Life, 1919-06-19 · page 31 of 42
Life — June 19, 1919 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It appears in *Life* magazine (May 22, 1919) promoting the Addressograph, an early automated addressing machine. The ad features a testimonial letter from The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York praising the device's efficiency—it allegedly replaced 35 clerks' work and saved time on repetitive tasks like addressing forms and printing notices. The company used approximately 900,000 address plates. The advertisement emphasizes the machine's speed (125 impressions per minute) and accuracy compared to manual pen or typewriter work, which it characterizes as "slowest, most inaccurate and costly." A photograph shows the machine in operation. The ad targets businesses with high-volume addressing needs, suggesting the Addressograph was a significant productivity innovation of the early 20th century—an ancestor of modern printing and data-handling technology. There is no satire or political commentary apparent here; it's straightforward advertising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
[ “LIFE: 1095 Savings! In every office—names, dates, sym- bols,addresses,etc., must be written. May 22, 1919. y Dear Mr, Fellows: i Our Adéressograph saves the tine of about 35 clerks. : . Pen or typewriter is the slowest, most It has paid for itself any tines over — : besides giving a much pete cheips inaccurate and costly way. The fastest, oduct than under our old systex o a Sriting receipts and notices by type- neatest and only error-proof method is writer or pen, ; the Addressograph. We use approximately 900,000 plates - one . . . for each policy. Don’t say your requirements are too limited or too great “till you have actually investigated a No changes in our record keeping methods hand—foot—or motor Addressograph. were necessary to enjoy Addrensograph advantages. Very truly yours, Uli pdemnl General auditor arg SUL RoBBins:, RLAND TE ST* Cont wanton BETS LAEATEGEPORT «CON a ONE OF SEVERAL MODELS Entirely automatic! Feeds and imprints names and other data, typewriter style, on forms as shown above. Prints same im- pression once, twice, of more times as desired. Speed 125 impressions a minute ~-7,500 an hour. Prints from Card In- dex plates quickly made by any clerk. Chicago ; New York ab comicbooks.com