Life, 1919-12-04 · page 53 of 80
Life — December 4, 1919 — page 53: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine is a straightforward **advertisement for Goodyear tires**, not political commentary or satire. The image shows tourist buses at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, equipped with Goodyear Cord Pneumatic Truck Tires. The "content" consists of a testimonial from M. P. Brannan of the Merchants Transfer Company praising the tires' durability (averaging 12,000 miles), comfort, traction in wet weather, and low cost-per-mile (less than 0.7 cents). The ad emphasizes that pneumatic tires outperform solid tires for commercial passenger vehicles. This is typical early-20th-century corporate advertising in a general-interest magazine, highlighting the practical superiority of a product through real-world examples and user endorsements. There is no cartoon, caricature, or satirical commentary present.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
i 18 a “ E recommend Goodyear Cord Pneumatic Truck Tires to anyone operating pas- senger-carrying busses. They afford the obvious pneumatic advantages of traction, cushioning and greater activity which benefit both the customers and the company. But they add a wearing ability which compares favorably with the solid tires we have used. Consequently, we use Goodyear Cords entirely for bus equip- ment.”—M. P. Brannan, Pur. Agt., Merchants Transter Co., San Antonio, Texas "THE photograph above was taken at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, and it shows four motor busses that carry tourists to this and near-by missions. In two years of continuous service on Goodyear Cord Pneumatic Truck Tires only a minimum of mechanical attention has been required by any of these big carriers. They ride as comfortably as limousines on the cushioning pneumatics and, due to the traction of their tires, they operate on schedule over country roads in rainy weather. Officials of the Merchants Transfer Company, however, particularly emphasize the toughness of the Goodyear Cords which have averaged 12,000 miles per tire in this exacting duty. The average tire-mile cost of nine Goodyear Cords, eight of which remain in service after more than a year, is less than seven-tenths of a cent. Their stamina points to Goodyear’s pioneer work in developing Goodyear Cord Pneumatic Truck Tires to remove the limitations placed by solid tires on motor trucks and busses. Tue Goopyear Tire & RupBpeR COMPANY Offices Throughout the World comicbooks.com