Life, 1912-12-05 · page 114 of 116
Life — December 5, 1912 — page 114: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not political satire. The page promotes Goodrich's new "Safety Tread" tire, featuring an illustration of a car braking hard on a wet street. The visual demonstrates the tire's function: water is being pushed away by the tread bars, allowing the tire to grip the road and stop effectively. The accompanying text emphasizes that brakes alone cannot stop a car—tire tread quality is equally critical. The marketing angle frames the tire tread as taking "orders from the brakes," personifying it as an active partner in vehicle safety. This was a significant selling point for early 20th-century automobiles, when tire reliability directly impacted driver safety on unpaved or wet roads. The ad promises availability through 100+ Goodrich branches and dealers nationwide, positioning the company (based in Akron, Ohio) as the market leader—"Largest in the World."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The trea r that makes the | brake effective In situations like this, your safety de. pends upon the co-operation between your brakes and the treads of your tires, No matter how good your brakes are you don’t stop if the treads of your tires don’t respond by gripping the road. “All the ‘brakes’ are with you” when your car is equipped with SAFETY TREAD The Safety Tread takes orders from the brakes, gets This new Safety Tread tire solves the skid by busy and brings the car up standing. The first bar removing the cause. It is a Goodrich Tire thru and to touch the street pushes the ooze out of the way, thru. It has Goodrich Quality, Goodrich Unit Con: and keeps it away while the other bars get a good struction and Goodrich Tough Tread only more o! grip on the clean spot under the tire. Jit. It delivers mileage in Goodrich heaping measure. | 100 branches and service stations andtinnumerable dealers everywhere can now supply you with this new Safety Tread, in any size and to fit any rim. The B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio Largest in the Worle comicbookMeuml