The Wasp — 1892 — page 174: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This *The Wasp* cartoon satirizes San Francisco's real-estate promotion during a speculative boom period. Two well-dressed men in the foreground (labeled as an "Eastern Observer" and "Forty-niner") represent outsiders and locals respectively. The forty-niner explains they're engaged in the "regular San Francisco style" of booming—artificially inflating the town's value and appeal. Behind them, a chaotic crowd carries signs promoting various dubious ventures ("We Own," "Barrel of Bang," "It's a Job," references to swamps and schemes). The S.F. Post Office flag suggests official involvement. The satire mocks how San Francisco's boosters used exaggeration and manufactured enthusiasm to attract investment and settlement, treating real-estate development as a carnival-like spectacle rather than genuine commerce.