The Wasp — 1888 — page 136: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and commercial content** rather than political satire. The left side features price reduction announcements and product advertisements for a San Francisco department store (Cleaner, Frazer & Co.) selling silks, velvets, goods, and ladies' clothing. The only substantial editorial content is "Song of the Keely Motor Man" — a satirical poem mocking the "Keely Motor," a famous 19th-century perpetual motion machine hoax. The poem ridicules the inventor's pseudoscientific claims about ethereal energy powering cars and motors. This targets the con artist John Keely, whose fraudulent "motor" deceived investors for decades. The remaining space comprises Sacramento and Stockton business advertisements and notices.