Paints.

Manufacturer and builder 4, 1880

Those who have had experience with many of the paints sold in the market, have been taught by that experience that cheap paint does not pay, lacking as [] those characteristics which a good article should possess in order to give satisfaction. Especially is this so at present when the cost of all materials entering into the composition of paint has greatly advanced. Many mixtures sold under the name of "paint" are simply washes, and it in scarcely necessary to state that these counterfeits of the true article have been very saccessfully palmed off to those looking to cheapness rather than to the quality of the material they were buying. This dear-bought experience, however, has been sufficient in the majority of instances to deter these would be economists from falling a second time into their error, they haying become thoroughly convinced from the knowledge gained that the old saying, "The best is the cheapest," is as true when applied to paint as to any other article of merchandise. It is not difficult to discover how the manufacturers of cheap paint are able to undersell honest dealers. Every kind of adulteration is resorted to; inferior oils, such as rosin and cotton-seed oils, gums held in solution with benzine, and other so-called "combination oils," are employed, as well as the not unusual dilution by the addition of from ones half to two-thirds of alkaline water. Such being the fact, it is not strange that the manufacturers of these washes are enabled to "cut under." The surprising part of the matter is that they charge no much in view of the inferior article they furnish; it is evident that their profile, even at their prices, must be something enormous.

In 1873, the average prices to dealers for materials used in making paint were as follows: Linseed oil, 62 cents; white lead, [] cents; zinc, 5 cents; spirits of turpentine, 26 cents. Prices now are: Oil, 85 cents; lead, 9 cents; zinc, 7½ cents; turpentine, 48 cents, and coloring pigments, dryers, etc., have advanced in similar proportion (with an upward tendency), making an average advance of nearly 40 per cent on all materials used in good oil paints.

Now, as paints made only of good materials must cost about 40 per cent more than last year — labor, coal, packages, etc., having also advanced, it is evident that manufacturers must make an approximate advance in their prices, or by not doing so, practically acknowledge either that they do business without profit, or that they use inferior materials this year, or that they most have always used inferior materials and charged higher prices than their goods were worth; and if a manufacturer advances his prices only 5 or 10 per cent, inferences can easily be drawn, for there has yet been discovered no way to it one dollar's worth of materials together at a cost of seventy-five cents.

It is refreshing to find in the trade, manufacturers who are using their efforts to expose the "cheap men," and are counteracting their false pretensions by furnishing a first-class article at a fair price; notably among these are the H. W. Johns Manufacturing Co., of 87 Maiden Line, New York, whose excellent asbestos liquid paints have been frequently commended by us for their beauty and durability. Although these pants are of course higher in price than those referred to in the beginning of this article, they are infinitely cheaper in the end, as has already been made obvious. The manufacturers of these paints state that, notwithstanding the rise in prices noted, they will make no change in the quality, and, as heretofore, shall make but one grade of paints — that is, the best whirls can be produced from the best and purest materials; but owtug to the immense increase in the demand fur their paints, and increased manufacturing facilities, they purpose for the present giving their customers the advantage of favorable contracts they have made for a portion of their raw materials, and make an advance of less than 25 per cent un their average prices of last year. They also call attention to the fact, that the average weight of their shade paints is 15½ pounds, exclusive of packages, or 16½ pounds in gallon cans. Their outside and inside whites weigh respectively 2 and 2¼ pounds more than their shades, and if reduced with linseed oil to the same weight, would cost no more; its other words, the cost per pound is about the same, the additional weight being necessary in consequence of the natural transparency of the purest white, which they use exclusively its connection with clarified Calcutta linseed oil, producing a full bodied liquid white, two coats of which they claim will be found equal to three of any other in covering properties, nail superior in brilliancy and durability to the best white lead. They claim theirs to be the most perfect paints ever made for structural purposes, and that they command their price for the reason that they are not only better and worth the difference, but are in fact more econotnical for the consumer.

For twenty-two years the above company have made a specialty of manufacturing preservative paints and coatings for wood, metals, fabrics, etc. Six years since the manufacture of liquid paints for general structural purposes was commenced by them on an extensive scale, Some of the finest public and private buildings and most extensive structures in the country are decorated with these paints, among others the United States Capitol at Washington, the Metropolitan Elevoted Railroad of New York, etc., as well an thousands of the better classes of dwellings.

The manufacturers have again recently doubled the capacity of their point works, and claim their facilities for manufacturing are not equaled by those of any other paint manufacturer in this country.