The Wasp — 1889 — page 393: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon mocks the Nicaragua Canal project. Three workers appear incompetent or lazy—one standing idle on elevated ground with raised arms, another crouching nearby, a third sitting with tools. A wheelbarrow lies in the foreground amid rocky terrain, suggesting minimal progress. The caption questions whether this enterprise represents genuine business activity: "If the company is in earnest, does this look like business?" The satire suggests the canal project was either poorly managed, financially dubious, or a scam to extract investor money. The workers' postures convey sloth rather than industrious labor, implying the venture was not a serious commercial undertaking but possibly a fraudulent scheme to exploit public confidence in canal-building ambitions.