The Wasp — 1877 — page 72: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a title page for *The Wasp*, a San Francisco satirical weekly priced at 10 cents. The masthead features a portrait of a bearded man in formal dress labeled "OUR MAYOR" with the caption "COULD NOT BE BOUGHT BY SPRING VALLEY." The caption appears to be satirizing San Francisco's mayor, suggesting he refused a bribe or financial inducement from the Spring Valley Water Company—likely a major utility corporation. By framing this refusal as noteworthy enough for the magazine's cover, *The Wasp* is either praising the mayor's integrity or, more likely given the satirical nature of the publication, sarcastically implying that municipal corruption and corporate influence-peddling were so common that an honest official was remarkable enough to warrant coverage.