Life, 1911-11-16 · page 37 of 44
Life — November 16, 1911 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Content:** This page is primarily **advertising**, featuring AT&T's "Bell Democracy" pitch—a corporate propaganda piece equating the telephone system with democratic access and progress. The ad uses statistics (12 million miles of wire, 20 million daily calls) to suggest the Bell System democratically connects all Americans regardless of location or status. **Satirical Elements:** The page includes a literary piece titled "Inversion of Truth" about a miser who hears a sermon on charity but applies it selfishly—the preacher's earnest message gets twisted to serve the listener's existing character. This ironic contrast appears **deliberately juxtaposed** with AT&T's earnest corporate messaging, though whether intentionally satirical or simply editorial placement is unclear. **Bottom Cartoon:** A brief joke about two dogs: one asks why the other wags its tail so much, asking if it "belongs to the signal corps." This plays on World War I–era military terminology, treating the dog's tail-wagging as military signaling. **Overall:** A mix of vintage advertising, light humor, and possibly inadvertent irony.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Inversion of Truth What use the preacher's trath and ear- nest exhortation ? The hearer makes thereof inverted ap- plication. A miser listened once to a discourse most moving, The habit of unstinted charity approv- ing. He said: “I never was before so much affected ; How beautiful is charity, when well directed! So clear d noble is the duty of alms- is the motor’s worst enemy. But perfect lubrication kills fric- tion. Therefore use and your motor will be in the Safe, Sound and " Ripe Age Don't merely ask for “good oil,"’say PANHARD | OIL to your dealer and insist on it. cation,"and give your deal- e'snaime, GEORGE A. HAWS 16 Pine Street, New York Dealers Write for Help Sal" Plan, A Happy Marriage Depends largely ona knowl- edge of the whole truth about self and ser and their relation to life and health. This knowledge does not come intelligently of itself, nor correctly from ordinary SEXOLOGY Udustratea) & William H. Wailing, holes to Hie Son, ald Mave. 10 Her Daughter, Have. All in one volume. IMustrated, $2, ‘Write lor “"Other People's Opinions "* and Table of Contents, Puritan Pub. Co., 776 Perry Bldg., Phila., Pa, | Membership in the telephone democracy of the Bell System means equal opportunity for every man, |no matter who he is or where he is. Each member of this Bell democ- racy has the same chance of com- munication, limited only by the distance the voice can be carried. However remote, whether in the adobe house on the Rio Grande, on the Montana sheep ranch or in the isolated New England farm house, the Bell telephone is an open door- | way to the Universal Bell System. | One Policy Lazy “He was very lazy, Mr. Perkins,” said old Mrs. Jones. “I must say my first husband was a very lazy man.” “ How lazy was he?" I asked. “Well, he was so lazy, fr. Jones was so lazy, that he wouldn't shovel a path to the front gate.” “How did he get the path broken out?” I asked. “Oh, he used to lay on the lounge and pinch the baby’s ear with the nippers until the neighbors came rushing in to tread down the snow."—Eli Perkins, 875, In the Bell Democracy From each Bell outpost run lines that connect it with the central office —that nerve center of the local system. Long distance and toll lines con- nect these nerve centers and furnish clear tracks for telephone talk throughout the land. 12,000,000 miles of wire are the highways over which 20,000,000 telephone talks are carried daily. The Bell System binds together the social and business activities of a people in a shoulder-to-shoulder march of progress. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES Universal Service om oe Pussy: SAY, SANDY, WHY DO You WIG-WAG WITH YOUR TAIL SO MUCH? pO YOU BELONG TO THE SIGNAL cores? comicbooks.com