Life, 1919-10-30 · page 3 of 36
Life — October 30, 1919 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** rather than political satire. The dominant content is a Waterman's Idea Fountain Pen advertisement exploiting post-WWI nostalgia. The ad references French "Librairies" displaying signs reading "Ici on vend le porte-plume Waterman" (Here we sell Waterman pens), noting that American soldiers found these pens comforting reminders of home during wartime France. The secondary content includes a brief fable called "The Old Woman" and a Piso's cough medicine ad, plus a short satirical piece titled "Millstones" about political economy featuring Upper and Nether Millstones in dialogue. The satire is minimal—primarily the "Millstones" wordplay about grinding grain versus grinding labor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ALL AUTOMOBILES—JUST ASK THE MAN WHO SELLS THEM The Old Woman RE was an old woman who lived * inashoe. She rented the heel for athousand dollars a year, and the ath for seven hundred and fifty, and I gid managed to make a home for herself Bit! | ast her many children in the toe. d the e and m the ading Like a furnace fire. You need it each too, is a protection against winter weather. By soothing ‘tiated, scratchy throats and relieving me coughs and hoarseness, it Prevents more serious ailments. Keep it ys in the medicine cabinet; use it | indication of throat ii irritation, coli, 3 at your Drugeist' Contains no epiate Good for young and old “FIN-EESA!” Nearly every “Librairie” in France displayed the announce- ment, “Ici on vend le porte-plume WATERMAN.” American soldiers were glad to see that reminder of home, glad to see a worthy American product gaining world-wide recognition. But when one asked madame within for his favorite fountain pen, with a characteristic shrug, her answer generally was, “Fin-eesh!” War-time conditions made it impossible to maintain our stocks in France. As a result, many thousands were unable to buy their favorite pen. Our overseas veterans are now back in civil life. Once more they can enjoy many things denied them in France. They can talk the American language, and use an American pen. Instead of asking for a ‘ Porte- plume Waterman” they can ask for Watermanis(dea) Fountain Pen Three types Regular, Safety and Self-Filling $2.50 and up AT BEST DEALERS —and get it. L. E. Waterman Company, 191 Broadway, New York BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO Millstones T= Upper and the Nether Mill- stone were discussing Political Economy. “Pshaw!” exclaimed the Upper Millstone, otherwise called Capital. “For centuries I've been grinding you down, you whose real name is Labor, together with everything in between, and the result, I find, is highly satis- factory. It’s the very best system of grinding I know of.” The Nether Millstone thought a while. “You've given me a new idea,” it said finally, ‘Why should you do all the grinding? I think I'll take a hand at it myself,” and it began to turn vigorously in the manner opposed to the Upper Millstone, with the result that everything in between was ground a great deal finer and a great deal more expeditiously than before, and both Millstones were now convinced they had evolved the best possible system of grinding. ‘ Moral: Be a Millstone comicbooks.com