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“
PAINTS AND VARlNISHEb. ,
HISTORICAL FACTS IN CONNECTION WITH
AN INDUSTRY WHICH: OCCUPIES
AN IhIPORTANT PLACE IN
NEW-YORK CITY.
_____.__
BfiSENTIAL CHARACTIFRISTICS OF A HlGH-
ARTICLE—MANUFACTURE OF OIL AND WATER-
COLOR fAlNTS FOR ARTISTS—NEW—YORK
GRADE
FACTORIES HAVE GIVEN GREAT CARE
TO THE PRODUCTION OF VARNISH.
The earliest employment of paints, as far as
can be learned. recognized only their ornamental
value, and no'proof *is had that pigments of
any kind were applied to buildings for pro-
tective purposes in ancient times. Chemistry
had not come to the painter’s aid to supply
him with materials : possessing preservative
properties, and the‘ pigments, mostly ochres,
umbers, siennas and other simple preparations
which were used in olden times . were employed
merely with the View to produce an ornamental
effect. It is only within the last two or three
centuries that paints have come to be employed
for the purpose of obviating the effects of at-‘
mosphere and the elements of decay. As soon
as the preservative properties of oil paints were
recognized ”a. rapid increase in their employ-
ment took place. Their popularity was based
almost} entirely, however, upon their protective
quality, and for a long time they were applied
indiscriminately, without any regard for artistic
effect. A change came gradually, and new ideas
were ' introduced into; painting; - Art. was com-
bined with utility and in the present methods
of house-painting both the points of. protection
and ornamentation are considered.
The widespread introduction of the modern
ornamental colors, the dark greens, olives, ma-
roons, etc, opened the door for the introduction
of combinations of ingredients bearing the name
of paints, and possessing a temporary decorative
value, that were entirely worthless, as far as
any protective effect was concerned. A good
paint must possess a certain amount of hard-
ness to enable it to withstand the friction of
the rain and wind, sufficient toughness to re-
sist ordinary abrasion or friction without sus-
taining injury, and elasticity, to enable it to re-
main uninjured by the contraction or expansion
of the "Surface to which it is applied.
{EXCELLENCE OF RESULTS.
These qualifications no paint can possess 'un-
less theingredients are in proper chemical com—-
bination. Points in .which the liquids merely
hold the solids in suspension or mechanical
mixture can never possess durabilityf their
liquidsi are absorbed by the wood, or chemically
changed by the atmosphere, leaving solid com—
ponents to be scattered by the breeze or washed
off by’the rain. ' .
In the betterclass of paints. manufactured. in
this city careful study has been given to these
important""facts;" and the result is that the
manufacturers _have succeeded in producing a
superior line of? house paints.
Theszlocal -manufacturers have introduced
manyhval‘uab‘le improvements in the preparation
of the‘pil; with a View of increasing its harden-
ing and3=elastic ..p_roperties, and they have
perfected the processes for manufacturing the
differéiiti‘dry colors, thereby producing new com-
binations of pigments Which provide «the advanj,
tags: of economy, covering properties, facility"~
of_ appfieationéand durability. .. -i .
f ....;.;,.=,-, ANOTHER BRAND. ,
Theétmzanufacture, of ready—mixed paints is an
important part of this industry, and there are
maons"’_'Why colors supplied ready mixed» by ’
reliable concerns are superior *in’imanyJesp‘écts. i
Thai-painter buying his material in small
quantities labors under a disadvantage, as he
cannothalways hope to secure the proper thor-
oughnessdn their incorporation. He is not al-
ways able to get the same make of colors and
ingredients, and the supplies of one firm furnish
different results from those of other manufact-
urers. By the use of ready-mixed paints he is
enabled to accomplish more work, with far bet-
ter results within a given time, than was possi-
ble where he had to perform personally the en-
tire work of mixing his colors. The large
manufacturing firms of this city not only pro-
duce the mixed paints, but also the dry colors
and all the materials used'in their manufacture.
A large share of the business. of paint manu-
facture is done with the railroads. W'hile most
persons realize the necessity for a well—kept
track, efficient rolling stock and proper station
facilities, the importance of neatness and at-
tractiveness in the exterior appearance of roll-
ing stock is frequently underestimated. Dingy
cars and locomotives are not calculated to at—
tract the travelling public, a fact which up-to-
date railroad men appreciate thoroughly. The
character of the work turned out in the paint—
shop is important. The painting or varnishing
of the woodwork of a car or the exterior of a
locomotive protects them from the elements, and
if this detail is neglected the property is dam-
aged, and a heavy outlay is needed to accom-
plish its restoration. A
Another factor to be taken into consideratio
in this connection is the loss of car or loco-
motive service. To paint a car or locomotive re-
quires a stay of some twenty-five or thirty days
in the shop. It can hardly be calculated how
much time will be lost if inferior material is
used, and the painting must be done oftener
than is necessary. The general use of varnish
in places where the wear and tear is most se—
vere gives to this end of the business a great
significance.
Much care has been given in the New-York
factories to the production of high-grade var-
nishes, and in competition with both domestic
and imported makes our manufacturers stand
unrivalled.
The manufacture of oil and water-color paints
for artists is. an important branch (if-this busi-
ness in which the New—York manufacturer has
succeeded in‘taking ‘a large amount'of business
from English firms. who formerly controlled this
field. ‘ ' '
LARGE FACTORIES.'
One of the local firms has a factory in Brook-
lyn, another factory in this borough, occupying.
an entire city block, and a plant for the manu-
facture of varnish in Newark. It employs over
five hundred men, and. in addition to its local
MPTROPOIITAN - HOLIDAY SLPPIBMENT
‘house, controls a- big corpdration in the -.We_st;'
Ilt is probably the ”largest paint concern in-athe
world,- and has been in existence steadily since
1755'. "Seventy-five per cent of its goods were
once imported. but-to-day it ,imports‘only a
few crude materials .usedin manufacture, and
exports as much. to foreign countries. . , . ..
The industry represents in a tangible and re-
American manufacture.
has especialcharge of 't'he'fiiiancesgj'“ __
Albatross is one of his special delights.
- -ENAMELLED‘ JVARE'. ' -
A MEDICAL AUTHORITY POINTS‘ OUT THE DAN-
GERS FROM COOKING IN INFERIOR UTENSILS.
' The present generation of house-wives are more
than blessed with kitchen accessories which
make the work a real‘pleasure. The .primitive
open fires, with cranes and pots and kettles,
gave way to the crude wood stove, which in
turn saw itself supplanted by the coal stove.
Now gas and electricity are the most modern
and satisfactory means of cooking. - In keeping
the numerous utensils used in, the reaim'of
cooking. in the old days incessant. care. and
great labor were necessary , to ’ keep _the, pots
andpans from rusting. If» they were not ab—
solutely clean the food would become discol-
ored in the process of cooking. In 1877 the
genius of man invented enamelled ware, which
has proved to be a veritable blessing. It has
lifted a care from women's shoulders and les-
sened the annual expense of every household.
Not only is enamelled ware cleaned With'much
less work and care, but it has been.found. to
be far more durable than the old ironware. It
was in New~York that the new ware was
perfected,_ although its originator was born in
Switzerland. This man, whose name is Florine
Grosjean, came to America and made his home
in this city." He was of a mechanical turn of
mind, and found great "delight in invention.
,Enamelled ware was his greatest success." 'The
:process was patented, and for a number of
years he controlled the business. But the pat—
ents ran out several years ago, and now. there
are many firms who have gone into making
this kind of ware. The amount of capital in-
:vested in the various plants is estimated at
$3,000,000, and there are empioyed from 1.500
to.2,000 hands. . _ .
may be treated by the process includes net only
culinary utensils, steel sinks .and milkcans. but-
bathtubs, as well. Theulargest and most im-
fportant factory of-"enarnell'e'd Ware" 'is lc'l'cate‘d‘.
:greater part of the total annual output from all
factories is handled from'ihis city as'a centre.
A large export trade has been developed in
enamelied ware. and it is estimated that the
foreign trade amounts, on an average, to more
than $300,000 a year. With competition, the
l
price of enameiled ware has fallen considerably.-
markable way. _the enormous. development ofl
l
,with this evolution has been the perfection of
The number ofartiqlesdwhich.
i within the. limits of . New-York, {him and. the.
but "this has-resulted in an=.increasing number
-of- sales, and -.the ,business today .;is- in arfiat-
terinig situation. "'The- hidden dangers arising,
from poisons in cool-:in'g.with improper}_,uten-“
sils are appreciated by only a. few house-'
wives. It is a stealthy enemy, which threatens
tens of thousands. The‘frequentpublication in
newspapersof'cases where whole families. have
beenmysteriously poisoned by eating foods or:
dinarily considered absolutely harmless has
. JACOB ' RUPPERT, JR.
.Jacob Ruppert, jr., left Columbia Grammar School fourteen years ago, after passing the
entrance examinations for the-School'iofiiiines. and entered his father'subrewery in the .hum-
blest capacity. "He went to'work as hard as any workman,' starting his; apprenticeship _as g a
keg-washer. The succeeding six or seven yearsfsaw him advance through every.department.
Then he became a clerk'inthe office,- and _in 1890 he was made/general superintendent; At: pres-1.
ent he has to a’great extenttaken his fatherjs- place on:the~ floor of the 'Ru-ppert' Brewery, and
In 1889.".lacob ~Ruppert, ~jr.,~began to come forward inpolitical andhsobialhlife. I,Fo,r. three
years he was 'a'jprivate in the’fth Regimentf'and in 1889 he was invited to thestaff of. Governor
Hill, with the rank 'of colonel and aide—de-calmp.
vaneed to senior, aid. andzingthat capacity took pa‘rtin thel'AColumbian. cClébrEFiOh; delivexi'ngth' .
address for the. State of New-York in-racceptance of- the ‘ColumbianiLfionument: . 0. ‘L.
0‘ He also took an‘active'part in the Cleveland inauguration-in 1899.7 : » :-.,-. -;.
« Colonel Ruppert' is a'member of the Manhattan, New-York Athletic.-Democratic,- Suburban, ‘
Military, Jockey, Catholic, ~A1‘ion,»~Liederkra_nz, Larchmon'th Yacht; Atlantic f'Yachitl'and. new:
.York Yacht.- clubs, and is a. conspicuous- figure in themv allfi — _1. . f _'t g .. _ _' .. ;
He is. an- enthusiastic spo_rtsman,. andownsa number-“of fineghorssesxgandvdogsé His yachtv:
During'the Flower administration‘- he was ad—:
He also has amagnificentlibrary .of.1,500 volumes, which include _lmany fine special. edit
tions. He was elected to Congress, in .November. ‘ ' '
been explained- by :a scientific :article by. Dr.
C._ H. ..Brace. Among other, things, ; Dr.- Brace
says: . - . . « .. .
Among all the dangers which threaten those un-
accustomed to scrutinizing the kitchen equipment,
we' are satisfied that the riSks incident to an un-
discriminating selection .of the kitchen utensils
take decided"- pre-emine‘nce.* for the ordinary-sub-
stitutes offered for the old-fashioned pots and pans
are an. unquestionable menace to every one par-
taking of many articles of food cooked-in the same;
for the enamelled coating upon. the iron is retained
through the means of arsenical .or antimonialprep-
arations in some cases, andinpthers by the use of
lead. which" is a most dangerous and insidious
poison. These toxic elements may not exist- in
large quantities in such- utensils; but the fact that
they are employed at all, and that there is always
danger that . an inexperienced. workman .in the.
manufactory may, through carelessness. exceed the
usual quantity, or that an Unequal distribution of
the same may ‘occ‘ur. should afford food for thought
to every prudent housewife. We have made a criti-
cal examination of the~proclucts of nearly a score
of the manufacturers of such goods, and the only
articles of the kind found to be absolutely' free
from all the dangerous c‘ontaminations of which
meniion has been made are those known as “Agate-
Nickel-Steel-Ware." The makers of this ware. pos-
sess an exclusive process by which, through the
intervention of a coating of nickel. the impervious
coating is caused to adhere to the steel, thereby
doing away with the necessity of a lead blth or-the
employment of antimonial or arsenical preparations
to achieve such results. 4 '
_._____-__.._, _ , ..
CENTRE FOR EXPRESS COMPANIES.
M
A nusmmss or ALMOST--IMMEASURABLE rno-
PORTIONS ANNUALLY TRANSACTED—THE ‘
MONEY DEPARTMENT.
This is the time of all the year that more than
ordinary attention iscalled’to the 'express com-
panies of the country. Huge wagons rumble
throughthe thoroughfares of every city in the
'United States bearing encrmous (loads of pack-
Occasitin to use; an express .compapy'are sending
'or receiving some parcel ‘at this. time, and .the
importance qf;the concerns engaged. in the- im-
'bdr‘tam- work -o"f transportation is brought. :home;
:in' a .manner whichleaves an impressitm. _‘Dur-
mg the week; before Christmas the coming of
the expressman is looked forward to in anxious
anticipation. 'And yet the little flurry°of busi-
ness .for a..w.eek.0r soi..ih.December is only a
small part of' the great bulk of trade that is
ages- '.-Thousan-:l,s of persons .who never. have ..
r
head'oflic'es in ”Greater New-York. , .
It is'sufllcient to cite a few facts in connectio-
w‘ith 'operatiOns’rin and, out or New-York’Cit’y.
These are enough to Stagger the reader _Who has
never igiven, the subject. "attention. .To'; begin
With, the different express companies handle h
the metropolitan district on an average of on".
hundred thousand packages 9. day. These are
resent a gross weight of from 2,500,000 to. 3,000.- '
000 pounds. The trans‘porta'ticm at this business -
requires the service: of three hundred cars, in-
cluding half-baggage" cars. *The number at
Wagons in use is estimated at about 4,200. These
are hauled to and from‘ the stations and
throughout the . city by :over two’thousa'nd
horses. The number of employes who are given -
ailiving is close to five thousand. Experts have
declared that the average value of a parcel 8
$25, exclusive of money packages and the. cur;
rency which is being shipped all the time by the
banks p different parts oflthe country. This.
r latter business is a department almost by itself.
It will be remembered that within the last three
newspapers were filled with allusions to tho
large number of currency shipments made to
different parts of the United States, principally
to the Northwest, to assist in the movement of ’
crops. This occurs every year, _ and immense:
, '{sums are handled by the express companies.
i-Ther’e was a time when the tales of daring rob-
beries of express-cars used to fill the columns
_of,.'the=.daily- press, but;the onward march» of .
civilization and modern precautionary; methods ,
‘ ,employedghave now made ,ithese feats rare. ~ .
'. The commercehwhich. is .handledfeach year in j
and out of Greater New-York'represents a,.yalu'e
of ,about $1,000, .
$2,500,000 a. day... Were it...th forthehfa'ct. that
companies, this business would..be more than
three or four times what it is at'the present
time. .
companies is a feature which has reached large
proportions; The sending of money in amounts
all the..way. from $1..upw_ard footsup, in the
course of the year, to an unusual sum. The ex--
presscompanies have made the effort to give
ment. and .the success which has been achieved
*‘ciation of the valuable service.
:The term express train is now employed to
'convey.,an. idea of actual conditions. Yet how
many people in New-York areaware that every
night from .the great trunk line depots across
Station in New—York City trains as long as the
longest vestibule limiteds leave'for the West
freighted with hundreds of thousands of dollars'
. worth of property intrusted'to'one or the other
of the seven great express companies. that have
their central offices located in > Greater New-
York? These trains are run at very high speed;
Indeed. 'one of .them that generally contains
from. eight to a dozen cars leaves an hourlater
than one of the regular West'érn' express train's‘.
'afnd dispatch .are the. Watehwersl 9f the .hqur-
m 'UOAL more. ,: -"
> . ‘GROWTHfaF THE INDUSTRY; '
” among the many 'industries’wh-iéh add to on "
this is the citier'portornament-“The exports
000. the greater part of which is handled in the
an' authority on ’the subject that the annual 5
sales ’of'coal in' and around 'New-York amount :
to 151000.000 tons. To these figures must be’
added the 6,000,000 tons consumed in' the Bor- f
ough of Manhattan and about 3,000,000 tons
Mexico and the West Indies‘récei’ve'th'e bulk of ".
the export coal. Of' the 6.000.000 tOns‘ 'of com
annually consumed by“ Canada the United ‘
State, furnished fully one—half. 0n the esti-'
mated total of tons of coal handled at this port, -'
which _is in the neighborhood of 23,750,000, at.
an; average price of $3 50 a ton.- the' annual cash "
business for New—York appears as $82,125,000. -
The soft coal.
ocean greyhounds. and other steam vesselsply- .
ing to all ports oi the world from this port; is '
an important feature in the year's business.
The total consumption of this f‘bunker" coal on
these fast steamships is 1,425,000 tons a year,
as .fOHOV‘IS? . . ' . . ' ‘
Tons .'
Anchor Line .................. ~ .................. 50.000
Atlas Line ...................... -. . .' ............. 30.000
Cromwell Line ................. . ............. . . 20.000 ._
Clyde Steamship Company ................. 30.000
Cunard'Steamshlp Company ....... 100,000 1
French Line ............... 70.0“)
Funch, Edye & Co ......... 40,000
Hamburg - Line ....... .. . . . . 100.1!»
Arrerican Line ............... 75.“
New-York and Cuba Mail Steamship. £0.41!) ‘
Pacific Steamship Company ......... 20.000
MallorynLine ...........; ..... $.00}-
North German Iéoyd Company. 120.000
Phelps Bros. & o ...................... 30M ‘
Red Star Line ............................. 40,00)
National Line. . . . . .. ...... . ......... 5,”
Morgan Line ; ............. ..; ....... -. ~60.” -'
White Star Line ...................... . ......... 75,00)
Spanish Line ........................... ' ......... 21000
Standard Oil Company. . . . .’ ................... .. . 30.000. '
United States .and‘Brazil Mail Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . moon) .
Tramp steamers ....................... ' ........... moooo
Lines taking less than mooo tons ........... 17,000
Total
of war." such as have just been passed. The ..
[Spanish .Li’ne..f0r instance, probably/did 'not‘
require it'svtwenty thousand tonsthis-year...»_'1',h_e ~ .
American liners,-_in_vie,w of-their auxiliary sen-
vice, did not get their usualv quantification
New-York..~ The' metropolitafi' coal trade is-
largely' c‘onducted. or at least recorded, at the '
Coal Exchange.- There areil53 coal-mining and
shipping concerns in the ,City. The factories and
corporations are supplied by nine wholesale,
houses, _while nearly a thousand retail! deal"
administerto the .wants of the-householders-» .
handled annually by the several big‘oonoellll
' of the. country.é'the majority'of _ which have that
of all sorts and sizes and values, and would rep- ' "
months _the financial articles in the varioui ‘-
the' Postal Department of the Government has
. become in a measure a competitor of the. express
The money—order department of the expires: ..
the best facilities to the public in. this depart-.3 ,.
by them speaks volumes for the public's appre+
the Hudson River and from the GrandaCentral 9
and overtakes and passes it at' Pittsburgj and“ .
so it-‘is in» all. departments. of, the service. _,Spe_ed....—
THE ANNUAL CASH anernss on NEW; 1-. ‘
_ . '1 YORK AMOUNTS'TO ABOUT 382.125.mo—.. .~
cemmercial "status of Greater"New;York' must ” ' ”'5
be mentioned the traffic 'in‘»'coa.l~. Although the -: -4
-’p9ints‘ or production'are' many miles inland, “'
of coal, both anthracite'and‘ bituminousfand g
coke afor'the year 1898,. will be about 310.0(1),- =-.
port of 'New-York. It has been estimated by '
' !
taken by Brooklyn and Jersey‘City. Canada. ‘I
for use. on board the large , ‘
the, _com'munity. . The processes. and ham
000,000, {on a,.basis'..of’,_nearly;._
f'
Norwalk Chronicler