The Wasp — 1892 — page 261: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon criticizes San Francisco's Board of Health for ineffectiveness during a public health crisis (likely cholera, given the reference to "Chinatown and the cholera" in caption 1). The top panel mocks the Mayor and officials for confining health concerns to Chinatown rather than addressing citywide problems. The middle panel depicts a well-dressed woman (possibly representing the city or public health authority) surrounded by gentlemen, suggesting performative concern without action. The lower panels show actual public nuisances the Board supposedly ignores: ash-cart refuse on Golden Gate Avenue, hand-bill distributors littering streets, and a "Boilerless Excavator" machine creating public hazards. The cartoon's message: officials talk and pose while real sanitation problems persist throughout the city.