Life — September 15, 1921 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or editorial content**. The image shows an oak branch with acorns in an oval frame. The accompanying text is a commercial advertisement for the Mimeograph, a duplicating machine made by A.B. Dick Company (Chicago and New York). The ad uses the metaphor "By its fruits you must know it"—comparing the Mimeograph's output (copies) to acorns as the oak tree's natural product. The pitch emphasizes the machine's efficiency: it produces "five thousand finely printed duplicates" of originals hourly, at negligible cost, and claims more Mimeographs have been sold than "all other similar duplicating devices combined." This is period advertising targeting businesses and educational institutions seeking economical reproduction technology.