The Wasp — 1879 — page 571: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon criticizes **New York politicians** for collecting what San Francisco discards as rubbish. The image shows well-dressed gentlemen (caricatured New York "Chiffoniers"—a French term for ragpickers) salvaging garbage from a cart labeled with refuse. The cart overflows with discarded items and debris, while a horse-drawn wagon—suggesting San Francisco's waste—dumps material. The satire suggests New York's elite are metaphorically scavenging San Francisco's cast-offs, implying they adopt inferior ideas or practices. The fancy dress contrasts with the undignified work of refuse-picking, mocking New York's pretensions while suggesting San Francisco's superiority or moral high ground. This reflects late 19th-century West Coast/East Coast rivalries and likely responds to specific political borrowing or policy imitation between cities.