The Wasp — 1890 — page 458: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The cartoon depicts two well-dressed figures—labeled "Young Silkin" and "Bab Jove"—as a joke about political naïveté. Young Silkin boasts he's "knocked clean out" three political opponents, claiming nobody notices or cares. Bab Jove responds skeptically, suggesting this confidence is misplaced ("That's the thud gal I've knocked clean out to-day"). The satire mocks politicians who believe their political maneuvering goes unnoticed by the public. The "mistaken idea" is the delusion that backroom dealings and personal attacks don't matter or are invisible to voters. The accompanying text discusses San Francisco Republican politics, mayoral candidates, and various office-seekers, suggesting this cartoon ridicules specific local political figures whose names and schemes the *Wasp* readers would have recognized.