Judge, 1916-05-20 · page 27 of 28
Judge — May 20, 1916 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **tire company advertisement**, not political satire. The cartoon at top illustrates the advertisement's argument through analogy. The cartoon shows a child who dropped a dime into a plank and is now deliberately trying to extract it—working hard to recover a small amount of money. The caption notes this mirrors a consumer practice: buying replacement tires of the same brand to claim warranty allowances before delivery, essentially gaming the guarantee system. **The advertisement's core message**: Kelly-Springfield tires are so reliably durable (yielding 8,000-12,000 miles) that their 5,000-7,500 mile guarantees are nearly meaningless. Rather than compete on price with mass-produced competitors, the company emphasizes hand-crafted quality and customer satisfaction over warranty claims. The ad also references supply shortages—customers must order tires in advance because hand-made production cannot meet demand. This reflects post-WWI economic conditions when manufacturing capacity was limited.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Why, I dropt a dime, an’ I’m making it worth me while to pull up the plank.” Buying another tire of the same make to save the allowance due on an undelivered guarantee is a very similar performance. Kelly -Springfield Automobile ‘Tires -Hand Made UR tires are guaranteed for 5,000, 6,000 and 7,500 miles. They needn’t be, for it doesn’t do you any particular good. Save in the rarest instances, it brings you nothing. Cases when Kelly-Springfield tires fail to yield their guaranteed mileage are nearly as scarce as hen’s teeth. But the buying public expects a guarantee when it buys at and we're willing to con- cede that to its prejudices. Normally, Kelly-Springfield tires yield 8,000 to 10,000 miles—often 12,000 or more. Why shouldn’t we be willing to guarantee 5,000 miles or more, if it makes any one any happier? If there were any doubt of them yielding 5,000 miles, we would only guarantee them for We are not sell- ing guarantees; we are selling tire service. 4,000 miles, or even less We don’t want bickering over guaran- tees; we want satisfied customers only. Once you buy a Kelly-Springfield tire, g them. You mileage, guarantees, or you keep right on us about anything else but service. forget That’s why we are embarrassed by orders we cannot supply; why our users are willing to order their tires before they actually need them. We don’t like to be in that position, and dis- appoint loyal customers, but you can’t increase the production of hand-made tires overnight. We never have made machine-made tires. We have always built in mileage by hand. Of course, the tires cost more, but the service justifies the cost.” Few users get a chance to try Kelly-Springfield tires until they have tried other tires, for we cannot afford to meet price competition to equip cars at the factory, unless the car manufacturer can afford to pay our price. If you want to know about the service they give, ask any Kelly-Springfield user, but don’t to get Kelly-Springfield tires without ordering them in advance expect —unless you’re born lucky. Kelly- Springfield Tire Co. Factories in Akron and Wooster, Ohio Executive Offices: Broadway & 57th St., NewYork Send ten cents for the new game, “Ge ing to Market” comicbooks.com