The Wasp — February 21, 1880 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Of Scrubbs: Kailoor Method" This satirical cartoon depicts men throwing a dead horse into the water—a grotesque visual pun on the phrase "flogging a dead horse" (pursuing a hopeless cause). The title references "scrubbs," likely meaning disreputable or worthless people. The quote at top from the Baron Kailoon's "How to treat the Chinese" (Feb. 9, 1880) indicates this critiques treatment of Chinese people in America. The "Kailoor Method" appears to mock a proposed solution to Chinese immigration by literally disposing of the problem—depicting the violent, dehumanizing anti-Chinese sentiment of the era through grotesque visual metaphor. The cartoon satirizes both the futility and brutality of anti-Chinese policies circulating during this period of intense xenophobia.