Life — June 14, 1923 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is primarily an **advertisement for American Radiator Company**, not political satire. The cartoon by Carl Heck illustrates an old folk saying about chimney dampers: "They pushed the damper in and they pulled the damper out but the smoke went up the chimney just the same." The ad's headline "No longer true!" uses this dated saying to argue that modern heating science has progressed beyond such ineffective methods. The company established the Institute of Thermal Research—described as "the largest laboratories in the world devoted exclusively to problems of better warmth"—to develop scientifically-tested boilers and radiators. The institute building is shown to emphasize technological credibility. This is essentially a corporate image-building advertisement claiming scientific superiority over outdated heating methods.