The Wasp — 1879 — page 468: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts what appears to be municipal workers or sanitation officials disposing of a dead horse by throwing it into the water—illustrated by the grotesque pile of horse legs jutting upward on the left and the splashing figures on the shore. The epigraph attributes the practice to Mayor Kallooch's stated policy from February 9, 1880, regarding treatment of dead animals in San Francisco's streets. The cartoon mocks this as absurd and unsanitary public policy, sarcastically calling it the "Kallooch Method." The exaggerated, chaotic scene—with multiple figures straining to heave the carcass seaward while a ship observes in the distance—ridicules the city's casual approach to waste management and sanitation, suggesting the mayor's solution creates public health hazards rather than solving them.