The Wasp — 1893 — page 84: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon satirizes government inaction during economic hardship. The central figure—a rotund man fishing peacefully—represents a government official ignoring urgent crises. The surrounding vignettes show closed banks and mines with unemployed workers holding protest signs reading "WORK," "WANTED," and "WE WANT WORK." The caption describes this as "Results of the Procrastinating Policy of the Administration Thus Far." The satire contrasts the official's leisurely indifference with citizens' desperate unemployment and business closures. "Innocuous desuetude" (harmless disuse) mockingly labels this passive neglect as harmless, when it actually causes real suffering. The cartoon criticizes what appears to be a Depression-era administration for failing to address economic crisis through decisive action.