Life, 1897-01-28 · page 19 of 20
Life — January 28, 1897 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Pabst malt extract advertisement**, not satire—it's a genuine commercial from early 20th-century Life magazine. The page promotes Pabst's "Best" Tonic, a malt extract product marketed to nursing mothers. The elaborate ship imagery (the "May Flower") emphasizes Pabst's brewing heritage and quality. The testimonial claims a mother regained her health and strength by consuming the tonic, which supposedly also improved her baby's development and weight gain. **Context for modern readers:** This represents a bygone era when alcohol-based tonics were routinely marketed as medicinal cure-alls, especially to women and for infant health. The product likely contained malt (a fermented grain byproduct) and possibly alcohol. Today, giving such products to babies would constitute child abuse, and marketing them as nutritional supplements would violate FDA regulations. The ad reflects pre-regulation attitudes toward patent medicines and demonstrates how differently early 20th-century Americans viewed "tonics" and maternal/infant nutrition.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ib PERFECTION IN BREWING IS REACHED MOTHERS’ MILK. A young mother, flushed with perfect health and strength, said as she exhibited, with pride her baby, “I must confess that my present health and the almost phe- nomenal development and good health of baby are due to the use of PABST MALT EXTRACT, The “Best” Tonic. ‘The necessity of feeding the child was such a tax on me at first that I became nervous, weak and exhausted. “Best” ‘Tonic was recommended. I took it and began to build at once. Baby began to show the effects within a week. I con- tinued its use for months, until I went out into the country and neglected to take my tonic with me. I lost fifteen pounds in six weeks and could scarcely feed baby. Since returning, some three weeks ago, I have again been taking “Best” Tonic. I have gained six pounds and the little one is again progressing. Just think, he is nineteen months old, weighs 32 pounds, and I have not weaned him yet.” Let every mother apply this to her own experience and at least give The “Best” Tonic a trial. Ifnot for her own y sake, for that of her child. Let her pro- vide for baby as nature says every moth- ex should. “Best” Tonic at Druggists 25c. comicbooks.com