The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
TIPPING ON STEAMSHIPS.
"FIOOr-WaIkers" Suggested ms
Means of stopping 1t.
From the Marine Journa


The European tourists now returning
and figuring up the expenditures Of their
summers doing strike once more against
the old problem which has made them
pause and think whenever they have come
to such estimates, which is the item Of
tips. Figuring it all up, they invariably
find that the extra and incidental eX-
penses in this line have been so great
that they wish they had saved some of it,
and are prone to vow that they will never
be SO prodigaI again. And yet the very
next time they make trip the same per-
sons will find themselves considering the
pleasant and satisfactory service that is
commonly rendered in anticipation of
tip, so much greater than laggard and
perfunctory service where there is no
such anticipation, that they almost ind
themselves willing to pay for the difference
as a regular due
What is to be done about 1t? There Is
no doubt that the system is all wrong. A
man who pays for his meals and is in
cidentally under the care of the stewards
and other fiunkeys of a steamer who are
regularly paid stipulated wages for their
services ought TO receive just as faithful
prompt and willing attention as is given
by the dry goods clerks in a big store,
who generally receive much smaller pay
than the steamship stewards That
would be proper. But the dry goods clerks
are in constant terror of the watchful eye
of the austere floor walker: the stewards
and the walters on a steamer are not. 1t
may be said that there is no compulsion
about the giving of tips, which is all very
wen in theory, but in practice is one of
the facts that are not SO, for If a man does
not tip his attendants he Is apt to find
himself systematically and professionally
neglected. The system is not forbidden,
consequently it fourishes, and the trav-
Is tnh Ia NKhn 10 n
erroneous European custom, on par
with European ideas of first, second and
third class passenger rates, but 1t en-
courages an unWholeSome establishment
OF an aristocracy of wealth, where only
money counts for anything Every guide
book countenances the system, and adj
Vises the traveller as to how much OF a
tip win be proper here and how much
there 1t looks as IL there can be no eX-
emption from the exaction OF tips until
the steamship companies prohibit the sys-
tenn and appoint floor walkers" 10 see
that the rule Is enforced and to ''chase
up the walters to see that they perform
their duties promptly and look pleasant
about 1t.
But so universal is this habit of exact
ing tips from travellers for every little pre-
tense of service that, as 1t stands to-day,
no one can hope to move about in COM
fort without subscribing to it. A man
or woman of ponderous person ana ac-
customed to command may make
bluff" for a time at demanding good ser
vice and attention, but he and she will
! fad that they cannot car
ry il out very com
plete.y in the long run. Many eminent
travellers have reviewed the matter in re-
cent years, but with the majority their
public expressions of opinion have mere
ly been to relieve their feelings, and there
has been no organized effort to resent the
fr1anOeitoD A FappnFlV unfinished article
by Robert p. Porter specifies the details
of the tipping system that he found in
fllcted upon himself on a recent trip to
Europe For a seat at the table, for
desirable spot on deck for your chair. for
care of your fruit, for care of your room,
for the attention of a stewardess to wo-
men, for books from the ships library,
| for use of the smoking-room, for comfort
| in the bathroom and for the services of
! the shoe-black, etc, Mr. Porter estimates
the tips on single trip across the Attain
| tie by a tirst-class ship to be not Jess than
$25. in addition to full first-class passage
money, which ought to include every
! thing.
! We believe Mr.. Porter's estimate Is not
! one bit exaggerated, and the worst of it
! Is that il apples TO all who patronize an
| ocean steamer no matter how i'll they can
afford il. 1t is for this cause that num-
! bers of people who ought TO take an ocean
| voyage and are recommended to by their
| physicians are forced to forego the pleas
| ure because they cannot pay the piper"
| If they had distinct assurance that the
| price of a ticket would cover what il pur-
| ports to, many persons would take a trip
| to Europe who are now obliged to give up
| the idea. And it is in this Injustice 20
| the people of moderate means that the
! evils of the tipping system become most
| glaring. one even has to buy or hire
ones own deck chair or so without and
| II a person who wants to go to Europe
| has the bare price of a ticket he or she
| is in hard luck indeed during the voyage
! The system Is nothing more or less than
an outrage on the public that ought not
| to be tolerated, and which the steamship
companies should see it TO their advantage
| to remedy.
| -Yeast-"That man Doughton is very
| skeptical. Unless he sees a thing he won't
| believe IL exists" Crimsonbeak-"IIe nev-
| or ran into a rocking chair in the dark
/ then. "-Y onkers Statesman