Life, 1917-09-27 · page 6 of 40
Life — September 27, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. It's a vintage advertisement for the Mimeograph machine, made by A.B. Dick Company (Chicago and New York). The image shows two office workers—a man seated at a desk examining documents and a woman standing beside him holding papers. The ad promotes the mimeograph as a cost-effective copying technology that could reproduce documents, diagrams, and illustrations quickly by tracing designs onto stencils. The sales pitch emphasizes efficiency: producing "five thousand clean, sharp, exact duplicates of a letter or form an hour," supposedly cheaper and faster than blueprint technology. The ad targets businesses seeking to reduce overhead in "overworked offices and factories." This represents early 20th-century office automation technology, predating photocopiers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Drive home the point—by putting, pictures and diagrams in your form letters, bulletins, etc. Quickly and easily done—at practically no cost—when they are printed on the mimeo- graph. Simply trace or draw the picture on the stencil—and then print. A distinct mimeo- graph advantage. Opens new possibilities for forward work. Better and much cheaper than blue prints. @ @ You don't know what fine work the mimeograph does unless you have seen its recent product. It produces five thousand clean, sharp, exact duplicates of a letter or form an hour—and it does this work better than it has ever been done before. It offers many ways of cutting, costs and relieving the stress in overworked offices and factories—now. Get particulars today from your local dealer, or booklet “W” from A. B. Dick Company, Chicago—and New York. M comicbooks By