The Wasp — 1894 — page 189: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the social consequences of poolroom consolidation in San Francisco. The dialogue between "Miss Suburbia" and "Jack Rounder" references pool halls relocating from San Francisco's waterfront to Sausalito (across the bay). The joke suggests that waterfront establishments attract heavy drinking ("the sight of so much water is enough to make anyone want a little whisky"), implying proximity to water encourages alcohol consumption—a pun on drinking and the aquatic setting. The cartoon critiques how vice and temptation follow communities when businesses relocate, using "association" to mean both social gathering and moral corruption. The foreground figures observe this coastal development with apparent concern, embodying the Victorian-era anxiety about leisure establishments and their corrupting influence on society.