Life, 1919-12-18 · page 37 of 56
Life — December 18, 1919 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement** for the Addressograph, a mechanical addressing machine, rather than political satire. The headline "Another World Leader Endorses Addressograph Advantages" appears designed to suggest important endorsement, though the specific "world leader" referenced in the photograph isn't clearly identified by caption. The image shows office workers (likely a man and woman) operating the machine with stacks of addressed materials. The advertisement emphasizes practical business benefits: the machine types addresses 15 times faster than hand-writing, eliminates errors, and saves labor costs for businesses of all sizes—shops, banks, and institutions. A letter from the Burroughs Adding Machine Company is visible as supporting documentation. This reflects early 20th-century advertising strategy: pairing a machine with an endorsement (real or implied) to build credibility among business buyers. The humor, if any, is gentle—the "world leader" framing inflates the importance of a clerical tool, but this was standard advertising hyperbole of the era, not sharp satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
fi a x » & no S$ > Another World Leader Endorses Addressograph Advantages Burroughs sell the world’s bulk of adding machines. Obviously, they are office appliance experts. They know that in great institutions—in small businesses, too—in stores and banks and shops—the Addressograph handles names in the most rapid, economical and accurate way. ‘ Names of customers, prospects, employees, etc., are “‘typewritten’’ 15 times faster than by hand. Errors are impossible. Prints through typewriter ribbon from durable metal plates easily made by your clerk. Entire list can be ad- dressed; or Removable Tabs on address plates designate “‘goods wanted,” rating, etc. Tabs work with “‘Selector’ which picks out desired plates for addressing—skips others. There is an Addressograph—hand, foot-lever and electric-drive model—for every name-writing need. Burroucns Appr n eecurately, FRACLC MARR