Life, 1929-02-22 · page 4 of 36
Life — February 22, 1929 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, not satire or political commentary. It promotes the Mimeograph machine, manufactured by the A. B. Dick Company of Chicago. The ad's headline "MODERNISM" frames the mimeograph as a symbol of progress and civilization. It emphasizes the machine's speed advantage over manual copying—producing thousands of printed copies every hour versus one laboriously handwritten copy in an hour. The text celebrates this as representing modern efficiency and time-saving technology. The image shows the mimeograph apparatus itself. The ad targets businesses needing to duplicate letters, bulletins, questionnaires, and forms quickly and cheaply, claiming the machine requires no skilled operation. This reflects early 20th-century business enthusiasm for new copying technology and mechanized efficiency.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MODERNISM The quill-pen and the Mimeograph mark the ex- treme limits of that age-spanning progress which has to do with writing and its duplication. From one laborious copy in a long hour, to thousands of easily printed copies in every sixty-minutes of the working day, is a striking measure of civilization. No more outstanding illustration of what speed means in modern progress can be found—even though the Twentieth Century Limited and the oxcart be called into comparison. Speed—time- and-money-saving speed! Needed work, accurate work, super-excellent work, done with unmatched rapidity, is the Mimeograph’s specialized task. Form letters—typewritten or handwritten—bulletins, questionnaires, factory and office forms, charts and maps, it duplicates at small cost, under private supervision, without the need of skilled help. Learn what it has done for others—and may do for you. A letter to the A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, will bring cheerful information. MIMEOGRAPH comicbooks.com