Life, 1919-09-04 · page 36 of 48
Life — September 4, 1919 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily a **Gillette Safety Razor advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The main content promotes the Gillette blade's innovation: requiring "No Stropping—No Honing" (no manual sharpening), which was a genuine technological advance allowing daily use without maintenance. The **cartoon below** (titled "The Fortunes of War") is a humorous anthropomorphization of a love letter that gets lost in the mail system. The letter—personified as anxious and distressed—recounts its journey through multiple postal mishaps: being misdirected, stuck in mailboxes, routed to the dead-letter office, and languishing for a year before finally reaching its destination, now worn and damaged. The satire targets **postal service inefficiency**, apparently referencing Postmaster General Burleson's department policies. For modern readers, the joke relies on the now-quaint notion that important correspondence could be delayed for months or years due to bureaucratic bungling—a real frustration in the pre-digital era when mail was the primary communication method. The page also includes book advertisements and other miscellaneous content typical of *Life* magazine's format.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Shaving Service- for Every Man~Everywhere Grows Cross-grain and No Stropping—No Honing Mest every man has at least one spot on his face where the beard grows against the grain. A fine place for the Gillette to prove how it can shave him close and clean without pulling his beard or making his face sore! The really sharp, smooth shav- ing edge is the Gillette Blade. This is the modern hard-tem- pered Blade. It holds its edge— shaves you velvet-smooth day after day—No Stropping—No Honing. Any man can see for himself that the Gillette principle, No Stropping—No Honing, is scien- tific. Gillette users will tell you it is practical and right. No, 00 Standard Combination Set Complete shaving outfit, with Standard Razor. 12 double-edged Gillette Blades & Shaving Edges). Genuine Leather Case. Silver Plated. MADE IN U.S.A The Sign of No Stropping—No Honing Known the World Over EREis the famous Gillette Diamond-Trademark— the mark of the one great shaving invention in all history. “No Stropping—No Honing” brands the Blade as the highest type of ing edge ever developed—a Blade new in principle, in steel, temper, finish and use. The term ‘No Stropping—No Honing” signifies the application of science to razor-blade making. Te will appeal to every man anxious to eliminate un. necessary labor and save valuable time. GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A. New York _ London = Paris - Chicago - Milan THR FORTUNES OF WAR - Copenhagen Montreal Petrograd San Francisco - The Diary of a Present-Day Letter Mex’ I fcel so important and so happy—l'm a proposal of mar riage! T can hardly wait until T get to the girl- she’s o waiting arrival to é for my My master put -box several hours ago. It seems to take a long time for the me in the mail-man to collect me. Turspay—Still in the mail-hox! 1 do wish they'd hurry up and get me sefeserecaaly ore curable by soy fe Seer Thee'sto exe charge to horse owner. The Capewell Horse Nail Co. ia out of this dismal place on my way. While doubtedly be tri T want to be the girl will m. my master asf wait for my arrival, still it worries me to lie around here like this Wepxespay—Out of the 5 last, and actually « train he her, Vm afraid t “s some sort of a use T just heart of the mail-clerks say that T hat mix-up, though, heen routed wre Tuerspay—Oh, dear, I'm so terribly worried! 1 ceas routed wrong, and in where I started thrown me in with ancient epistles that have bees here for years. What's now I'm back ag from, and they've alot o to Lecome offi me?) And what will she think? Fripay—Oh, I'm so di I'm out of the post office, but on ay way to the dead-letter office. It seem [BQ that, in the excitement my master didn't put « and so T have to go to the d office and then rules of Mr. Burleson’s department Saturpayv—My master was out whe I got back home, ut his landlady on the missing postage. 1 feel encow-fpe my destination now and that ew thing will be all right Oxe Year Latee—l'm so worn—L can't write much reached my destination to: ending over a year in lyt some time who is te me—had they threw me fant. is tearing me te shreds. Oh, dear! Vd never been writ NEW_BOOKS SYLVIA AND MICHA} By Lompt n Mackenzie GOING WEST By Basil King —, eratextended beyond death at Maeter i HARPER ‘& BROTH NEW Es. 1817 comicbooks.commtr