The Wasp — 1879 — page 124: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical article critiques professional begging and vagrancy in late 19th-century America. The text argues that tramps exploit public charity through organized systems, comparing them to "institutionalized" beggars in European cities like Rome and Ravenna. The accompanying illustrations depict various begging scenarios: tramps soliciting alms, a woman pushing a barrow (suggesting beggars use others as props), corner beggars "selling the good will of their stands," and people operating fraudulent schemes. The article's satirical point appears to be that begging has become a calculated profession rather than genuine desperation—that organized networks of vagrants manipulate sympathy. The piece uses class-based language typical of the era, viewing street poverty as moral failure rather than structural poverty, which reflects the period's common attitudes toward the poor.