Life, 1914-04-02 · page 47 of 68
Life — April 2, 1914 — page 47: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward **product advertisement** for a Remington typewriter innovation. The page promotes a typewriter that combines typing with automatic arithmetic: as a clerk types bill items and presses number keys, the machine simultaneously calculates totals and prints them. The ad emphasizes this eliminates manual addition errors and saves clerical time. The appeal to modern readers: this represents pre-computer office automation. In an era before electronic calculators, this mechanical integration of typing and math was genuinely innovative. The ad references real institutional users (U.S. Sub-Treasury, NYC Finance Department) to establish credibility, and the cost-benefit argument ("machines installed five years ago have paid for themselves") uses efficiency metrics familiar to business decision-makers. The page demonstrates how businesses solved clerical bottlenecks through mechanical innovation—the historical predecessor to modern spreadsheet software.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SRS SASSI Type your bill. Stop! It is footed—total proved This latest Remington time-saver ends a needless waste of clerical time From now on bills and state- ments will be written-out and footed-up simultaneously. One operation does it. The typist inserts a bill head in the Remington Adding and Sub- tracting Typewriter. She copies the items. But look! Every time the numeral keys are pressed, the figures are both typed and added. The bill automatically foots—with cold steel accuracy. If the typist prints a wrong total, an error-signal at once calls a halt. The footings will be as correct as though proved by a certified ac- countant. The bill—neatly typed and com- plete—is mailed without a moment’s time spent on addition, subtraction or total-proving. +e ee This marks a tremendous ad- vance in billing and accounting. Hereafter, every moment spent in footing bills will be a sheer waste of clerical time. This machine does your work your way. You can start using it tomorrow—without altering your account- ing system in the slightest. The only change it forces is a change from human inaccu- racy to mechanical precision—from time-waste to time- saving. 1 607 323 52 The Remington Adding and Sub- tracting Typewriter is (1)—always ready as a complete easy-running typewriter, for letter writing. : (2)—always ready as a quick adder and subtracter, for listing. (3)—always ready for both writ- ing words and adding figures at one operation. This latest and most remarkable Remington time-saver is now used constantly in thousands of retail stores, banks and business offices— large and small. The United States Sub-Treasury and the New York City Finance Department use it continuously. Machines installed five years ago } have paid for themselves over and over again, in time saved—to say nothing of errors caught before they were made. * * * 8 The Remington Adding and Sub- tracting Typewriter puts the old methods of footing bills and state- ments into a past business age- A booklet, “ The New Remington Idea,” gives more details. Write for it today. It is much easier to keep up with the times than to catch up. 7. * * The Remington Adding and Subtract- ing Typewriter can be had in any of the Remington Models shown ‘low. Each is a member of the famous Remington family. Each is a complete, easy-running typewriter, plus the adding and sub- tracting feature. Each is designed and built, so as to insure maximum durability. Each has distinctive features designed to meet individual requirements, Your totals are shown here as fast as the figures are typed Remington Typewriter Company, Incorporated, New York City (Branches Everywhere) For clear, clean, typewriter results, use Remtico brand letter paper, carbon paper and ribbons. Send for samples i 7 comicb aX ooks.com