The Wasp — 1888 — page 125: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

**Title:** "The Wasp" / "Here We Are Again" This cartoon depicts a grotesque caricatured figure labeled "Apache Scare" being manipulated like a puppet or jack-in-the-box by hands labeled "Indian Agent" and "Cowboy," emerging from a box marked "PUSH." The satire appears to criticize how fears about Native American ("Apache") violence were artificially manufactured or repeatedly revived by interested parties—Indian Agents (government officials) and Cowboys—to serve their own agendas. The "wasp" imagery suggests something irritating or dangerous being repeatedly let loose. The caption "Here We Are Again" implies this was a cyclical, recurring pattern of manufactured panic rather than genuine threat. This reflects late 19th/early 20th-century skepticism about sensationalized "Indian scares" used to justify government policies or military action.