The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-31
NALL PAPER NOT .|NSAN|TARY, SAYS EXPERT IN TRADE
Defends Business Against At tacks by Advocates of Wall Painting.

New York. July 31-So much has been said from time to time about the alleged insanitary properties of wall paper as a decoration for the home, c. R. Clifford of this city in which he says that these allegations are false. MT. Clifford, who is managing editor of The Wall Paper News. has written several works on decorative subjects, and was member of the Interna- tional Jury of Awards covering in- terior decoration at the St. Louis Ex- position in 1904 and at the San Fran cisco fair last year.
 During the last few years," the booklet says, "the paint manufactur- CTS have been vigorously institutine a campaign urging upon the public the value of wall paint. Their propa- ganda, as expressed in their advertis- ing, has been mischievous because de- ceptive. They have mentioned the work of minor decorators and the un- informed trade, and the public would believe from the literature thus dis seminated that the best houses in America had adopted the painted wall as an approved fashion.
 "We have no quarrel with the paint manufacturer. For certain purposes and under certain conditions the painted wall is admirable, but for the benefit of the trade at large have gone deeply into an analysis of the subject, and our conditions are. incon- trovertible.
 sTx, tl,n 0f <I,D Nf e room there are always four points to consider: First, economy; second, sanitation; third, decorativeness; fourth, popularity. The paint manu- lecturers claim superiority upon all four points. They claim that paint is more lasting than wall paper, that paint is more sanitary than wall paper and that paint is more decorative, un- der the present fashion for plain walls; and all these claims are unten- able. .
 Wall painting is economical if ap- piled plain, but if applied plain it is also not artistic. It is expensive, no matter how applied, but if applied in an artistic manner, with holdings and in tones of color to initiate stone or to fit, into architectural conditions, it is a decidedly extensive proposition. "It costs from 75 per cent. to 80 per cent. more to do a good painting job than good wall paper job, un- dertaken under close competitive con- ditions; and this does not include molding work or paneling. If the work is done by a New York decora- tor, a painted room will cost just dou- ble the papered roqm.''
 "On an estimate for a room 16 by 1 4 feet, the figures being actually worked out under competitive condi- tions and representing good work in a good local residential section, the cost as set down includes the paper at 50 cents roll, cost of taking of old paper, cleaning and scrapine walls, ptting on the new paper, and tinting the ceiling. The total esti- mated expense for this work is $29 An estimate covering the cost ot painting the same room sets the total down at s73.50. It including, among other things, the cost of canvas and expense of putting it, on the walls four coats of paint, and the same
 charge for cleaning, scraping and taking off paper as in the first esti- mate. =
 "In order to prove that paint is more sanitary than wall paper" the booklet goes on, lone. must first de- termine that wall paper is insani- tary. In the first place the painted wall originated in the operations o1 the settlement workers. These peo- pie, dealing with wretchedness, pov- terty, and filth, were quick to per- ceive the value of plain paint on the wall. Departments of. Household arts in. universities and medical experts indorsed the idea, and the paint men quick to grasp their opportunities have exaggerated beyond. all reason the original thought which was stim- ulated by slum conditions. Why ap- ply to the home of comfort tene- ment house decoration?
 "As an example of the absurdity o the sanitation idea we would quote from an article called Paints versui Wall Papers, which appeared in on, of the big magazines and which wa. written by we'll known physician In discussing the relative merits o wall paper and paint, the doctor says "Wall paper is easily abraded, { bump blow of any kind. easily. ruff files the paper and breaks off lighl particles which float through the air Then, too, the abrasion becomes {
 rearing place for dust and disease germs. Moreover, paper is usually fuzzy, and this sort of surface is ar excellent lodgment for any bacteria. Naturally, this sort of literature i! rather disturbing to a sensitive mind and where the writer concludes that after all, we had better use paint there is no doubt that in the home o. the timid and the impressionable paint will be more or less used. Thil writer says:
 ".As compared with wall paper, thu texture of paints has everything in 1t! favor It may readily be washed of with water and soap. or disinfec tant.'
 Imagine any other man than ( doctor regarding with seriousness the fact that a bump or a blow ruffle' wall paper and breaks off light>parti cles which float in the air to the detri ment of health. It seems too absurd for discussion to assume that because of this remote possibility wall paper should not be used, but paint substi | tuted Wouldn't an abrasion upon { painted wall leave rough spot tha
 would also gather disease germs