Life, 1911-01-05 · page 73 of 104
Life — January 5, 1911 — page 73: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **tire advertisement**, not a political cartoon. It promotes Morgan & Wright's "Nobby Tread" tires, marketed to early automobile owners (likely 1910s-1920s era based on style). The "joke" or selling point is visual: a large tire tread pattern is shown with prominent rubber "knobs" (the bumps visible on the tire surface). The headline's pun—"The Knobs Will Stop Your Skidding"—plays on both the literal knobs on the tire and the colloquial use of "knobs" as slang. **The sales pitch:** These knobs grip wet, icy, or muddy roads better than smooth tires, offering traction equivalent to tire chains but without chains' expense and wear. The ad emphasizes practical benefits: all-weather performance and durability. This is straightforward commercial advertising using a pun and product demonstration—not satire or political commentary. Modern readers might miss that tire traction was a genuine safety concern for early motorists without modern tire technology.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE KNOBS — WILL STOP-YOUR SKIDDING MORGAN & WRIGHT NObBY TP. y aa The | ae only tire f ~ ever produced a which combines all ns the protection against skidding and dnve' slip- ping of the best tire chains with the weaning qualities of . plain treads. The big thick tough rubber knobs gnp any kind of a road surface with bull-dog tenacity—yes, even wet, greasy asphalt pavements or roads covered -with snow, mud or ice. Nobby Treads will give absolute skid- ding protection that is always where you want it when you want it and will do away with the trouble, expense and excessive tire wear always attending the use of chains. a ST SE Enea | | MorcAN & WRIGHT TIRES | ARE GOOD TIRES. | comicbooks.com