The Wasp — 1879 — page 277: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **publication information and editorials** for The Wasp magazine, dated May 3, 1879. The masthead shows the magazine's ornate logo and publishing details (602 California St., San Francisco). The main satirical content is "Revelations," a serialized piece mocking **San Francisco's civic corruption**. It describes a fictional city called "Saint Frisco" where streets are golden but officials are dishonest, rulers are tyrannical, and sub-rulers exploit people. The text appears to criticize diurnal (daily) publications for promoting corruption and urging the public to oppose unjust leadership. The secondary article discusses labor issues, mentioning "workingmen" and new machinery called "Confusion" that supposedly eliminates manual labor—likely satirizing technological displacement and worker anxieties of the 1870s. The satire targets **civic corruption, labor exploitation, and journalistic complicity** in San Francisco politics.