The Wasp — 1878 — page 128: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts a woman labeled as representing the "Workingmens Party" seated at a table covered with detailed illustrations of various social problems and labor issues—factories, machines, workers, and scenes of industrial strife. The woman holds a small tricycle labeled "Constitution," suggesting the party's platform relies on constitutional methods. Her hat reads "Workingmens" and she wears a dress decorated with labor-related imagery. The satire appears to criticize the Workingmens Party (likely California's Anti-Coolie Labor Party) as overwhelmed by or superficially engaging with the complex industrial and social problems they claim to address. The tricycle's diminutive size contrasts with the enormous pile of issues before her, implying the party's solutions are inadequate to address the scale of labor problems in 1878.