Life, 1918-09-19 · page 6 of 34
Life — September 19, 1918 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
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.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Balzac—greatest of French fic- tionists—used to keep seven quill- wielders busy at one time. They wrote to his dictation in longhand. # ¥ But the typewriter changed all that. It increased tremendously the power of the copyist. # # And just as the typewriter revolutionized old meth- ods, so, in turn, does the Mimeograph multiply the power of the typewriter. It reproduces five thousand perfect dupli- cates of a typed or written sheet an hour—at small cost. And designs, sketches, plans, signatures, etc., may go on the same sheet, in the one operation. Unexcelled is the work of the Mimeograph now—and needed. Get booklet “W” from local dealer, or A. B. Dick Company, Chicago—and New York. SOS CaaS KRO> OOHRS