The morning call., 1892-06-04
FROM THE FooD STANDPOINT.


The wayfarers who are en- route for Min
neapolis, or who are packing their trunks
against the journey to Chicago, are being
brought face to face with the fact that polti-
cal leadership is an expensive luxury 1t is
dawnng upon them that, though the rail-
roads have made a round-trip rate, the extra
expenses of the jaunt are gong TO be heavy.
One hears of SO day being asked for
single room, and the Chicago restaurants
have always been familiar with the maxim
that the wise man will charge all the traffic
will bear. To add to their perpleXities the
walters at Chicago threaten to strike on the
eve Of the convention unless their employers
make a substantial advance in their present
wages of So a week. If to the duties OF
selecting a candidate for President dele
gates have TO add the task of getting their
own meals-every man being, so to speak,
his own water-s0me of the patriots may
perhaps wish they had been less patriotic.
Walters have in every civilized country
received lower wages than other hotel SER
wants because they were supposed to make
up the deficiency by tips. In some of the
leading eating houses in London and Paris
walters not only receive no pay. but actually
bay their places. One position Of head
waiter in leading cafe in Paris is under
stood to be worth 1900 francs year, and
whenever it falls vacant the proprietor
finds no difficulty in disposing of it at that
figure. In this and other American cities
walters do not buy their places, but it is
understood that they accept low pay in con-
sideration of the gratuties they receive.
These, indeed, are larger than the public
imagineS. Until within few weeks there
was at an old and we'll patrOnzad hotel in
this city waiter who had served in the
dining-rOom for some twenty-five years. lie
was polite, attentive and pains taking, and
in the course of his long career he had
gathered round him a clientele Of guests
who would be waited on by no one else
Presently the old mans wife died, and he
was so brOken-hearted at his bereavement
that he resigned lis position. His EN-
ployers had an idea Of rendering him some
recompense for his long and faithful SER
vice, but be thanked them kindly and OBJ
served that be had saved a little money. 1t
turned out that he was worth $4,000.
People often declare that the tip business
is an imposition and that they will not sub
nit to it. They generally discover that il
rests with the waiter whether their steak
shall be tough or tender, or whether they
shall wait five or fifteen minutes for their
morning coffee, and the discovery made,
they sacrifice principle to convenience, and
fee the waiter like other people. The fee
business appears to be one OF the unavoid-
able evils Of high civilization. Perhaps it
ought TO be regulated by unWritten law, as
it generally IS in Europe. At the Cafe de
Paris and at TortOni's the libeTaity of the
guest is supposed TO be commensurate with
the excellence Of the meal, but in many Of
the good eating-hOuses in both the English
and the French capital the waiter is en-
titled to a penny, or 10 centimes-no more,
no less. Thus when a regular customer at
a French restaurant fell into temporary
straits and Went on ordering his dinner for
year without paying for it, he felt bound
when be recovered his fortune to hand his
waiter sous for every day that lie had
missed feeling him. Sous and pennies could
not be used for the purpose here, but the
establishment OF a rule specifying what is
the proper hOnorarium of a knight OF the
napkin would not be impraciicabe.
At convention time and at inaugurati0us
food is fancy article, whose market value
is governed by very caprcious demand
and supply. When Lincoln was inaugur-
ated the normal price of a small tough beef
steak was q dollar and a sybarite who
wanted coffee besides had TO pay four bits
more. This, however, was less grieyOus
than the state OF affairs at the Western
State convention at whose door STOOD a
shanty where food was dispensed and a
stalwart negro continually did cry: "Sas-
singers without fork 10 cents, sassingers
with fork 10 cents"