The Wasp — 1895 — page 307: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising** for San Francisco businesses (bicycles, stoves, baths, breweries, flour) with minimal editorial content. The one cartoon present, titled "**Beats Niagara**," depicts two people sitting on a bench observing a rushing waterfall or torrent. The dialogue satirizes the **Women's Suffrage movement**: a tourist comments the scene rivals Niagara Falls, while a woman responds that her husband's spending habits—betting on horse races and losing money—produce an even more impressive "roar." The joke mocks husbands' financial recklessness while implicitly supporting suffrage by suggesting women need voting power to control household finances. The cartoon reflects late 19th/early 20th-century anxieties about male gambling and women's economic vulnerability.