Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-09-25
TIPS.

The Century invcighs bitterly against the
growth of the habit of taking "tips'-fees
for trivial service for which the recipient is
salaried. We are ready to concur fully in
any and all condemnation that may be
launched against the Vicious practice
Thirty years ago tip-taking was the almost
universal custom in America. The exac-
ton was the outgrowth of the system Of
negro slavery on the one hand and the relic
of European aristocratic custom on the
other. Shortly after the close of the war of
the rebellion the practice came very abrupt
ly to a close In railroad cars, hotels and
theaters; in restaurants, public offices and
parks, it was Il common thing to find con-
| spicuous signs confronting one: Give no
fees to attaches" 1t had been found-at
| least it appeared that the world of employ
crs had discovered-that the reception of
lips by their employees rendered them
less attentive to one class of patrons and
obsequous to another; that the servant
served himself better than he served either
the employer or patron, and in consequence
the business of the one and the comfort Of
the other suffered. That these conclusions
were fully justified there can be no doubt
1t really seemed at one time as if this tip
taking-the badge Of seryility and slavery
had been crushed out in America, for it
will be recalled that it met with such a
check that public notices frequently ap-
peared requesting that information be
given to the employers of any case of
palm-salving, that the employee might be
| discharged in punishment. But the hope
| that the vicious system had met its death
was doomed to disappointment, for some
ten years ago the vicious tip-tal,ing be-
came again preyaIent-qu;te as suddenly
rcyiviug as it had declined decade before
But in this instance the practice was
chiefly the result of the Ans'o-mania.
and the intolerahle foppishness of aping
English manners. And now it appears
| many who serve the public on coaches, in
hotels and on the daily public highway are
on the broad road to meanness. selfshness,
greed and dishonesty, to which tip-taking
inevitably leads. The truth is, as the
Century writer puts il, the tip-taker is
simply a mendicant, bcasar. Let Us
put it still stronger, the tip-talcr is a thief
who has not even the excuse of necessity
as we'll rs bcggar, who has not even the
apology of rags ana hunger. That he is a
thief is demonstrablc, since, if lie is saIa-
red, he has no right 70 expect other wage
than that he earns. To that wage the
patron OF the employer pays all that is due
when he delivers the sum of the price
charged. The tip-taker, therefore, when
his attitude Of expectancy or the
method of his service forces the patron to
deliver q tip robs him by exacting that for
which he has rendered no service But the
chief vice of the practice Of tip-taking, as
the essayist points out, resides in the degra-
dation of the receiver. who thus admits
himself u be an inferior, and leads tie tip
giver to indulge in that hollow vanity
which the confession Of his superiority by
the soryility of the tip-taker stimulates
Tip-taking, when connived at by the en-
pIoyer results in depreciation of wages
since if he expects the employee to beg or
steal from the public sufficient wages to
compensate him. he carries the amount into
his estimate Of what the cmploye should
receive from him, and pays him It wage
correspondingly small. Thus a double
wrong is perpe;rated, that upon the public,
which pays the full price for the service
rendered in the first instance and is robbed
Of the extra fee in addition, while the
service is rendered for an insufficient regu-
lar wage and a seryilc and uncertain one
and this of itself invites the worker to dis
honesty, and is destructive Of that indie
pcndcnce which should characterize citizen
ship in a free government