The Wasp — 1879 — page 604: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This April 1880 *Wasp* cartoon satirizes San Francisco's response to the Sino-Japanese War. The caption reads "Peace in Modern War-Saw—The Felicitous Feeling of San Francisco." The cartoon depicts various San Francisco residents and business figures engaged in gambling games (lottery/number games visible on tables), suggesting the city's opportunistic profiteering during the conflict. The caricatured figures—appearing to represent different classes and ethnic groups—gamble together, implying that San Francisco's supposedly "felicitous" (happy) peace comes through financial speculation on war rather than genuine humanitarian concern. The satire criticizes how San Francisco's business community exploited the distant Asian conflict for personal gain while claiming civic virtue. The varied caricatures suggest this greed crossed social and ethnic boundaries.