Life — January 2, 1919 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political content**. It's a vintage advertisement for the Mimeograph machine, manufactured by A.B. Dick Company (Chicago and New York). The ad claims the mimeograph saves "millions of dollars" for American businesses by duplicating typewritten letters and forms efficiently. It highlights a new innovation: the "Dermatype stencil"—a thin dark-blue paper that allegedly allows finer, faster, cheaper printing while opening new possibilities for industries. The oval photograph shows the mimeograph machine itself. The ad uses urgent language ("At this crucial time") to encourage businesses to investigate the device's capabilities, offering to send information and catalogs upon request. This represents early-20th-century office technology marketing.