Life, 1914-09-17 · page 37 of 48
Life — September 17, 1914 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines two separate advertisements disguised as content. **Left side:** A marriage-promotion piece by Tudor Jenks uses marriage quotations ("Ask the man who owns one," "Eventually—why not now?") to advocate for matrimony. It's accompanied by an ad for Life magazine's binding service (selling a dollar binder to hold 26 copies). The satire here is gentle—poking fun at male reluctance to marry by using folksy testimonial language mimicking product advertising. **Right side:** An American Telephone and Telegraph Company advertisement presents a map showing telephone exchange distribution across the U.S., with pyramids indicating ownership percentages. The text argues that despite independent companies operating many exchanges, Bell's unified system provides superior "universal service" to 70,000 places and 8 million subscribers. The recent Attorney General agreement mentioned legitimized Bell's near-monopoly by mandating interconnection standards—presented here as consumer benefit rather than antitrust enforcement. The cartoon of "automatic couplers" (telephone connectors) reinforces the interconnection message. This is essentially corporate advertising masquerading as neutral information.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
. “1 mmer Place few Ip me nal. John ) men leath, inion. eels Words of Wisdom T’S surely very foolish to bear the ills of life Without a soul to share them,a sweet and loving wife— “ Ask the man who owns one.” Each year you wait is so much loss; you are not growing young; Far better pop the question that trembles on the tongue— “ Eventually—why not now?” Among the maidens charming there's one awaiting you, Her heart is worth the winning, her soul is kind and true— “ores Jo pure.” single life is cheaper, a fact I don't dispute, married life brings worry that sometimes grows acute— “Costs a little more than others—worth it.” The wife will make a sunny home, dispel each cloud of gloom, Her loving labor lightens and brightens every room— “Chases dirt” Don't think your life is all complete and shun the wedding-ring, You may be overlooking the most im- portant thing— “Have you a little fairy in your home?” The best binder for life is a wedding ring. The next best is the one you see here, the price of which is One Dollar Address Lire, 17 West 31st Street, New York The binder is Back cloth with gold letter: tng, and will held twenty-six copies. 56. Be att ord Bienes : and over 8,000,000 subscribers. The pyramids show that only a minority of the exchanges are Bell-owned, and that the greater majority of the exchanges are owned by independent companies and connected with the Bell System. At comparatively few points are there two telephone companies, and there are comparatively few exchanges, chiefly rural, which do not have outside connections. 23. Exchanges Bolowned. 501 | What the Telephone Map Shows 9. Placescorved by 10.5% Exchanges not Bell. ted. two companies, owned of connect VERY dot on the map marks a town where there is a telephone exchange, the same sized dot being used for a large city as for a small village. Some of these exchanges are owned by the Associated Bell companies and some by independent companies. Where joined together in one system they meet the needs of each community and, with their suburban lines, reach 70,000 places The recent agreement between the Attorney General of the United States and the Bell System will facilitate connections between all telephone subscribers regard- less of who owns the exchanges. Over 8,000 different telephone companies have already connected their exchanges to provide universal service for the whole country. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One Policy When other blessings vanish, since faithful love remains, This is the priceless pearl man seeks, despising other gains— “He won't be happy till he gets it.” The moral is so evident, no further shall I preach ; Just let me put in one short word the lesson I would teach: Uneeda! Tudor Jenks. One System Universal Service AN AUTOMATIC COUPLERS