The Wasp — October 18, 1879 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of The Wasp, October 18, 1879 The main illustration depicts a figure labeled "MAYOR'S OFFICE" being used as a signpost or hitching post—literally degraded to street furniture. This is a satire of San Francisco's mayor, suggesting municipal leadership has become useless or corrupt, reduced to a public mockery. The accompanying article by "Salmi Morse" discusses wantonness and moral decay, using the metaphor of a "Marat-Rockespiere-Supervisory" species of "semantic" woman who causes social ruin. The text attacks women who abandon respectability after minor social transgressions, arguing they become public menaces equivalent to criminals. The satire conflates municipal corruption (the mayor as object) with anxieties about women's morality and social status—typical 1870s themes of urban disorder.