Life — September 19, 1918 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Advertisement Analysis This page is primarily a **commercial advertisement** for the Mimeograph machine, placed in Life magazine. The ad uses Balzac, the famous 19th-century French novelist, as its hook—noting he employed seven stenographers writing his dictation simultaneously. The advertisement's argument is straightforward: the typewriter increased copyists' productivity, and the Mimeograph will do the same by reproducing "five thousand perfect duplicates of a typed or written sheet an hour—at small cost." There is **no political satire or cartoon** on this page. It's a product pitch emphasizing technological efficiency and labor economics—how machines amplify human output. The Balzac reference simply establishes a prestigious historical precedent for recognizing the value of clerical support.