The Wasp — 1918 — page 128: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This appears to be Chapter VIII of a serialized story in *The Wasp* magazine, rather than a political cartoon. The narrative describes a domestic scandal involving three named characters: Stanton (apparently the protagonist, called "Percy"), James Burnham, and a woman named Kitty. The plot involves Stanton's jealousy of Burnham. Stanton and Kitty set a trap to catch Burnham, with Stanton bringing armed officer friends to whip him. However, the friends become sober and realize the scheme is dishonorable—especially when they suspect Kitty didn't genuinely resist Burnham's advances. They pressure Stanton into a duel instead, as the only way to restore his honor as "an officer and a gentleman." The satire targets the rigid codes of masculine honor among military officers: the absurd escalation from attempted ambush with whips to a formal duel, and the gap between gentlemanly pretense and actual behavior. Without additional context about the magazine's date or these characters' origins, I cannot identify the specific social or political target.