The Wasp — 1894 — page 267: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the pretensions of San Francisco's upper class by depicting two well-dressed men examining their family lineages. The caption "OUR PEDIGREES" suggests they're boasting about aristocratic ancestry. The accompanying text mocks this vanity, stating "The Baron—I believe that in this country we have to get along without pedigrees" and "San Francisco—Not at all! We use pedigrees for our horses." The satire cuts two ways: it criticizes wealthy San Franciscans for obsessing over genealogy (importing European class consciousness), while simultaneously suggesting they treat their social standing as casually as breeding stock. The joke implies that in America's supposedly egalitarian society, such Old World pretense is both ridiculous and revealing of actual social snobbery.