Life, 1916-11-30 · page 31 of 42
Life — November 30, 1916 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **corporate advertising** for United States Rubber Company, not satire. The "cartoon" is a single illustration showing a Scottish man in early rainwear trudging through rain—depicting Charles Macintosh, the historical inventor of waterproofed fabric (the "macintosh" coat). The page uses light humor to frame a product narrative: it contrasts the early, poor-quality rubber coats (brittle, leaky, unfashionable) that Macintosh pioneered with modern U.S. Rubber Company products—superior weather coats tailored for all uses. The implicit message is progress through American manufacturing: what began as a daft-seeming Scottish invention has been perfected by American industry into reliable, stylish goods across 47 factories. The company logo appears mid-text, cementing this as branded content celebrating industrial achievement rather than satirical commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LTE EE 957 A Scotchman Started It N a dull, rainy day in Glasgow, many years ago, a Scotchman wearing an odd-looking cloak sauntered along in the drizzle. His good neighbors won- dered what he could be about. Doubtless they thought him daft. Little did they know how much he was to add to the future com- fort of the world. For this was the first practical test of Charles Macintosh’s dis- covery that rubber could be fabricated. Rainproof coats came into favor very slowly. Rubber was expensive, the wearing qualities of the rubberized fabrics of that day were poor, and the styles were hideous. The old caped “macintosh” soon grew brittle and leaked. What an improvement today ! The United States Rubber Company makes weather coats of standard, well proved, durable materials, tailored to satisfy every taste. Among them are weather coats for all people and all services--from the light-weight garments that modish women wear to the heavy storm coats used for hard work—or play. The making of thousands and thousands of weather coats is a great business by itself. But it is only one of the many activities of the United States Rubber Com- pany, the largest rubber manufacturer in the world. Included in the output of its 47 factories are also all styles of rubber footwear, canvasrubber-soled shoes, tires for automobiles, mo- tor trucks and all othe- vehicles, druggists’ rubber goods, insulated wire, soles and heels, bclting, hose, packing, mechanical and moulded rubber goods of every description. To furnish this vast output the United States Rubber Company has built up an immense organization, based on a founda- tion laid 74 years ago. Some of its units are especially skilled and equipped for the ‘production of one kind of rubber goods, some foranother. But every unit in the United States Rubber System is guided and dominated by this fundamental policy: the standard of quality must be maintained. United States Rubber Company comicbooks.com