The Wasp — 1893 — page 73: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical illustration mocks the financial speculation and questionable business practices of San Francisco's horse market in 1893. The main scene depicts a marketplace where horses of dubious quality are being sold at inflated prices—a "running skate" valued at $100, trotting stock advertised as "standard" but "going for $1" a dozen. The humor targets the absurdity of overhyping worthless animals. A butcher's cart represents how such "unfashionably bred" horses end up—as meat. The phrase "Every horse like every dog has his day" suggests even worthless nags find suckers. The page's advertisements are genuine commercial notices, not satire. *The Wasp* was San Francisco's humor magazine, and this appears to mock local market fraud and buyer gullibility.