The Wasp — 1878 — page 159: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon depicts a locust plague threatening the United States. The caption warns: "Seventy millions of people are starving in the northern provinces. Come to the United States. Look out for the grasshoppers, Uncle Sam!" The satire appears to reference immigration concerns, likely from famine-stricken regions (possibly Russia or Eastern Europe experiencing crop failures). The cartoon uses the grasshopper plague as a metaphor for mass immigration threatening American resources and stability. Uncle Sam is depicted as vulnerable to this dual threat—both the starving masses seeking entry and the literal agricultural devastation symbolized by the locusts. The image conflates agricultural disaster with human migration, suggesting both pose existential dangers to America's prosperity.