Life, 1911-04-06 · page 20 of 76
Life — April 6, 1911 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not political satire. It appears in *Life* magazine promoting Packard Motor Trucks. The ad features a testimonial from **John Wanamaker**, a real Philadelphia department store magnate, touting the reliability of Packard trucks. The accompanying illustration shows a Packard delivery truck (labeled "John Wanamaker") alongside a train, suggesting the truck as a modern alternative to rail transport. The "point" is commercial: the ad demonstrates Packard's durability through concrete performance data—217,714 total miles across multiple vehicles over 15-26 months of continuous use in New York. The specific mileage figures (72 miles daily average, trucks hitting 110 miles/day) and their use across "103 lines of trade" serve as proof of reliability. The satirical tagline at bottom—"Ask the man who owns one"—was Packard's actual slogan, emphasizing word-of-mouth endorsement. This is advertising, not editorial commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
72 Miles a Day for 15 Months OHN WANAMAKER has had seven Packard three-ton trucks in active service in New York for fifteen months and another for eleven months Total milea, ge . 217,714 Average daily mileage of each truck, includin, ing lays ups, lays & month) . Average monthly mileege of each truck, . 4. . 1, sit ‘Average yearly mileage of each truck . . . 22)524 For months at a time several of these trucks averaged one hundred and ten miles a day Packard trucks are used in 103 lines of trade Three tons—Twelve miles an hour Write for catalog and facts about truck service Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit i) g Ilo i} bata Hy) iin WA Hl) ih Hil HH comicbooks.com