Life, 1917-11-08 · page 31 of 40
Life — November 8, 1917 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **straightforward advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. It's a full-page ad for Republic Rubber Company (Youngstown, Ohio) promoting their tire tubes, published in *Life* magazine. The page features a well-dressed businessman posing with an oversized tire tube to demonstrate the product's quality and durability. The ad emphasizes technical superiority: Republic tubes are built with multiple rubber plies, use a proprietary "steam-cured splice" (marketed as "welded-splice") rather than acid-curing, and supposedly outlast competitors' products. The headline "A Tube As Good As Its Casing" is a sales pitch claiming the tube quality matches the tire quality—an important selling point when tubes were separate, replaceable components of tire systems. There are no caricatures, political references, or satirical elements. This represents early 20th-century automotive advertising emphasizing manufacturing innovation as a competitive advantage. The "Republic" branding appears on the man's visible pocket area, reinforcing brand presence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Tube As Good As Its Casing Every one knows that Republic Tires outlast other tires because of the Proédium process of toughening the rubber. Republic Gray Tubes are worthy of the casing that contains them. They are built to outlast Republic Tires. There actually is extra strength and extra thickness in Republic Tubes. This is what gives them their wonderful stretching quality. They are made in plies of selected sheets of Para Rubber built layer upon layer. This process insures perfect protection against any possible flaws that might develop inone ply. Further protection, at a point where weakness in a tube often develops, is given by our welded-splice. We long ago abolished the acid cure process of splicing. We improved upon it with our own perfected process of a steam-cured splice, which is in effect a welded union stronger than the tube itself and joint-perfect. That is why Republic Tubes last longer. The Republic Rubber Company Youngstown, Ohio Originator of the First Effective Rubber Non-Skid Tire Republic Staggard Tread REPUBLIC TUBES comicbooks.com