Life, 1920-06-03 · page 52 of 52
Life — June 3, 1920 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **product advertisement**, not political satire. It promotes the Mimeograph copying machine by appealing to early-20th-century notions about women in business. The "Graced!" headline addresses female office workers—specifically secretaries and administrative assistants ("the second in command")—portraying them as powerful decision-makers who approve workplace tools. The text celebrates how the Mimeograph supposedly empowers women by automating tedious copying work, reducing labor from days to hours. The illustration shows a well-dressed woman overseeing the machine, positioning it as a "woman's implement" that enhances her influence in commerce. The ad reflects genuine historical changes: women were increasingly entering clerical work during this period. However, it also reveals period attitudes—praising women's labor-saving devices while reinforcing their subordinate "second in command" role rather than challenging their limited advancement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Graced! She,who in the business of this brisk day is a persevering and now really tremendous power—“the second in com- mand”—is quick to stamp with her unre- strained approval those things which best help to lighten the burden of her work. A new order! Because the Mimeograph is particularly a woman’s implement— neatly doing in hours the work of days—its importance in the world of commerce has kept pace with the remark- able growth of woman’s influence in business. Today the Mimeograph is duplicating, at the remarkable speed of five thousand well-printed copies an hour, all kinds of form letters, bulletins, blanks, designs, maps, diagrams, etc., in unnumbered thousands of institutions throughout the world, And thereby it is cutting costs and tedious labor down to minimum. Booklet ‘‘W-6” will tell you how this is done. Send for it now. A. B. Dick Company, Chicago—and New York. comicbooks.com