The Wasp — 1877 — page 284: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1877 *Wasp* satirical cartoon depicts a locomotive labeled "Common Sense" with "No Fanaticism" written below, driven by a cherubic figure (representing virtue or reason). The locomotive appears to be running down or displacing various figures on the tracks. The cartoon likely criticizes a specific political or social movement of 1877, possibly related to railroad expansion, labor disputes, or ideological conflicts of the Reconstruction era. The title "The Right of Way" suggests tension between progress/authority and those being displaced or marginalized. The caricatured figures appear to represent opposing positions or groups being trampled by the locomotive of "common sense," suggesting the cartoonist's view that rational policy should override certain ideological positions, though the specific context remains unclear without additional historical documentation.