Life, 1911-02-09 · page 43 of 44
Life — February 9, 1911 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **shoe advertisement**, not political satire. It's a Goodyear Welt shoe company ad using an allegorical illustration. The image shows two globes with figures emerging from a dark mass below, flowing upward between them. This visualizes the opening philosophical quote: "Every Man is a World in himself" and "Words are the messengers which convey ideas." The ad's argument is metaphorical: just as true messages "carry and cling" while falsehoods "tumble in a tangled heap," genuine Goodyear Welt shoes represent truth and quality in manufacturing, contrasted with inferior imitations. The "footing" metaphor connects stability (reliable shoes) to reliable messaging. The ad emphasizes that machine-made Goodyear Welts match hand-sewn quality at one-third the cost—positioning industrial manufacturing as progress and democratization of excellence. It's promoting the United Shoe Machinery Company's factory innovations as an "Industrial City" achievement in early 20th-century American manufacturing pride.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eta NE ‘“‘Every Man is a World in himself.’’ Words are the messengers which convey ideas. Messages of truth carry and cling— falsehoods tumble in a tangled heap. Be sure of your footing—Get GOODYEAR WELTS and be like them—Genuine—and you'll wear well. The manufacturer or dealer who advertises that he makes or sells a Goodyear Welt thereby conveys to you the message that he offers a shoe possessing the first requisite of excellence—a shoe, made by machines, which is as comfortable, durable and stylish as one hand-sewed—at only one-third the cost. A thin and narrow strip of leather called a welt is first sewed to the insole and upper. The outsole is then sewed to this welt, leaving the stitches outside so that the insole is ‘eft entirely smooth. Write to-day for the following booklets, which will be sent you without cost 1. Contains an alphabetical list of over five hundred shoes sold under a special name or trade-mark, made by the Goodyear Welt process. 2. Deseribes the Goodyear Welt process in detail, and pictures the sixty marvelous machines employed. 3. “The Secret of the Shoe—An Industry Transformed.” The true story of 4. "An Industrial City." Mlustrated. Descriptive of the great model factory. of the Reverly, Massachusetts an achievement, nited Shoe Machinery Company at IN 18 x” UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY BOSTON, MASS. THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY, NEW YORK comicbooks.com