The Wasp — 1888 — page 292: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon from *The Wasp* (April 14, 1888) critiques temperance advocates through dark humor. The central figure is a demon-like creature wildly dancing while holding a bottle, appearing intoxicated—embodying the personification of drunkenness itself. On the right stands a dignified older gentleman observing calmly, likely representing a temperance activist or politician. The joke appears to be that temperance advocates are so obsessed with fighting alcohol that they've become "drunk" on their own crusade—intoxicated by moral fervor rather than liquor. The cartoon suggests temperance movements had become excessive or fanatical, with reformers acting as irrationally as the drunkards they opposed. This reflects skepticism about late-19th-century prohibition and temperance efforts in San Francisco.