Life, 1926-06-17 · page 6 of 44
Life — June 17, 1926 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **entirely an advertisement**, not satire or editorial content. It promotes the Mimeograph machine by the A.B. Dick Company of Chicago. The ad uses a metaphor comparing the mimeograph to a "shaft of light"—concentrated, focused energy with no waste. The text argues the machine enables American executives and educators to efficiently produce thousands of printed materials (form letters, bulletins, diagrams) daily at minimal cost and effort. The image shows the actual mimeograph device. The advertisement positions this copying technology as a modern scientific achievement that helps professionals "focus their powers" on important work, framing office automation as progress. This reflects early-20th-century enthusiasm for business efficiency technology.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHY A SHAFT OF LIGHT? It iscentered force. It is focused energy. Little waste there. All of the beams of light from one point of power are turned and flooded in a single direction. Asameans of quickly focusing thought power, and directing it where it is most needed, the Mimeograph is in the class of that mighty achievement of new science, the super-searchlight. Its ability to produce thousands of well printed form-letters, bulletins, diagrams, etc., in every hour of the working day, enables the American executive and educator to center their powers, without dis- sipation, on objects of their intent. A private print- ing plant of great speed, that costs little to install and almost nothing to operate! A quick economizer of both time and money. A booklet, sent without obligation, by A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, is sure to give some new ideas on how to focus your forces. MiB h AEH comicbooks.com