Life, 1909-05-13 · page 2 of 32
Life — May 13, 1909 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
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.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JONES: “Casey, how is your Speedometer? ”” CASEY: “ Accurate to a whisper!" JONES re you making many arrests?” CASEY: “ Caught a bunch a few weeks ago—but nothing doing now. Cars have ALL been equipped with Jones Speedometers. he drivers KNOW their speed—and they KNOW 1 KNOW—See?” JONES SPEEDOMETER Will keep you out of the clutches of the law. Can you afford to take a chance driving without an ACCURATE, RELIABLE speed-indicator ? Can you afford to drive without a JONES? USE the JONES and you need not fear arrest—used for years by the Bicycle and Motorcycle police of the United States and Europe because it is THE ACKNOWLEDGED STANDARD—the BEST. Get a JONES NOW and PUT IT TO WORK! It’s the OFFICIAL speed-indicator. Costs no more than the inferior article. Its testimony is accepted in the HIGHEST COURTS and is relied upon for evidence in cases of speed violation. If you buy an imitation of the Jones you are buying a copy of one of our OUT-OF-DATE instruments at an UPSTO-DAVTE PRICE! JONES SPEEDOMETER DEP’T UNITED MANUFACTURERS troadway and 76th Street, New York comicbooks.com