The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1907-09-06
Omaha Bee.

When a house is erected, it is not
complete until the painter has finished
his work. Especially is this so where
the bulk of the building material is
wood.
Paint is needed not only to beautify
the structure. but to protect it. Paint
is really the life of a wood building,
preserving it from decay. In its best
form, paint is a thin casing of metallic
lead-one of the few materials which
will not oxidize or rust on exposure
TO moisture.
The Importance of good paint, and
moreover, a good painter to mix 1t
right and apply it right, can therefore
be scarcely over-estimated. Good
paint, properly mixed for the surface
which it is intended to protect and
conscientiously and skillfully applied
will last a number of years and Will
save constant bills of expense. Poor
paint cracks and scales off in a short
time, often in less than one year.
In selecting paint material, it is gen.
orally safe to rely upon an experlen-
ced painter whose work is found to be
uniformly satisfactory to his GUS
toner's. You cannot tell anything
about the durability of a paint when
it is first put on. Good and poor
paints may look exactly alike when
first spread.
A house owner should not make the
mistake of asking for competitive bids
from a number of painters and ac-
cepting the lowest bid unless a specific
material has been previously specified.
1t is not enough to specify simply
''pure white lead and oil' or ''best
Materials" Even some good painters
who would use the best white lead and
best linseed oil if left to their own
will use an adulterated or
cheap white lead $50 called) if they
know they are in a close competition
and must name a very low price to
the job. Name a standard
brand of white lead always, and if
possible a certain brand of linseed oil
After a standard brand of white
lead and pure linseed oil have been
specified and bid upon, the property
owner yves it to himself to see that he
gets the material he bargains for
insist on having the white
lead and linseed oil brought to the
premises in the original packages
and mixed there. This is a good
plan to prevent substitution and is a
good plan for the private house owner
10 follow.
But how shall l know good paint
materials ? the house owner asks. 1t
Is really a problem sometimes. Un-
M can't depend on the
words ''pure white lead'' on a key.
In most of our States, all kinds of
mixtures, some containing none at all
are sold as ''pure white lead" For
years this abuse was allowed to con-
,inue, until two years ago the North
Dakota food and dairy commissioner
an agitation which resulted in
he passage of the now famous North
Dakota pure paint law. 1t requires
paint packages to be honestly labeled.
This year several other States fol-
owed North Dakota's lead.
In the investigation which resulted
the passage of the North Dakota
paint law, it a shown that out of
brands of alleged "white
ead' analysed, only two YER what
hey pretended to be. The others
'anged from 10 per cent, adulteration
Up to 100 per cent. adulteration THAT
s, no white lead at ally.
Ready prepared paints were also
examined and found to contain other
solids besides white lead, and other
beside linseed oil, water being
! favorite substitute for the oil.
To label a package white lead" or
anything else when it is not that mat
srial, seems to the ordinary citizen a
plain case of fraud.
The makers of adulterated white
cad claim, however, that it is a trade
and that the lower price at
which the mixture sells should be a
warming to the buyer that he is not
pure white lead; that when
metallic lead 1.-THE raw material from
which pure white lead is made), is
at $685. per 100 pounds, any
body with common sense should know
ne was not getting pure white lead
when he paid only s6 per 100 pounds
it.
That is all true enough, but at the
same time it does not excuse lying Ia