Life, 1910-03-03 · page 7 of 80
Life — March 3, 1910 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is an advertisement, not a cartoon or satire. It promotes the Klaxon car horn ("The X-Ray of Sound"), manufactured by Lovell-McConnell Mfg. Co. and distributed by The Klaxon Company in New York. The ad uses a safety argument to sell the product. The illustration shows a car descending steep winding hills—a dangerous driving scenario. The text argues that conservative motorists need effective warning signals; a Klaxon horn allows drivers to alert others of their approach, preventing accidents. The implicit criticism targets "reckless motorists" who use insufficient horns, thereby endangering themselves and others. For modern readers: this is an early automobile-safety advertisement leveraging fear and moral judgment to promote a specific safety device during the early automotive era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
inding Hills pi afford the most conservative motorist convincing proof of the insurance value ofa KLAXON: For. the greater the inherent risk, the more evident is the need of an effective distance signal. With a moderate-powered car, to stop quickly on a bad hill is,impossible, going either up or down. Safety demands'a clear road and.the amplest warning of another car ‘approach, pitt Tn such a situation, the conserbative motorist is the one who adopts | ‘the best’ enown safeguard; the ‘reckless, motorist is he who takes"a chance withan inefficient horn: and thereby jeopardizes the life and property of others besides himself. ‘Which sort of motorist do you aspire to be? Ask any user of a KLAXON what it does for him—and send for catalog describing it in detail. LOVELL-McCONNELL MFG, CO. ~ THE KLAXON COMPANY MANUFACTURERS - SOLE DISTRIBUTORS POR U.S.A. NEWARK, N. J. KILLA comicbooks.com