Life, 1924-03-27 · page 2 of 36
Life — March 27, 1924 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement for the Mimeograph machine** by the A.B. Dick Company, disguised as editorial content in *Life* magazine. The ornate illustration depicts a figure using a mimeograph device. The headline "Wasted energy?" warns businesses that without proper tools (specifically the mimeograph), they cannot compete in modern commerce. The sales pitch emphasizes the mimeograph's efficiency: it can produce 5,000 duplicates hourly of letters, forms, diagrams, and designs—work otherwise impossible without the device. This was genuinely transformative office technology in the early 20th century. The "Mimeograph" logo appears at bottom. Rather than satire or political commentary, this page represents *Life*'s practice of blending advertising with magazine content, a common format before strict advertising/editorial separation became standard.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Wasted energy? If the right tools are missing you cannot hope to compete in modern life How large a share of the worth- while inspiration that comes to the business man and _ educator every day is irretrievably lost be- cause there is at hand no quick, easy and inexpensive means of broadcasting it and making it do important service? The right tools are needed! We honestly believe that there is hardly a business or educational institution in all America that can afford to do without the Mimeograph. In unnumbered thousands of places it not only is saving many times its cost every year, but it is permitting the doing of many kinds of new work that could not be done without its help. In some places it has more than saved its small purchase price in asingle week. By easily producing five thousand duplicates of a letter, form, bulle- tin, diagram, design, or kindred matter, in every working hour, it is rendering a great service in world-wide economy and efficiency. Surely you will want to know what this important device can do for you and your activities. The waxless stencil process has ‘ given it a tremendously greater scope of usefulness. Let the A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, send you booklet “W-3” free of charge or obligation. comicbooks.com