Life, 1916-03-23 · page 35 of 52
Life — March 23, 1916 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **business advertisement**, not a political cartoon. It promotes the Multigraph, an early printing machine (circa 1920s). The "story" features an unnamed office worker whose skepticism about learning to use new technology is overturned by easy success. After a week's practice, she operates the machine efficiently, producing thousands of copies quickly. Her boss is delighted by the cost savings—the machine pays for itself through reduced printing expenses. The satire is gentle: the headline "I Didn't Suppose It Was So Easy" plays on common anxiety about adopting unfamiliar office machinery. The ad reassures potential business customers that despite appearing complex, the Multigraph is actually user-friendly and profitable. This reflects early-20th-century business culture's emphasis on efficiency and labor-saving devices, targeting small offices and print shops who couldn't afford traditional printing services. The gendered presentation (a woman operator) was typical of period advertising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ona order er to rans- erved ached | him from book splied from 4 addressed rn of unto “IT Didn’t Suppose It Was So Easy” “When the boss told me he had ordered a Multigraph for producing form letters and a few of our printing jobs, I said to myself, ‘Here’s where [ have to learn the printing business.’ But I was wrong. “After a little practice each day for a week or two, I could set up a letter, make corrections in proof, and run off a thousand copies in less than two hours. “Printing was almost as easy. I used the regular Multigraph type for most of our office forms and some advertising matter. If the work was on folders, circulars or mailing cards with line cuts and different type faces, we had curved electrotypes made, fastened them on the drum of the Multigraph and produced any color with the Printing Ink Attachment.* _ “At the end of the first month the boss compared my work with some of our stock printed stuff. When he figured out the saving in cost, he smiled all over his face. “Then he said, ‘I only paid 20% down for that machine, with easy monthly pay- ments thereafter. Do you realize that you're saving more than enough to meet every installment before it’s due? I wish every investment would produce at such a rate!’” You'll Find It Pays, Too _ The Multigraph fits practically every kind and of business. Equipments range irom $200 to $715 or over, according to your needs. Fill out the coupon and make us F show you *A wide variety of faces of hand-set type, borders, rules, etc., are now used on the Multigraph for some work and take the place of clectrotypes. Setting up a form on the Compotype, the composing half of the Multigraph. Type is set on a drum, which is then put into the Multigraph for print- ing. The average operator re- quires little time to become proficient. comicbooks.com