Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1892 — “STAFF.” [ARTICLE]

“STAFF.”

The New Compound Used on the World’* Fair Building;*. Looking at, the fair from this Island, will be seen, as from no other point in the entire lay-out, to what exquisite uses the compound called staff may be put. This material, which seems to be a revelation to the American public, has two qualities that render it pre-eminently lit lor just such work as it is here devoted to;. First, it makes the wood, around which It is placed as an exterior, perfectly fire-proof from any ordinary conflagration; second, it is susceptible of the highest artistic decoration and plastic decoration. When the buildings of the exposition are linished, they will present an aggregate, of marble palaces, colored and tinted to realize the ideals of the most artistic fancy, nay, extravagance, in color.

The manufacture, modelling and application of the staff at the Chicago fair are done by three firms. The mere manufacture of the material dees not require any special technical knowledge; mere laborers can do all the work. But it is a fact that the laborers who work in the staff rooms at the world’s fair are Belgians, French and Italians. One might as well he in Flanders or Paris as in one of these rooms, so far as surroundings are concerned. The small boy cuts a conspicuous figure herein. He is active, useful, cheap, accurate and an effective worker. He is a type of the staff maker. So are these two boys near a small chopping block. One is sitting on a roll of hemp that is twisted into one-inch rope. He places one end of the rope loosely on the block. His companion, armed with a severely sharp little axe, brings that tool down swiftly on the rope's end with marvelous accuracy, cutting it off cleanly and with dispatch, and shoves it into a basket that stands ready to receive it. When the basket is nearly full, another boy carries it away, and the cut hemp is “teased” into a loose pile. It is now ready for the mixer, who scatters the right proportion of it in his half-barrel of common cement mixed with a small percentage of plaster of paris, agitates the mass until the mixing becomes difficult to the hand, and there's an end to it. The staff is made. The cement contributes hardness to the compound, the hempadhesiveness, and the plaster of paris finish. It is then pressed into slabs which are nailed to the wooden walls of the building, or turned over to the modellers and sculptors, who work it out into mural decorations and basreliefs.—Harper’s Weekly.