- economy. Hand labor can never
lent as cheap or as efficient as MACH
My. work, and every time the paint
n mixes paint, did he but know it,
ara is losing money, because he can b
Sne a better paint than he can mix
her less than 1t costs him to mix it.
the Prepared paints have won, not OF
on their actual merits. but on tn
convenience and economy. They
ne ] comparatively cheap and they are
egan comparably handy. But when all
'hts. said, the experienced painter Ia
proper person to apply even a rea
'hlte mixed paint. He knows better tt
hen anyone else the when" and "ho
II To and the difference between paint
hut and "slathering" is much grea
than it appears to a novice. Eve
ON one to his trade, and after all pa
sua'' ing is the painters trade and not
Then h~ouseho,der,s
PASS