Life — January 11, 1917 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is **not a cartoon or satire**, but rather a **straightforward advertisement** for the mimeograph machine, placed in *Life* magazine (page 43). The ad features a businessman at his desk demonstrating the A.B. Dick mimeograph—a duplicating device. The text emphasizes cost savings: the company saved $11 by mimeographing requisition forms instead of hiring a printer ($17 for their previous supply). The appeal targets small business owners and office managers, highlighting the mimeograph's efficiency: automatic feeding, inking, and electrical operation could produce "a thousand perfect duplicates" in twenty minutes. This reflects early-20th-century business culture where office automation was novel and genuinely revolutionary, promising independence from expensive outside printing services.