Life, 1920-11-18 · page 31 of 44
Life — November 18, 1920 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. It's a full-page advertisement for S.D. Warren Company's printing papers, published in *Life* magazine. The text is a moral appeal dressed as editorial content. It argues that printers and their customers have an ethical obligation to use quality materials—specifically Warren's papers—to avoid producing "false, foolish, or ugly" printed matter. The rhetoric suggests printing is almost a sacred trust, comparing it to an "unchained" intelligence that shaped civilization. The ad lists Warren's various paper grades (Cameo, Lustro, Silkote, etc.) with technical specifications below. **For modern readers:** This represents early 20th-century *advertorial* content—advertising designed to read like principled journalism. The appeal to civic responsibility and professional ethics is essentially marketing strategy: by elevating printing to moral importance, the company elevates their product as essential to that mission. There's no satire here; it's sincere corporate messaging.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OU buy printing for but one pur- pose—to place your message before the many. There is a definite obligation upon every man who seeks the service of a printer. He must not use press, paper, type, and ink—the forces which in three centuries unchained the intelligence of mankind— to produce that which is false, foolish, or ugly. Tue school books of your son and the catalog of your business represent more than education and commerce. They are monuments to the genius of a long list of men, who when they thought of printing thought always of Better Printing. We know that Better Paper helps pro- duce Better Printing. Bur much more is needed. One must want Better Printing. The mill that strives to produce a better sheet of paper and the printer who strives to print that paper as well as he can, are alike helpless if their customer is indifferent to such aims. is something to know that good print- ing is more profitable than poor printing. But it is a greater satisfaction to feel that your printing expresses not alone the best that is in you and your business, but the best efforts of your printer, the ink maker, the engraver, and of the paper manufac- turer who improved his product as much for constructive as for competitive reasons. Waar Warren's Standard Printing Papers have done to make Better Printing possible and desired can be seen in War- ren’s service books and brochures in the shops of large printers, and in the offices of paper merchants who sell the Warren Standards. These books are also on exhi- bition in the public libraries of our larger cities and in those clubs which devote atten- tion to graphic art. One can know good printing and not know Warren's Papers, but a familiarity with the Warren Standards amounts to a familiarity with earnest effort to help American business with Better Paper toward Better Printing. S. D. WARREN COMPANY, Boston, Mass. Warren's Standard Printing Papers are Warren's Cameo Dull coated for artistic halftone printing’ Warren's Lustro The highest refinement of surface in glossy-coated paper Warren's Warrentown Coated Book Glossy surface for fine halftone and process color work Warren's Silkote Semi-dull surface, noted for prac- tical printing qualities Warren's Cumberland Coated Book A recognized standard glossy-coated paper Warren's Printone Semi-coated. Better than super, cheaper than coated Warren's Library Text English finish for medium screen ialftones Warren's Olde Style A watermarked antique finish for type and line illustration Warren's Cumberland Super Book Super-calendered paper of standard, form quality Warren's Cumberland Machine Book A dependable, hand-sorted, machine-finish paper Warren's Artogravure Developed especially for offset printing Warren's India For thin editions comicbooks.com