Life, 1920-12-16 · page 37 of 45
Life — December 16, 1920 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising and corporate content**, not political satire. **The main content** is a lengthy advertisement by American Telephone & Telegraph Company celebrating scientific progress. It uses a dramatic image of a tent-like structure (likely damaged telephone infrastructure) to illustrate a 1881 Boston blizzard that destroyed 2,400 telephone wires. The ad argues that modern science has solved such problems—those same wires could now fit in a single underground cable "no larger than a man's wrist." **Side content includes:** - A brief fictional dialogue about relatives discussing Bermuda (social comedy about tedious conversational habits) - A "Correction" section addressing an error in a previous poem about "The Perfect She" - Advertisements for Dr. Wernet's false teeth powder and Pape's Diapepsin (digestive aid) The page reflects early 20th-century American optimism about technological progress and corporate responsibility, wrapped in consumerist advertising typical of Life magazine's revenue model.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
FALSE TEETH Dr. Wernet’s Powder KEEPS THEM TIGHT your false teeth trouble, consult your stist. For instant ald use Dr. Wernet's. elie ore gums, sweetens the breath. At best Drug or Department Stores, 30c, ‘$1.00 or write direct to Dental Mfg. Co., 114 Beekman St., N.Y. Re Relatives (Continued from page 1150) ask Horatio and let him tell you. will, In fact, you'll hardly need to him. He possesses an actual gift for ing the conversational blanket over on side of the bed; he has a lien on the i@estics. No matter what the topic un- “Bdiscussion, it is germane to a Gatty. instance, we are at tea, and someone tions Bermuda: ORATIO (interrupting stentorianly) : My er was in Bermuda all last winter. Oh, is that so? Yes, he was in Bermuda all Your brother, you say? Yes, he was there all winter. All winter? Well, well. He was in Bermuda all last I intend to go to Halifax next mer. I've never been there. I've across Canada twice, but I've never to Halifax, MNES (mentally): Well, go to Hali- ! Weare Holbrook. Correction NUMBER of correspondents have The greatest material benefits theworld has received have come from the laboratories of the sci- entists. They create the means for accomplishing the seemingly impossible. Science, after years of labor, produced the telephone. Froma feeble instrument capable of car- rying speech but a few feet, sci- ence continued its work until now the telephone-voice may be heard across the continent. In February of 1881 a blizzard swept the city of Boston, tearing from the roof of the Bell tele- phone building a vast net-work of 2,400 wires. It was the worst wire disaster the Company had sustained. Now through the advance of science that number of wires would be carried in a single un- derground cable no larger than a man’s wrist. As the fruit of the effort of sci- ence greater safety and greater savings in time, money and ma- terials are constantly resulting. And never before as now, the scientist is helping us solve our great problemsof providing Tele- phone service that meets the in- creased demands with greater speed and greater certainty. The Contributions of Gciciice AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One System * Universal Service And all directed toward Better Service called our attention to a grievous © which managed to creep into a One Policy recent issue of Lire. It seems that, in a poem entitled “ The Perfect She,” w dwells, so we said, in Corvallis, ton. Our correspond t point out that Corvallis offer humble apolo; a bird = | | eo tribute to an unusually prolific hen whi comicbooks.com