The Wasp — 1896 — page 662: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes the "Free Silver" political movement, likely from the 1890s. The cartoons mock the promise that adopting free silver coinage would bring prosperity to different nations and laborers. Each panel uses ethnic caricature and stereotype to ridicule this claim: - **South America**: depicted as a poor laborer earning 20¢/day - **Japan**: shown as a rickshaw worker earning 15¢/day - **China**: portrayed as an impoverished person earning 10¢/day - **Mexico**: illustrated as a peasant earning 25¢/day The satire's point: adopting "free silver" won't magically make Americans prosperous when these countries—where silver is abundant—remain desperately poor. The implicit argument is that free silver policy is economically naive.