Life, 1907-06-27 · page 24 of 25
Life — June 27, 1907 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Schlitz beer advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page promotes Schlitz as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" by arguing that while people have different taste preferences, **purity is the truly important factor** in beer quality. The ad's argument: taste is subjective and varies, but purity—defined as healthfulness, cleanliness, freedom from germs, and inability to cause digestive upset—objectively separates superior beers from inferior ones. Schlitz claims this purity as its distinguishing merit. The decorative border features hops, appropriate to beer advertising. This reflects early-20th-century marketing that emphasized scientific cleanliness and health benefits to sell consumer products, a common advertising strategy of that era before modern food safety regulations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Prefer the same beer—that is true. They are guided by taste; and tastes differ as beers do. But taste can be cultivated. And absolute purity is much more important. Judged by likes, the few best beers may not dif- fer enough to matter. Judged by purity, there is a vast difference in beers. And purity means healthfulness, cleanliness, freedom from germs. It means a beer that cannot cause biliousness. It is purity, above all, that makes Schlitz so important. Ask for the Brewery Bottling. See that the cork or The B e e r crown ts branded Schlitz. That Made Milwaukee Famou | Somaneoke com