Life, 1910-04-21 · page 44 of 44
Life — April 21, 1910 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Baker Electric automobile advertisement**, not a political cartoon. It appeared in *Life* magazine on April 21, 1910. The image depicts an elegantly dressed couple (a man and woman in fashionable 1910 attire) driving a Baker Electric motorcar, with a dog resting beside the vehicle. A pastoral mansion is visible in the background. The ad's satire is subtle and social rather than political: it markets electric cars as vehicles for the wealthy and refined—"aristocrats of motordom." The pitch emphasizes cleanliness, reliability, and ease of use (no need to soil your hands, no expert driver required), positioning electric cars as superior to gasoline vehicles for the genteel class. The humor lies in the aspirational messaging: owning this car signals sophistication and leisure. By 1910, electric vehicles were indeed marketed to affluent women and urban dwellers as cleaner, quieter alternatives to temperamental gas engines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
__Acril21, 1910 HE constant increase in the speed and mileage of Electric motor cars has reached its 1910 maximum in the new Bevel Gear Shaft Drive Baker tric Runabout. Refinements in construction have brought the radius of this car to the point where its dependability upon a charging station has ceased to be a limitation. It will meet every reasonable demand of the average motorist. [t will carry you as far as you want to go in a day, and as fast as is safe. It is the smartest, safest and most dependable motor car at present available for town and suburban service. A Baker Electric requires no expert driver or caretaker ; no special motoring clothes; no expensive overhauling. It will run an entire season without so much as soiling your hands. It is absolutely clean because it is absolutely dependable. Write for Cat . which describes the many exclusive improvements of the new models; and for booklet “A Retrospect and a Forceast,” which contains a brief history of the Shaft Drive. THE BAKER MOTOR VEHICLE CO. 33 West 80th St. Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A. THE OLD T AND LARGEST MANUFACTURE OF ECTRIC MOTOR CARS IN THE WORLD comicbooks.com