The Wasp — 1892 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Democratic Happy Family Coming Home" This is a political cartoon from *The Wasp* (July 2, 1892) satirizing the California Democratic Party as fractious and dysfunctional. The cartoon depicts party members as caricatured figures crowded onto a small boat or vessel labeled "NO IRISH NEED APPLY"—suggesting internal discrimination or exclusion within the party itself. The figures appear to represent different Democratic factions during the 1892 election period. One holds a "Democratic Delegation California" flag. The overall composition mocks the party's inability to unite, portraying them as a chaotic "happy family" in name only—crammed together uncomfortably while navigating political waters. The anti-Irish sentiment in the boat's signage likely references contemporary nativist attitudes and tensions within California politics.