The Wasp — 1892 — page 241: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This *Wasp* satire mocks public health assurances during a cholera scare. The headline claims cholera poses no risk, then presents seven absurd "methods" to frighten away the disease—suggesting San Francisco's actual preventative measures were equally ridiculous. The illustrations show: ballet dancers, a band playing, a storefront (possibly Charles Lyons), city sewers, religious processions, and what appears to be railroad development. These likely represent either genuine but ineffective city initiatives or incompetent government responses that residents treated as jokes. The satire implies that authorities were either delusional about cholera prevention or proposing laughably inadequate solutions. By presenting these methods as equally effective ways to "scare off pestilence," *Wasp* criticizes both government competence and public complacency during a genuine health crisis.