Life, 1917-09-06 · page 6 of 40
Life — September 6, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising rather than satire**. It's a White Company truck advertisement from Cleveland, Ohio (page 366 of Life magazine). The illustration depicts an **industrial wartime scene**—factories, construction cranes, and workers amid what appears to be wartime production activity. The text references President Wilson and emphasizes how trucks are essential to American industry during this period, likely WWI. The advertisement argues that White trucks increase productivity by replacing multiple horse teams while requiring fewer workers and less maintenance time. It appeals to patriotic duty ("every thinking man") and economic efficiency. The "satire" element, if any, is subtle—the ad uses hyperbole about trucks' superiority, but this is standard advertising rhetoric rather than political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
O meet the gigantic demands of a world war upon our industrial resources, with the flower of our man power diverted to military service. To produce and trans- port more million tons with fewer mill- ion men. As President Wilson has pointed out: ‘It must be evident to every thinking man that our industries, on the farms, in the shipyards, in the mines, in the factories, must be made more prolific and more efficient than ever.” These industries stimulate all other lines of busi- ness. There is more activity—more money is spent than would be possible in ordinary times. But how can reduced man power be made more productive? By the use of more machinery and better machinery and by a more concentrated use of the equipment in hand. What is true of production is equally true of transportation. It is idle to produce if you cannot transport. HIGH GRADE TRUCKS MUST REPLACE HORSES Doing the work of three or four teams and their drivers, one truck would save 75% of the man power. One good truck which does the work of two poor ones will increase this saving. Each unit will be taxed to THE WHITE COMPANY, Cleveland, Ohio the limit to save time and men. The truck which is not designed to stand up under high pressure operation, day in and day out, season after season, will fail in the most vital respect—constant performance. Timeout of service will be extremely expensive. Even under ordinary conditions, the grinding, straining and pounding of truck service renders the best mechanism the most economical at whatever price. Under the extraordinary conditions before us none other will take care of the traffic. WHITE TRUCKS For years it has been the White policy to build only the best. There is no short cut to efficiency and endur- ance ina truck. Only the pick of material and the most refined construction will produce the White standard of service. The White truck has always been more economical than any cheaper make. In high pressure operation this superiority becomes something more important than economy; it means more days in active service—a much greater volume of performance. The largest users of motor trucks in this country recognize the White value. They buy it in fleets and add to these fleets year after year, based upon experi- ence. They know the real value of a motor truck. Their cost records tell the story. comicbooks