The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-07-10
40 YEARS OF WALL PAPER.
During Which Long Time the Price Has
Come Down 100 Per Cent.

s. S. Conner. of Westheld, Mass, is
said 10 have been in the wallpaper BUSH
ness longer than any other man in this
country. 1t was forty years ago, says
the Springfield Union. that MIR Conner
made his first venture.
Machinery such as is now used was, of
course. unknown. and all the wallpapers
were printed by hand.
A modern wallpaper manufactures boasts
thar in tw,; hours he can convert a tree
into pulp. manufacture it into wallpaper
and nave it on the wall.
But the use of the wood pulp without
other stock 10 strengthen the paper makes
1t so brittle that it is hard to handle and
has little wearing quality.
Early wallpapers were intended by the
manufacturers to last more than a year.
Mr.. Conner has sold paper for $3.50 n So
a roll. OF course this was of the finest
quality and design. which required con-
siderable time In the process of manu-
facture.
The most difficult and tedious part OF
the work was putting OH the designs. The
paper came in a big roll drawn over some
fiat surface and the block ON which had
been cut the design was dipped in the
color and it was then pressed upon the
paper.
! his ODtIdliun Was ItpShNtQ Will a
number Of blocks until all the colors re-
quired in the design were put on. The
paper was moved along u short space and
the process repeated.
So Well was this paper made that 1t
would last a lifetime. and the housewife
never dreamed Of having it pulled off every
spring or fall TO be replaced with new, as
is the custom nowadays, when paper can
be bought for three or four cents a roll.
In the old-faShioned days the wallpaper
came In rolls twenty inches wide, instead
of eighteen inches, as at present. Borders
were not made TO match the designs in the
wallpaper, so the customer selected thu
decoration he wanted for his wall and
then took the border that looked best
with II. Borders with gilt background
were in general favor, and most of them
were decorated with dark red fioeking.
Flocking was produced by covering the
gilt paper with a mucilaginous substance
and then Sitting through the design vclvei
trimmings. After the velvet had drieo
on the trimmings that that did not adhere
to the glue we're brushed of.
Sometimes these borders were fiat gill
papers, sometimes the f1ocking was put
on solid. Solid iockinG was used for wal
decoration up TO fifteen years ago, wher
the modern wallpapers began TO come into
the market.
English wallpaper came In rolls OF eigh
teen yards. bur after The industry secured
q foothold In this country the length of >
roll was reduced TO sixteen yards aud the
cutting down has been going on ever since
until some rolls do not contain more thar
thirteen yards.
Early manufacturers paid high wages
for color mixers and block cutters, mel
who cut the designs In wood blocks. anf
the result was the manufacture OF fas
colors. 1t is said that one firm in New
York paid its color mixer $4,000 a veal
and he had as an assistant his son. whS
drew $4,000 a year salary, and they only
worked eight months in a year at that
Designers and cutters received IS a day
Color mixers soon discovered that arsenic
produced the most beautiful green TO
printing wallpapers. and its use quickly
became general. II was not long bcfor'
its poisonous effects were discovered. thu
paperhangers being the first to suffer from
Physicians have reported many cases o
arsenleal poisoning from wallpaper. ant
only a few months age the newspaper
printed a story about an Illinois farme
who lost three wives In three years b,
death, the cause of which was found to h
the arsenic In the parlor wallpaper.
According to the story the women wefi
taken III Immediately after the sprinl
housecleaning. during which the wall
paper In the parlnr had been brushed. ~
investigation Of the house led to the dis
coyery Of the cause Of the women,s deaths
General knowledge OF the danSerou
properties of green wallpaper caused
failing off in tho demand and dealers 500
stopped buying IT, With the result tina
the manufacturers 10 a large extent apan
doned tho use OF arsenic. so that toda
there is very little of this kind on N
/, market.
Soon after the Introduction of the prini
ing presses the manufacturers We'd wit
one another In producing artistic wall
papers. the principal object being TO pu
the largest umbe Of colors into a desigt
! One Philadelphia firm surpassed all Il
!, competitors In this work and succeeded |
producing designs having eighteen differ
Z ent colors, but this fad died out. An
now not more than eight .colors are foun
in one design.
I Borders are manufactured to match d.
: sign In the wallpaper and the paper
] trimmed ana butted so that there Is yer
little waste. When wallpaper was mad
by hand the borders sold as high as $.l
q single roll or 81 a double roll. but no
] the border and wallpaper are sold for til
/ same price.