The Wasp — 1888 — page 153: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* (February 25, 1888) is primarily text-based content rather than cartoon illustrations. The main article discusses beer consumption and politics, opening with a Republican proposal to levy a "one-dollar duty" on beer per gallon—a measure the author criticizes as potentially damaging to the Democratic party by alienating German and working-class voters who consumed beer heavily. The piece satirizes both major parties' political calculations around this tax, suggesting Republicans hope it will help them electorally. The article also includes obituary-style verses mocking recent deaths, including someone named McGinn and references to "the boys of Tar Flat," likely a local San Francisco neighborhood. The satire targets class-based political strategy and immigration politics of the era.