The Wasp — 1888 — page 430: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon depicts a bearded man being ejected from a building marked "Union Labor Party" by a simian figure climbing a pole. The man appears to be falling down stairs with his belongings (a box labeled "Theodore" visible). The satire criticizes the Union Labor Party—a short-lived 1880s California political movement—suggesting internal conflict or leadership purges. The exaggerated, ape-like caricature of the figure doing the firing reflects period editorial cartooning's crude visual conventions for depicting opponents as subhuman or animalistic. The title "FIRED!" indicates forcible removal from the party, likely mocking either factional disputes within the party or its perceived instability. The cartoon serves as partisan ridicule of a political rival organization.