The Wasp — 1896 — page 105: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* features a large political cartoon titled "Too Tough" at the bottom, depicting what appears to be a confrontation between a white man and a Black enslaved person. The caption includes dialogue: "KING OF THE COTTON LAND/'Slave—No! let the white man escape / KING—'Wretch! you shall be put to death!' / SLAVE—'Hear me, oh King! He was a San Francisco Preacher / KING—'Eh?' Preacher! You have saved him from another spell of indigestion!" The cartoon satirizes the hypocrisy of San Francisco's religious community regarding slavery, suggesting that clergy who opposed slavery might nevertheless depend economically on slave-produced goods like cotton. The "indigestion" reference likely implies moral discomfort conveniently resolved through religious rationalization.