Life, 1927-12-01 · page 24 of 80
Life — December 1, 1927 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **full-page advertisement** for the Mimeograph machine, manufactured by A.B. Dick Company. It's not satire, but rather branded content using humor and a famous literary reference. The ad employs a **Mark Twain anecdote** about riverboat piloting to sell copying technology. Twain's witty reply—that he succeeds by knowing what to *avoid* rather than what to seek—becomes a metaphor for business efficiency. The "shoal waters" (shallow, dangerous parts of rivers) symbolize wasted expense and inefficiency. The pitch: Mimeographs help companies avoid costly mistakes by accurately reproducing documents in volume, thereby navigating toward "ports of success." The elaborate ornamental border and steamboat illustration in the oval frame evoke early-1900s prestige advertising. This represents how **office technology companies positioned themselves as enabling progress and business success** during the mechanical reproduction era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SHOAL WATERS One long-ago day, when Mark Twain was steering a steamboat down the Mississippi, a stranger said to him, “I suppose that you hold your job here because you know where the bad places in the water are?” “No,” replied Mark, “I hold my job because I know where the bad places ain’t.” By its remarkable ability to reproduce accurately thousands of letters, bulletins, charts, forms, etc., in every working hour, the Mimeograph is not only helping business and edu- cation to avoid the shoal waters of useless expense, but is pointing new channels to the ports of success. Get booklet today from A. B. Dick Company, Chicago. SALES AND SERVICE BRANCHES in these important American cities: New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City. MIMEOGRAPH comicbooks.com