Life, 1926-12-02 · page 16 of 81
Life — December 2, 1926 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Mimeograph machine advertisement**, not political satire. The ad uses the metaphor of "crystallize that thought" to encourage businesspeople to convert their ideas into concrete action using the Mimeograph—a duplicating device that could quickly produce multiple copies of documents, letters, and forms. The image shows the Mimeograph machine itself. The ad's pitch emphasizes practical office benefits: rapid output, low cost, ease of operation, and reliability for routine tasks. It's marketed as an "idea distributor" for efficiently sharing business communications. The A.B. Dick Company (Chicago) published this to persuade 1920s-era business readers that the Mimeograph was essential office technology for transforming thoughts into printed materials quickly and cheaply.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“CRYSTALLIZE THAT THOUGHT” The most successful enterprises are those which put to work the greatest number of good ideas. “Crystal- lize that thought,” says Opportunity to the man of action. “Crystallize that thought!” The command is repeated again and again. “Miss it, and you miss me,” says Opportunity. As a means of focusing ideas, and quickly putting them to workin a big way, the Mimeograph has no rival. It is the idea distributor, standing alone, rapid, dependable, inexpensive. Its easy hourly output is many thousands of well printed letters, bulletins, instruction sheets or routine forms, together with outline drawings, if need be, quickly done in splendid duplication. Simple to operate with- in the privacy of the office, it stands ever as ready for the last minute job as for the day’s routine. Send to the A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, today for its free booklet, and you will learn something about how better to “crystallize that thought.” MIMEOGRAPH comicbooks.com