The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-15
WHAT is THE USE?
So Say the Paint Men of the FormuIae
Bill.

1t is urged that a bill, pending be-
fore the senate committee on agricul-
ture, is manifestly unfair to manu-
facturers of paint. and that it will not
accomplish any definite results. The
bill provides that paint formulas be
printed on cans of paint, showing just
what is contained in the mixture.
In this regard the matter of paint
IS compared to that of bread, and it
is urged that the same ingredients
handled in a different manner might
result in an entirely different product.
1t takes more than flour and yeast and
salt and water to make bread. 1t re-
quIres an experienced bread maker.
So it is being urged that it requires
more than ordinary ingredients to
make paint. Likewise it requires ex-
pert mixing and expert handling to
turn out good article. For this rea-
son it is urged that the compulsory
statute proposed, forcing manufactur-
ers to place their formulas on the
paint cans, would open the way to
an army of inexperienced mixers who,
although able to place the same
formulas on their cans as that borne
on the high grade paints, might be
carrying a very much inferior quality
of paint.
1t is urged also that such laws re-
tard progress in paint making, mas
much as every man, when he discov
cred a new mixture, would have to
make it public property at once, and
throw it open to being copied by
anybody.
An editorial from a paint magazine
calls attention to the injustice of the
movement as follows:
Such laws are a grievous injustice
to the publishing and advertising in
tereStS; and have been generally con-
demned by the press, and in specific
resolutions by the Associated Adver
Using Clubs of America. Their effect
is to confiscate all that honest, intel
ligent advertising enterprise creates,
viz, reputation, good will and demand.
Compared to this, the conf1scation of
the formula (Which itself is property
with as much legal standing as a COW
or a town lot) is a mere incident OF
his best formula, the paint manufac
turer might truly paraphrase-"Who
steals my formula steals trash, COM
pared to the value of my good will
and trademark And when the state
lends its prestige and fiat to the ap
parently plausible fallacy that the
formula is the standard of quality, and
it discloses formulas by legislative en-
actment, then the honest enterpris-
ing, advertising manufacturer has to
face that fact that the results, the
profits of his continued efforts to in
crease demand and reputation, must
be divided amorg the brood of formu
Ia pirates already abroad, who have
only to invoke the majesty of the
states fiat to convince the average
consumer that the pirate product is
not merely Just as good" but Just
the same; see the formula on 10th
cans; guaranteed by the state The
fallacy would be obvious if the
formula were required on a loaf
of bread-everybody eats bread ev-.
cry day. But the route is long
er on paint, and many circum
stances may intervene to prevent
the consumer from concluding that his
same thing paint turned out disas-
trously in a year or two because some
things besides a set of measures and
scales, some crude raw materials and
the formula of a reputable makers
paint can. are essential in the making
of good paint.