104 Transactions of the 



article, in having all the woodwork preserved against the trying influ- 

 ences of this climate by the injection into the pores of the wood of the 

 vapors of hydro-carbon oils. 



Second — I have since the first commencement of my manufacturing 

 here, in eighteen hundred and fifty-six, made and sold five hundred and 

 sixty pianos, all a California production. The enterprise is beset with 

 bitter competition from importers and agents of Eastern and European 

 manufactures, and requires from organized public California societies 

 some substantial acknowledgment of the excellence of the piano pro- 

 duced at home, in order to enable me to make head against the fashion 

 of admiring a piano in proportion to the distance from California of the 

 place of its manufacture. 



Third — Erom sixty to seventy pianos are imported into California and 

 sold monthly. This business, which would employ one hundred and 

 twenty hands, might in a short time, as I have stated before, be all 

 secured here; we would turn out pianos equal in all respects to the 

 imported ones, and superior in the quality and durability of the wood 

 used. To accomplish this result of building up home industry is the 

 point at which we are both aiming. 



Fourth — As the last and most powerful reason in support of my claim 

 to the gold medal in the seventh department — fine arts — T assert that 

 in my pianos I have exhibited the most meritorious article in depart- 

 ment seventh, and relj* on the report of the committee on this class in 

 support of this assertion. 



I remain, respectfully yours, JACOB ZECII. 



STATEMENT OF AITKEN & LUCE. 



To the Committee on Gold Mi dais: 



Gentlemen: We herewith file our reasons for claiming the gold 

 medal in the seventh department. 



First — We claim it because we had the largest collection of marble 

 work, greatest variety, and worth more money than any in our line. 

 We had the best sculpture and more of it than has ever been exhibited 

 in the State Fair by any one firm. For the best sculpture we refer, 

 first, to a "spread wing dove;" second, to an original design for a child's 

 monument, with tablet resting on a pile of rocks, with a lamb resting in 

 perfect repose in front. As works of art they have not been excelled 

 in the State. Our exhibition consisted of five monuments of unques- 

 tioned proportion, four pieces of sculpture, and one marble table, the 

 whole in California marble, thus demonstrating the fact that we have 

 within ourselves the material for any purpose for which marble is used. 



Second — -Because we have labored almost exclusively for the last thir- 

 teen years to develop California resources, and have finally succeeded in 

 producing a quality of marble that has no superior in this or any other 

 country, it being more i'i\'o from flint or iron, finer and more compact, 

 stronger and capable of more "relief" than either Italian or Vermont. 



Third — By such developments we will save more money in the State 

 than any other branch of fine arts. 



Fourth — That in bringing about this result we have been unaided by 

 any except our own labor, and the acknowledged worth of the mate- 



