To be sure, there are many elemental materials of characteristic color. Ebony is deep brown, almost black. Painting it in most cases would be as sensible as gilding the pump handle; but there are many things spoiled in appearance by black paint, only because we haven’t courage to violate custom, and exchange a sad color for a glad one.
Who could sell all black toys? What boy wants a black wagon or wheelbarrow? What girl wants a black parasol? And she prefers light blue shoes, for dolly, to black ones. Just try it and see. Boys accept black toy locomotives because real ones are black and for no other reason.
What do you make? Is it something made more enduring or more practical by a coat of paint? Just try bright colors. Paint will help you toward bigger sales, if you will. There is a washing machine—on the market only a short time. It is blue. And it is named after a bird. It is selling like wild-fire, so it is said. Its name makes it easy to remember and women are asking for it all over the country.
Think of paint as an advertising medium. In an eastern city a florist operates delivery cars that are painted a beautiful green. Everybody in town knows him—and it seems as if everybody in town who buys flowers, buys them at his shop. A wholesale grocery concern in another city has its fleet of trucks painted a brilliant crimson in key with their advertising campaign for Crimson Band Coffee. Every one of these trucks always looks as if it had just left the paint shop. Their owners believe in the partnership of paint. Paint is a loyal friend to your balance in bank, for it protects and beautifies everything of yours which it covers. In your office, paint makes cheerful surroundings. It makes an agreeable atmosphere. In your store, it makes an effectual background for your goods. If you operate a factory, it will make better light and better work. It will save wood and metal from rust and decay. It gives the exterior of your plant an air of prosperity and creates a pride of connection in the minds of employes. Paint makes cheer inside and outside, in home or business home. It costs little and does a great deal. The renewal of paint is common sense, whether it is made on walls, woodwork, metal cornice, roof or motor truck.
Paint is economy. It gives more real service for the cash outlay than any other protective element. It is insurance against ugliness of buildings, against the bad effects of snow, rain, hot sun. It plays a strong and constant part in down-keep and makes wood and metal stay youthful. It keeps doors and windows from warping and buckling, because it keeps out dampness.
The partnership of paint is many sided, from the standpoint of utility and good looks. Its good offices are illustrated on every hand. If a man wants to keep a piece of property, he paints it. If he wants to sell it, he paints it. If he wants a good rental for it, he keeps his paint and varnish renewed.
Paint is powerful. It influences us all, all of our lives. It is as personal in its relation to industry as you are. It has a way of sticking to business and growing more useful every day. Those who believe in paint and use it, are known for their thrifty ways. The tumble-down citizen always lives in the unpainted weather-grey house on the edge of town—the same chap who borrows coal from his neighbor and change from his wife.
Paint is always good. The colored stuff which peels, checks and blisters in a few months, isn’t paint at all. It is poor stuff to buy. You can generally tell what it is, before you use it, because it doesn’t cost enough to be good. Good paint pays because it lasts three times as long as color in disguise.
Buy and use good paint and varnish. It pays to pay the little difference in first cost. It is the same as buying an all-wool garment in preference to a cotton one. Good paint is an asset in business. The other kind is worse than a liability. It is an attachment against your operating costs.
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