The Wasp — 1893 — page 414: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising**, featuring various San Francisco businesses (hotels, banks, clothing stores, etc.) typical of late 19th/early 20th-century publications. The main satirical content is a central cartoon titled **"THE LATEST FAD,"** depicting a chaotic scene of multiple figures struggling over papers. The accompanying text suggests this mocks people obsessively collecting newspaper accounts of sensational crimes—specifically a "murder or suicide." The joke satirizes public fascination with lurid crime reporting, portraying such obsession as foolish behavior ("fad"). A second item, **"A NEW CLUB IN THE CITY,"** describes a supposedly exclusive club for morphine/cocaine users, sarcastically presenting their "cures" as effective. This likely satirizes both addiction and dubious medical treatments of the era. Both items mock contemporary vices and public preoccupations through exaggeration and irony.