Life, 1919-08-07 · page 6 of 44
Life — August 7, 1919 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. The image shows cherries on a branch. The advertisement for the Mimeograph machine uses a rhetorical device comparing unfamiliar technology to unfamiliar taste: just as someone who'd never tasted a cherry couldn't describe it, someone who hasn't seen a Mimeograph in operation can't judge its value. The ad emphasizes the machine's speed and efficiency—it "reproduces letters, forms, plans, maps, drawings" rapidly using stencils. The pitch targets business users, claiming the device saves "minutes and money" for companies that "cannot afford to waste time." This reflects early 20th-century business culture's enthusiasm for labor-saving office technology. The cherry comparison is simply a marketing metaphor, not commentary on current events or political figures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tang! \f you had never tasted a cherry could you tell what a cherry is like? If you have not seen the new Mimeo- graph in operation can you hope to form any fair opinion of what it really does? You may know that with lightning rapidity it re- produces letters, forms, plans, maps, drawings —whatever type may cut or stylus may trace upon the thin and waxless stencil. But you cannot know just what this foe to overhead and friend of economy can do for you until you have tested it. For unnumbered thousands of businesses it is doing big work —saving minutes and money. Today no one can afford to waste time in taking two bites at the business cherry. The Mimeograph is more than ever essential to you now. Let us show you why. Booklet “W”’ A. B. Dick Company, Chicago—and New York. on request.