The billboard (Jan-June 1898)

THE BILLBOARD PROWLING PRUDES. Prurient Preachers and Spouting Spinsters who object to the nude in art. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created Be him; male and female created He them."— Genesis 1,27. Pasadena, Cat., worked itself up dread- folly over a few posters recently, but has since concluded to accept the following "remarkable" advice from a newspaper, viz: "We see no reason for agitating against the bill board pictures of this city. There is little that is objectional except one •looks for such especially- < To agitate is to advertise, and that is what the bill posters want. Let the matter quietly drop." Aitooka, Pa. is hysterical. Montgomery, Ai.a. shows symptoms of an approaching attack of posterphobia. The following is from the Journal of that city: " Every city at some time in its history developes a mania for rectifying errors of the past, as it were. Now it is the bill boards. The flashy lithographs stuck on some of the theatrical boards have inspired the local clergy, it is understood, to file com- plaint with the chief of police. He denies, however, that the ministers have done so. Anyhow whether this be true or not, it is a fact that the ministers, enthused by the result of the effort they made during the last legislture to crush out the pool-selling octopus, have some kind of a movement on foot looking to the re- moval of all objectional posters displayed in this city. - ' Rev. Dr. Eager is said to be at the head of the movement. It is said that a delegation of ministers will soon call on Mayor Clisby-in relation to the matter." Bridgeport, Conn.— A good (?) priest of the Roman Catholic Church incites his congregation to deeds of lawlessness and vandalism. The following clipping tells all about it: "Mile. Pettitoes, the renowned skirt dancer, with one foot pointed to XII of - the clock and the other at VI; 'Miss Celeste Monmorend, Queen of the Air,' in tights and dangling from the flying trapeze by a finger; 'Mme. Maxilla, the Strongest Jawed Woman in the world,' with more jaw than raiment,—these were some of the picturesque posters, flam- boyant, highly colored, that adorned the bill board before St- Thomas* Roman Catholic Church, at Fairfield, on Monday. The bill board is high and long and square in front of the church doors. Jerry Toomey put it up on his property, and the church people think he did so to spite them. Last Sunday night the bill board was set on fire, but Jerry put out the fire. Just after one o'clock this morning several masked men attacked the hoard with axes, hit Mme. Maxiella on the jaw, cut off Miss Montmorend's finger, severed Mile. Pettitoe's foot that pointed to XII. , Now the theatrical manager who rented the board front Toomey looks to him for damages. Toomey is looking for the masked men and a law suit threatens. Pittsfieik, Mass. is trying hard to work itself into a passion. It has not succeeded as yet. Denver, Cor_ however, has passed a fool ordinance that will not hold water any more than a sieve. It will be knocked out easily in the lower courts, where we understand it is already hung up. It is a pity that the populace of Denver do not feel moved to institute a crusade against newspaper men. They have the choicest assortment of venal scabs in the country to engage their attention. All of the recent trouble over the bill boards in that city was incited and sedulously sustained by the Denver press. Geo. P.- Rpwell recently said that space in the leading Colorado papers was not worth five cents on the dollar. It is probably this knowledge of their worth- lessness and impotence, that moves the Denver press to attack mediums of real and genuine efficacy. urally devotes his time and attention to the line most profitable; besides bill pos- ters discourage distributing as much as' they can, in order to get advertisers to do more bill posting. Bill posters doing enough posting to keep themselves mod- erately busy, care nothing for distributing except to get the work and put it out any old way. I know of a few exceptions, but they are few and far between. These few , are of the new school of bill posters, and are not tied hand and foot by association red tape rules, and accept business from anybody who pays the price. They con- duct a special distributing department and constantly oversee the honest distri- bution of every piece of matter. They get all the business, and have the highest THOS. F. KAIN, E. C, L A. of D. The Why of h. A talk with many of the old established houses who do extensive distributing con- vinces me that they have not yet forgot- ten the service they got in former years by unreliable local distribute; s, principal- ly bill posters. They cite hundreds of cases where their matter was absolutely wasted, if ever an attempt was made at all, and many cases where they found thousands of pieces from various firms stored away, and even some persons never took the matter from the freight office. Thus they are wary of all propositions made them from parties all over the coun- try, especially bill posters who, as a rule, gave the poorest service; and I know per- sonally that many concerns turn down absolutely all propositions made by bill posters, and I don't blame them, as but few bill posters give distributing proper attention, especially in licensed towns, where they think they control the field and do as they please. -The margin of profit in bill posting is much greater than in distributing (if pro- perly done), therefore the bill poster nat- endorsement. However, they are in small towns; and it is necessary for them to fol- low both lines in order to make it pay. The former poor service rendered by hundreds of so-called distributors and bill posters has caused many large advertisers to cease doing distributing or to send their own men to travel from place to place, thus depriving honest distributors of mil- lions of pieces of matter annually. Hence it is absolutely necessary for every distrib- utor to do his utmost to give a result- bringing service and to present such ref- erence and testimonials to all advertisers that will convince them beyond a doubt that he is reliable. Furthermore, it is a duty he owes to himself and to the busi- ness to report direct to advertisers, if he notices their advertising matter wasted or poorly distributed. Get responsible persons to witness any poor work you may notice, then prepare a sworn affidavit with their names attached, but always give due credit to good, honest distributing, even if done by your bitterest enemy. DEATH OF JAS. H. STAATS. Dr. Morse's Indian' Root Pills Almanac was shamefully wasted in Cincinnati. The Veteran Bill Poster of Lockport, N. Y., Hu Passed Away—He Did Not Long Survive His Friend Clayton. The announcement in the Union-Sun's spedal edition January 7 of the death of James H. Staats caused sincere sorrow throughout the dty. No man in Lock- port was better known than he, and none had more friends. With his passing an- other landmark is removed from sight, but he will long be kept in pleasant re- membrance. James H. Staats was born in Columbia village, Columbia county, near the Hud- son river, June 17, 1836. He comes of Dutch antecedents. His parents were Abram and Minerva Gray Staats. His brother, William H., of Newfane, was born while they were living in Monroe county, and in 1843 the family came to Lockport. The father was a sturdy American, who boasted Dutch ancestors who fought for independence in the Rev- olutionary war. He laid aside his studies in the school room at the age of fourteen, entering into the employ of Dr. Delano as clerk in his drug store. He was later appointed to a clerkship in the postoffice. In the year 1855 Mr. Staats opened a newsroom in the Arcade, and later moved it to the building on Pine street, now oc- cupied by Rowe's market. On account of poor health he was cbliged to quit busi- ness for two or three years, and sold out to William Scovel, spending those years at Albion, where he had married his first wife. He then returned to Lockport and re-established himself in the news busi- ness, continuing in it until the time of his death. Mr. Staats was an earnest Democrat, but never ran for public office. He was appointed clerk of the village of Lock- port, serving Four years. He was one of the charter members of the New York State Bill Posters' Assodation, of which he was secretary for three years. He was also a member of the Assodated Bill Post- ers' of the United States and Canada, and was widely known and esteemed by the many members of that organization. Among the theatrical profession he was widely known, and for some years he was the manager of the Hodge Opera House. His first wife was Miss Beach, of Al- bion, who died seventeen years ago. She bore him three children, a son, who died in infancy, a daughter, Mrs. Curt Black- ley, of Lockport, and a son, Lawrence D., who at the time of his mother's death was adopted by his uncle, Dr. Collins, of Rochester. He married his second wife on January 4, 1887, who survives him. He leaves also his a^ed mother, Mrs. Miverva Staats, of Newfane; two children, Mrs. Blackley and Lawrence D. Collins; one brother, William H. Staats, of Newfane, and two sisters, Mrs. Sarah J. Richardson, of Newfane, and Mrs. Harry C. Mc- Collum, of Lockport. The funeral was held from the house, Beverly Place, at 11 o'clock on the morn- ing of January 10. Rev. W. E. Faber conducted the services. You can, and you often do, skip the advertisements in the papers, but you can not get away from the billboards. Try to dodge one and you will run smack up against another. After this has occurred for the fortieth time, you, like everybody else, will give in and gracefully acknowl- edge the corn. -* ",.' "'•*'** J*','" J" ' ,' i ■5?g - .*■ Signs * Sign Palmers Address all communications for this department to R. H. Fouokave. Mckrrington, Ohio. When Solomon said, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be ilone, and there is no new thing under the sun," he was not guessing at it. This applies to sign painting as well as to any- thing else. There is but little room for originality. We may think for a time we are on to something new, but sooner or later we are undeceived. This is a big world. Many minds are concentrated on the very things we are thinking about. What makes us think this, is from the fact that a contemporary published an alphabet lately, purporting to be a new German alphabet. We have an old Egyptian alphabet of seventeen charac- ters, which historians claim lias been used from time immemorial. The characters, however, are rudely drawn. By com- paring this with the up-to-date alphabet, we find a striking similarity in them, which compels us to conclude that this latter alphabet is only an improvement on. the old Egyptian alphabet. There are more letters in the German alphabet, but they are drawn on the same plan. An advertising sign should be made plain. Anything that detracts from its legibility lessens its value from an adver- tising standpoint in proportion that its legibility is decreased. Flourishes and scrolls, nicely drawn, and fancy lettering are nice to look at, and reflect great credit on the artisan, but they won't sell goods. Endeavor, as' much as possible, to make the reading matter strong, plain and to the point, so that the average person can read it at a glance and understand it without hesitation. An unintelligent sign, or one that is hard to read, is an abomination, and when it is made so by the artist trying to get up something fancy, it calls for a useless expenditure of money, for which there is no excuse. I was talking to a prominent business man on this subject of advertising signs a few days since, one that spends thousands of dollars annually in advertising. Among other things, he said : "What is the use of a highly decorated sign if it don't as- sist in selling goods? A few may admire it, but the majority of people who have money to buy goods are too busy to ana- lyze the fine decorative features of a sign." He fvrther added : "This is the reason I don't patronize sign painters more than I do. I cannot afford to pay for the extra work in the way of decora- tion that some of them put on their signs, when it does me no good. If they would come down from their perch and get some business sense into their heads, there is no question but that their work would soon be doubled. All men recognize it as being the most stable advertising there La Tour is regarded as one of the best advertising sign painters in America, but it seems to us there is too much unused space on most of his* bulletins. We do not wish to be considered a carper. In fact, we do not care how he does his work. Still, we are aware that the public •letnands to know something more about the thing advertised than is usually dis- played on the boards. The New York people are not the only ones who advocate brevity in sign painting. Pittsburg i s noted for its big bulletin boards with nothing on them. The autocrat of mod- THE BILLBOARD em newspaper advertising never wrote an article on signs and posters that he did not express some of his erratic ideas on this point. This is his chief point of at- tack. But, then, Charles Austin is to be excused for his frenzied views, for he is- about half right. Sign painting is ever changing. What is the proper thing to-day, is out of date to-morrow. This is largely due to the itinerant sign painter, who, in the course of a season's travel, comes in contact with all varieties and manner of lettering. Several sign painters traveling the same territory will deduce different systems from the same observations. One will construct a system of fat letters, while another will chose another style to build from. Alum in paste is essential. It keeps the paste from spoiling and mice from eating it. Paste should be made with soft water. Strong masses of color wi'l attract the eye quicker than the most beautiful art tones. The persons that maintain the theory that the colors of a sign should be harmonious are not in it when it comes to advertising. Lower case letters are more easily read than caps because they are used the most. The reason why they are not used more than they are. is because sign painters do not learn to make them. In bulletin sign painting, .lower case may be often ad-, vantageously employed. It is usually customary to commence each sentence with a capital, the same as printed matter. Some sign painters commence each word with a capital. This is not in accordance with good usage of the English language. Muslin should not be sized with lime size, if the intention be to use water col- ors on it. Lime exerts a chemical reac- tion on some water colors, which is detri- mental to the color. A glue size is always best for water colors. Paste size, made in skim milk, is the best size for general purposes. Skim off the scum as it boils. There are several fillers on the market that will do for sign painters, but those in paste and liquid form are rather expen- sive; not so expensive if all is used, but when the package is broken the remainder soon spoils if not put into an air-tight receptacle, and is a dead loss. All sign painters use white lead. Buy some Reno filler, which comes in dry form, and mix it with white lead, about half and half, as near as you can guess. Put in enough turpentine japan to make it dry in the required time. You have a filler now which you can rely on under every and all circumstances. Some claim that % white lead and % Reno filler is the best way to mix it. It works the smoothest under sandpaper of any of the fillers. The color it gives is a dirty cream. If the board is intended to be white, give one coat of white lead, then one coat of lead and zinc, with but little oil and much turpentine. It is not necessary to give a coat of paint before puttying. Take and mix up some of the lead and filler in dryer to a stiff batter, and press into the cracks with a square pointed putty knife. It is not necessary to go to the extra work of sanding these puttied places. Put on the filling mixture and sand the whole at once. Answers to Correspondents. A. R. T.—Gold leaf, which contains 25 leaves per book, costs about 45 cents re- tail; silver leaf, 25 leaves, about 15 cents. The tools required for laying leaf are a gilder's cushion, which costs from 75 cents to $1.50, according to size; a gilder's knife, cost 50 cents; a gilder's burnisher, cost about $1. Bronze powders cost any- where from 10 cents to 50 cents, according to kind. Trench gold, gold color only, costs the most. If your dealer does not keep these products, you may obtain them from any art store that does a retail busi- ness through the mail. For an up-to-date process of gilding refer to the November, 1897, issue. Luminous Paints. W. and B.—A complete process for making, luminous paints has never been published in TheIBiiaboard. We had intended to do so, and so promised; but realizing the impracticability of their be- ing manufactured by the ordinary painter we did not do so. But as the question has been asked several times, we take the liberty of presenting for your considera- tion the following process, which is copied from a contemporary, that you may see that it is impracticable for you to make it, without you intend to make a business of it. Luminous paints, in all colors, may be had at almost any novelty dealer's in painters' materials that retails through the mail. Write to Win. Sedgwick, 260 Clark street, Chicago : "Calcium sulphide is the substance usually employed in the preparation of such paints. Although this ingredient is simply a preparation of oyster shells and sulphur, roasted, it has been sold at $3 a pound. It was long made at this price in a single factory in England; but an Aus- trian firm found a way to produce it at 50 cents a pound, and the price is still too great to admit of a general use of the material. "This caldum sulphide has a yellowish cast, which impairs its value for white paint, and besides this it loses its lumin- ous property when mixed with paints. A Dresden inventor, however, produces a luminous paint, white and colored, that is said to be very durable, retaining its color through the day and giving forth a bright glow by nighi. First, a varnish is made by melting Zanzibar or Kowrie copal over a charcoal fire; 15 parts of this is dissolved in 60 parts of French oil of turpentine, and the filtered solution is mixed with 25 parts, previously heated and-cooled, of pure linseed oil. Ordinary varnish will not do, as it contains lead or manganese, which destroys the phosphor- escence of caldum sulphite. Neither will it do to pass tlfe mixture through iron rolls, as iron injures its luminous prop- erties. Granite rolls are indicated as proper. "A pure white paint is produced with 40 parts of this varnish to 6 parts pre- pared barium sulphate, 6 parts prepared caldum carbonate, 12 parts prepared zinc sulphide and 36 parts of good luminous caldum sulphide, .mixed in a proper vessel to an emulsion, and ground quite fine in a stone color mill. "Luminous paint of poor quality emits a light that soon fades, changing its color to a dull reddish or muddy color. A good quality of such paint has been known to retain its luminous property unimpaired for more than five years. "A temperature of 300 degrees to 400 degrees will not effect a luminous condi- tion of calcium sulphide, though an in- crease of temperature of 25 degrees will render it much more luminous. That this is not a conversion of heat into light is showu by the fact that if kept at a high temperature it will become more luminous in a shorter time. A lowering of tem- perature by ether or other volatile liquid will diminish the luminosity. " "Phosphorescent powder may be pre- pared as follows : 10 ounces carbonate and phosphate of lime, obtained by cal- dning oyster shells and sepia bones, is mixed with 10 ounces caustic lime; then 1% ounces chloride of sodium, calrined, are then added, and 20 to 25 per cent, of the wdght of sulphur, 3 to 7 per cent, sulphide of caldum, barium, strontium or magnesium, which has previously been exposed to sunlight. The lighting power is further increased by adding a phos- phorescent matter, obtained from the ashes of marine plants. These powders may be mixed with suitable varnish. Collodion, parafBne, silicate soda, etc., may be incorporated with them. "Luminous colors for artsts' use are prepared by using pure East Indian poppy oil instead of the varnish described as the Dresden invention; quantity same as for the varnish. The materials must be ground exceedingly fine. For luminous oil-color paints, pure linseed oil is used instead of the varnish. The oil must be cold-pressed and-thickened by heat. For making a luminous paper, take 40 parts of paper pulp, 10 parts water, 1 part gela- tine and 1 part bichromate of potash, with 10 parts of phosphorescent powder. Such paper will glow in the dark, and is suitable for labels, signs, etc. "Luminons paints are prepared for painting on glass, etc., by omitting var- nish and adding 10 per cent, more of Japanese wax and % this quantity of olive oil. This gives a wax color that may be used for decorating porcelain, to be afterwards carefully burned in (with- out access to air), or coated with soluble "For producing several colors of lumin- ous paint, proceed as follows: Red. 60 parts varnish, 8 parts barium sulphate, 2 parts prepared Madder lake, 6 parts pre- pared realgar (red arsenic sulphide) and 30 parts of luminous caldum sulphide. ' The mixture of these is effected the same as described for the white luminous paint, and this will apply also to' all the hereto described colors. Blue—42 parts varnish, • 10 t-5 parts barium sulphate, 6 2-5 parts ultra-marine blue, 5.2-5 cobalt-blue and 40 parts lumin- . ous caldum sulphide. Yellow—48 parts varnish mixed with 10 parts prepared barium sulphate, 8 parts barium chromate and 34 parts luminous calcium sulphide. Green—48 parts varnish mixed with 10 parts barium sulphate, 3 parts chromium oxide green and 34 parts luminous cal- • cium sulphide. Orange)—46 parts varnish, 17 % parts barium sulphate, 1 part prepared Indian yellow, l}£ parts Madder lake, 38 parts luminous caldum sulphide. Violet—42 parts varnish, 10.2 parts prev pa.ed barium sulphate, 2.8 parts ultra- marine violet, 9 parts cobalt arsenate, 36 parts luminous caldum sulphide. Gray—45 parts varnish mixed with 6 parts prepared barium sulphate, 6 parts prepared caldum carbonate, 0.5 part ultra- marine blue, 6.5 parts gray zinc sulphide. Yellowish-Brown—48 parts varnish, 10 parts precipitated barium sulphate, 8 parts augripigment and 34 parts luminous cal- dum sulphide. ■ "The varnish used in making these compositions is that described elsewhere.-- Calcium sulphide (C. A. S.) is obtained by heating in a dose vessel a mixture of 3 parts of oyster shells and 1 part sub- limed sulphur. The shells are first- cleaned, then . heated a half hour, then cooled off and pulverized. The gray par- tides are removed, and the white powder is placed in a crucible (covered with a paste made of beer and sand), with alter- nate layers of sulphur. After an hour's heating, the mass is cooled and the pow- der is sifted and ground with gum and water. This preparation is also known as Canton's phosphorus, so named fron John Canton, F. R. S. (171S-1722), English electridan and physidst." From the above, you will see that the ' process is quite complicated, and the chances of getting a satisfactory product are against you. Hence, you will save, money and a lot of vexation by buyingit ready for the brush-