The Wasp — 1891 — page 203: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical sequence, drawn by Lewis, ridicules a traveler trying to book passage on various East Coast railroad routes. The cartoon plays on the confusion of competing rail companies and their overlapping services in the 1800s. Panel I shows a confused passenger asking which is "the best route East" at ticket counter. Subsequent panels depict him being redirected repeatedly between different railroad lines—the A.B.C. route, the A.R.C.O., and the K.Q.F.Y.K.R.—each agent promoting their own company. The final panel shows our hapless traveler surrounded by scattered tickets, having purchased from multiple railroads in frustration. The satire mocks both railroad company competition and passenger bewilderment over complex, overlapping transportation networks in the Gilded Age.