Life, 1920-08-19 · page 33 of 40
Life — August 19, 1920 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement** for Warren Standard Printing Papers, disguised as editorial commentary. The "cartoon" features an illustration of a waste basket to humorously introduce the advertisement's central premise. The satire targets a common misconception: that poorly printed materials automatically get discarded while attractive ones are kept. The ad argues this is false—good *writing* (not just appearance) determines whether something gets saved. The implied message: using Warren's Standard Printing Papers won't guarantee your catalog survives the trash bin unless the content is also compelling. However, Warren's papers do provide practical benefits (better reproduction, legibility, durability) that marginally extend a publication's lifespan. This represents early-20th-century B2B advertising strategy—wrapping a sales pitch in witty social observation to seem like genuine editorial content rather than overt salesmanship. The "better paper = better printing" tagline anchors the entire argument.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
asibly \ Gosh! I hate to throw that fellows booklet away IE beautiful booklet as well as the poor, ugly one sooner or later goes to the waste-paper baler. There is no use in perpetuating the silly myth that poorly printed catalogs are chucked into the waste basket and well printed ones cherished forever. The distinction is much finer than that. There is the good-looking booklet that you just hate to throw away. Even before you do get rid of it, you feel in duty bound to read it. And sometimes a very poorly printed booklet or catalog is so sensibly written that it is saved. The difference between printing done on Warren’s Standard Printing Papers and other printing is not conspicuously apparent. Generally the results are: A little time saved in the pressroom owing to the easier handling of the standard quality paper, and a little expense saved for the same reason A better reproduction of prized drawings and photographs A little more legibility of type A little better folding and binding “performance” And, as mentioned above, a little longer average life before being laid aside or thrown away. Always some of these things, sometimes all of these things, you get when you use a Warren Standard Printing Paper. Examples of the kind of printing any good printer or any buyer of printing may legitimately expect if a Warren Standard Printing Paper is used may be secured by writing us, or by consulting Warren's Paper Buyer's Guide, or the Warren ervice Library. These books can be seen in all the public libraries of our larger cities. They are also in the offices of catalog printers and the merchants who sell Warren's Standard Printing Papers. S. D. WARREN COMPANY, Bostox, Mass. Printing Papers comicbooks.com