Life, 1924-03-13 · page 37 of 40
Life — March 13, 1924 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **two distinct pieces of content**: **1. The Income Tax Satire (Left Column):** A humorous "guide" mocking the newly complex U.S. income tax system. The absurdist instructions—dividing salary by car odometer readings, deducting vacuum cleaner rentals, counting uses of the word "graft"—satirize how confusing and arbitrary tax calculations felt to ordinary Americans. This likely dates to the early 1900s when income tax was new and labyrinthine. **2. The Bell System Advertisement (Main Content):** Corporate messaging from American Telephone & Telegraph celebrating infrastructure investment. It contrasts a tiny Colorado log-cabin telephone exchange with a 29-story NYC building serving 120,000 phones, arguing both serve their communities equally. The advertisement emphasizes Bell's massive real-estate portfolio ($180 million) as proof of commitment to "universal service." The page juxtaposes citizen frustration (incomprehensible taxes) with corporate self-promotion (essential services), creating implicit commentary on who bears financial burdens versus who profits from infrastructure—though this may be unintentional.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
: | How to Figure Your Income Tax Taxe the amount received as salary, wages, commissions, omissions and graft plus y amount accrued from a partnership, such as Russian t and m. riag loans, and divide by the number the speedometer on your car shows for the fiscal year. To the remainder add the rent of your vacuum cleaner plus 2 all royalties, including the li you are ap ssional man such as a bond salesman or ir nee » include the f h 7 ibles, mers bored, to w added profit from intar such as oil stocks, and poker parties, The su the above divided by the number of times bonds it was invented will equal your gross i “xis wie vic and te oo Each Serves Its Community ws . ovo In Frazer, Colorado, a log cabin of three rooms shelters a telephone exchange that connects with the mountain homes of cowmen, miners, homesteaders and tie-cutters. In the heart of New York City a new building of twenty- nine stories is to become the home of several metropolitan Taxes paid unknowingly, as central offices serving some 120,000 telephones. ‘This 1. War building will contain, as well, offices for executives and for 2. Ticket specu! engineering, commercial, plant and accounting forces, pro- viding space for over 7000 telephone workers. 3. Union or club 2 Losses by fire and Storm 1. Amount paid for tobacc Each of these buildings helps to render adequate and economical telephone service in its own community. They stand at the extremes in size, equipment and personnel. Yet they both indicate the nation-wide need for adequate housing of the activities of the Bell System; and they illus- trate the varied ways in which that need is being met. One of the largest single items of plant investment of the Bell System is real estate, comprising nearly 1700 buildings ae acquired, with their sites, at a cost of $180,000,000. z © All your bills It is continuously the aim of the Bell System to construct ‘ and so to situate each new building—whether executive office, central office, storehouse or garage—so that it shall Serve its community with the utmost efficiency and economy, and remain a sound investment throughout its period of life. 2. Arcties, rubbers, and. sleighing parties ributions 2. Drives (Riverside and Lake shi ¢ excluded mas presents Any item not included in t with the exceptic Was 9 ZO & AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES BELL SYSTEM One Policy, One System, Universal Service xO SS ayes by the number of p i\ i MADISON AVE., 43rd TO 44th STREETS \ | NEW YORK Frank A. Munsey cer ] Tea in the Palm Room be t income. you nd on ext ac cash 1 tt and fee i y Dancing ia | exeved $3,000, family exemption, your tax problem far more provided of course that you are mar- — than an expert accc the Supper Room |] ried or have on ven on two old parents may be Inopportune OHN McE. BOWMAN | Now multiply the t amount ¢ Bert: Don't you think Ih President 2/4 figures arrived at by 6% plus the num most wonderful control of her voice ber of your hank book divided by the Gert: I should say not! Why nber of your last check, which will — sings every time she’s comicbooks.com