Life — May 13, 1909 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Jones Speedometer Advertisement This page is primarily an advertisement rather than political satire. It promotes the Jones Speedometer, a device that measures vehicle speed. The top illustration shows a humorous dialogue between Jones (a driver) and Casey (appearing to be a police officer on motorcycle), where Jones claims his speedometer helps him avoid speeding violations. The ad's appeal is safety-conscious: it positions the speedometer as protection against legal trouble, claiming it's used as evidence in courts and trusted by law enforcement across the US and Europe. The bottom shows two circular instrument gauges. The humor relies on the implicit premise that drivers naturally want to exceed speed limits—the speedometer supposedly keeps them "out of the clutches of the law" by helping them stay within legal limits while maintaining plausible deniability.