The Wasp — 1896 — page 476: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon attacks what appears to be a Napoleonic-style government official overseeing extensive surveillance operations. The figure, caricatured with exaggerated features, stands before a "Bureau of Waterfront Spies" office, operating telephone or listening equipment labeled "Secret Service Dept" with ports for "Eavesdrop," "Wiretap," and "Dredge." The caption explains the satire: detectives with high salaries were hired to monitor various government departments under Governor Jimbudd's water administration. The artist compares this spy apparatus to Fouché's surveillance network under Napoleon—suggesting the administration's authoritarian methods. The potted flower and wastebasket underscore the mundane domestic setting made sinister by extensive secret monitoring, criticizing governmental overreach and erosion of privacy.