The Wasp — 1880 — page 218: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from The Wasp (Oct. 3, 1880) contains poetry and important correspondence rather than cartoons. The "Important Correspondence" section features letters from various organizations—including the Barbers' League, California Cooks Alliance, and Peoples Italiana society—requesting that politician James A. Garfield (evidently a candidate) deny rumors about employing German, French, and Chinese workers respectively. The satire targets Garfield's political maneuvering: each ethnic group is attempting to secure his public denouncement of hiring competitors from other nationalities. This reflects 1880s labor anxieties and nativist sentiment. The bottom illustrations labeled "Popular Songs Illustrated" show rural/folk scenes unrelated to the correspondence above.