Life, 1912-01-18 · page 43 of 44
Life — January 18, 1912 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily a **book review section and advertising**, not political satire. The main content is a lengthy advertisement for American Telephone and Telegraph Company disguised as historical commentary. The ad compares Napoleon's 1793 visual telegraph system (semaphore towers using wooden arms) to modern Bell Telephone service. It frames the comparison as promotional messaging: Napoleon's system was limited (no night use, unreliable weather performance), whereas the Bell System enables "intercommuncation for 90,000,000 people" and drives "industrial, commercial and social progress." The left side features a "White Rock" water advertisement with a globe map. The page itself contains no political cartoons or satire—it's a straightforward product advertisement using historical comparison as a rhetorical device to emphasize technological progress and Bell's superiority. The engraved illustration of the telegraph tower is historical reference material, not editorial commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Books Received The Jaunts of Junior, (Harper & Bros. $1.25.) The Mistress of Shenstone, by Flor- once L. Barclay. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.) In Accidental Honeymoon, by David Potter. (J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila. $1.35.) Joyce of the Jasmines, by Ralph Henry Barbour. (J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila. Pa. $2.00.) The Lighted Match, by Charles Ne- ville Buck. (WW. J. Watt & Co. $1.25.) The Gift of Sleep, by Bolton Hall. at, Yard & Co. $1.25.) T Children’s Educational Theatre, ly Alice Minnie Herts. (Harper & Bros. $ ) Philip Stecte, by James Oliver Cur- wood. (Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, Ind. i 1, by Colette Yver. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.35.) The Moon Lady, by Helen Hunting- ton. (Chas. Scribner's Sons. $1.25.) E ces in American History, by A. M. Simons. (The Macmillan Co. Blicher and the Uprising of Prussia t Nepolcon, by Ernest F. Hender- P. Putnam's Sons.) of a Parisian, by Dr. cs De La Siboutic. (G. P. Put- Purple, by S. Ella Wood Dean. (Forbes & Co., Chicago, II. $1.25.) 1 Country Lawyer, by Judge Henry A. Shute. (Houghton Mifflin Co. $1.25 net.) Ghe Most Popular Water Prom an old printin La Telegrase Historique. Indians sent messages by means of signal fires, but Napoleon established |the first permanent system for rapid communication. In place of the slow and unreliable ser- vice of couriers, he built lines of towers extending to the French frontiers and sent messages from tower to tower by means of the visual telegraph. This device was invented in 1793 by Claude Chappe. It was a semaphore. The letters and words were indicated by the position of the wooden arms; and the messages were received and relayed at the next tower, perhaps a dozen miles away. Compared to the Bell Telephone system Napoleon’s Visual Telegraph The First Long Distance System of to-day the visual telegraph system of Napoleon’s time seems a crude make- shift. It could not be used at night nor in thick weather. It was expensive in construction and operation, considering that it was maintained solely for military purposes. Yet it was a great step ahead, because it made possible the transmission of messages to distant points without the use of the human messenger. It blazed the way for the universal telephone service of the Bell System which provides personal intercommuni- cation for 90,000,000 people and is indis- pensable for the industrial, commercial and social progress of the Nation. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES : One System One Policy Universal Service John Temple, by Ralph Durand. (The Macmilla The that Lives, by Mabel Os- good Wright. (The Macmillan Co. $1.30.) Panama, by Albert Edwards. (The Macmillan Co. $2.30.) Advanced Auction Bridge, by the Ex- pert of the New York Sun. (F. A. Stokes Co. 0.) Opcra Synopses, by J. W. MeSpadden. (T. Y. Crowell Co. 75 cents.) THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY, NEW YORK The Haunted Photograph, by Ruth McEnery Stuart. (Century Co. $1.00.) The United States N by Henry Williams. (Henry Holt $1.50.) Baby Mine, by Margaret Mayo. lead & Co. $1.00.) irl of the Golden West, by Da- Belasco. (Dodd, Mead & Co. $1.25.) As You Like It, (The Tudor Sh speare.) (The Henry V. (TI (The Macmillan Co. 35 cents.)