The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-06-20
.m,r,can. Are Paint users.

,, noonle consume more paint, both
~ ,he aggregate and per capita, than
ln other people In the world. In a
ssacyently sny published article on the sub
ieet n was figured that our yearly
,yeorsumption is over 1O0,000,0OO gallons
noints of all kinds. of which over
one.half is used In the paintings OF
houses.
,,on is twofold: large proportion OF
our buildings. especially In small
.orps and rural districts, are con-
s,ructed of wood, and we. as a people.
sro given to eatDess and cleanliness.
Tor fake It all in all, there is nothing
az 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:
nainted dwellings, while common in
the larger cities and towns, were the
eyceptlon in the rural districts: be-
cause on the one hand, large pro-
nortion of those buildings were tenl-
norary makeshlfts. and. on the other
hand because paint was then luxury,
extensive and difficult to obtain In the
out.of.the-way places. and requiring
snecial knowledge and much prepara-
lion to fl it for use.
The introduction of ready mixed or
nrepnred paints. about 1860, changed
The entire aspect of affairs. AS the
Jack.of.al-trades told the Walking
Delegate in one of Octave Thanet's
stories "Any one can slather paint"
The insurmountable difficulty with
our predecessors was to get the paint
ready for "slathering" That the coun-
frs was ready for paint In convenient,
popuar form is shown by the imme-
dIate success of the industry and its
phenomenal growth in fifty years from
nothing to 60.000O00 gallons-the esti-
mated output for 1900.
Some pretty severe things have been
written about anc said against this
class of paints, especially by painters
and manufacturers Of certain kinds OF
paste paints. Doubtless in many in
stances these strict1r 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-
peared, and the 700 ente-prising man
ufacturers that produced them have
come to grief in the bankruptcy
courts or ht e .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 very lew
price-frequently below the wholesale
price of inseed OIL The buyer of such
goods. ike the b1yer 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 1t 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 rs to th> best pigments
and because the dailv results of tests
on a large scale are constantly inn
proving tie formulas of manufacture
ers; but Gil have come to the conclu-
sion that the essentials of good paint
are pure linseed oil. fine grin ling and
thorough Incorporation, and in these
particulars all the produces Of repu-
table manufacture 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 Jaint himself
and TO be paid for doing it, end to a
certain class of painters it is no rec
ommendation for a paint to say that it
will last five or ten years. The longer
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
1t, he is losing money. because he can
buy better paint than he can mix
at less than 1t 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 ready
mixed paint. He knows better than
any one else the "when" and "how''
and the difference between painting
and "slathering" is much greater than
It appears TO a novice. Every one to
his trade, and after all painting is the
painters trade and not the households
er's.