Life — November 16, 1916 — page 46: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is an **advertisement**, not satire. It promotes the Rauch & Lang Electric automobile as a luxury item, using the phrase "The Social Necessity"—a paradoxical slogan suggesting that owning this car is both a status symbol and a practical requirement. The accompanying illustration shows a stylized woman in formal dress presenting the car on a pedestal, with classical allegorical imagery (a deer, ornamental base). This visual treatment elevates the automobile to an object of prestige and refinement. For modern readers: This reflects early 1900s attitudes where electric cars (quieter, cleaner than gasoline models) were marketed to wealthy women and the upper class as signs of social standing. The "necessity" rhetoric ironically acknowledges that ownership signals wealth rather than actual practical need. The Baker R & L Company, based in Cleveland, distributed these luxury vehicles nationally.