The Wasp — 1896 — page 515: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The main cartoon depicts **Mint Superintendent Daggett** (identified in the text) as a grave digger, literally digging at a tombstone marked "Old Bill" at a political cemetery. This is satire about Democratic Party decline in Sacramento. The text explains that Daggett's influence helped engineer major changes in the Democratic Party's Sacramento convention, causing internal strife. The cartoon suggests Daggett is "digging the grave" of Democratic power—literally killing the party through his political maneuvering. The humor lies in the visual metaphor: instead of figuratively destroying the party, he's shown literally as an undertaker finishing it off. This reflects late-19th-century California political turmoil and factional Democratic infighting.