The Wasp — 1879 — page 123: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **editorial content and advertising** rather than political cartoons. The masthead shows *The Wasp* was a San Francisco satirical publication (602 California St.). The main editorial, signed by Salmon Morse (Managing Editor), attacks **Denis Kearney**, a prominent labor organizer of the era. The text criticizes Kearney's leadership of the Workingmen's Party, accusing him of being an untrustworthy demagogue who uses inflammatory rhetoric to manipulate working-class voters for personal political gain. The satire targets Kearney's populist appeals and suggests he lacks genuine concern for workers' actual welfare. The piece defends the "respectable" working-class against what the magazine viewed as dangerous radical politics, reflecting the editorial's conservative stance on labor activism during California's turbulent 1870s.