The Wasp — 1880 — page 138: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical illustration from *The Wasp* ridicules candidates for San Francisco municipal offices running on a supposedly reform-minded "Amalgamated Workingmen-Greenback-Democratic-Sandlot-Labor-Combination Ticket." The eight identical caricatured figures—shown from front and back—represent candidates for various positions: Auditor, Supervisors (multiple wards), Sheriff, District Attorney. The repetitive, uniform presentation is the joke: despite different names and positions, they're portrayed as interchangeable politicians. The title "Patriotic Plunderers" suggests these candidates are hypocritical—claiming to represent working-class interests while actually being self-serving opportunists. The cartoonist implies the ticket is merely a cynical coalition exploiting labor-movement rhetoric for personal political gain, not genuine reform.