Life, 1919-04-17 · page 31 of 46
Life — April 17, 1919 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward advertisement for Goodyear Pneumatic Cord Truck Tires, likely from the 1920s. The page features a testimonial from G. N. Burg of M. Burg & Sons (a furniture merchant in St. Paul, Minnesota) praising tire durability. A photograph shows a truck tire on its rim, illustrating the product. The ad's main claim: Goodyear's pneumatic (air-filled) cord tires outlast solid tires, averaging 22,450 miles while reducing mechanical problems, fuel consumption, and delivery delays. The text emphasizes the tires' "toughness, cushioning and wider radius of action." This represents early automotive advertising using real-customer testimonials to build credibility—a marketing technique still common today. There is no satirical commentary; it's commercial promotion in a magazine known for humor elsewhere.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ ( aes YEAR Pneumatic Cord Truck Tires are not only helping 7 our trucks to last longer but they are lasting remarkably long them- selves. ceptional mileage.” —G. N. A set of Goodyear Pneumatic Cord Truck Tires has averaged 22,450 miles per tire for these wholesale furniture merchants. The odometer already had checked off 20,000 miles before the first two tires were replaced, while the third reached 22,000, and the fourth ran past 27,800. Of course, mileages of 15,000 to 25,000 are seldom obtained where tires are abused or neglected. This particular record reflects reasonable care given these tires. Nevertheless they made their good scores despite bein obliged frequently to carry full loads over bad railroad crossings and through unpaved and littered streets. ‘OOD gd ( | We find that their_strength, properly conserved, means ex- Burg, for M. Burg & Sons, St. Paul, Minn. _The company recently announced that Goodyear Pneumatic Cord Truck Tires have replaced solid tires on all their trucks. This is both because of their endurance and the fact that they have minimized mechanical trouble, lessened breakages in furniture, covered more ground, eliminated wintertime delays and reduced fuel and oil consumption. Therefore this user, like many others, has benefited very definitely from each of the pronounced virtues of Goodyear Pneumatic Cord Truck Tires—namely, their toughness, cushioning and wider radius of action, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Akron, Ohio comicbooks.com