Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-15
THE TIPPING HABIT

Il maintain that the Indulgence in the
tipping Of walters. servants. such as bell
boys. porters and the like. barbers-she
practice Of tipping of any sort, In fact. IS
mixture of vanity and lack OF moral
courage on the part of the Upper" remark
ed well-known Washington clubman the
other day. "Ain6g with my neighbors, I'm
hopelessly ADDICTED to the tipping habit.
but the mere fact that I'm Upper my
self doesn't serve TO blind me to the moral
cowardliness and the vanity of the practice.
I am so vain thatrI don't want menials or
understrappers TO think Ill of me II / fail
to tip. and haven't the moral strength not
to care rapfmhas they think under such
circumstances SO long as feel the con-
seriousness that really have the best OF the
contention. That, in my opinion. Is the tip
ping situation in ainutShell, and 1t Is the
simple weakness Of the ,tippers that per-
mits of the continuation. not to speak Of
the constant spread OF the tipping evil.
Every man. no doubt, or nearly every man.
mas once or twice IN his life made up his
tiveness that he would stop tipping his bar
Der for shaving him. He has looked at the
situation from all points OF view, and he
mas faiied utterly to see why the barber
should be entitled to a tip after being paid
his legitimate price for-ehis work. Yet
would venture to say that there is actually
not one man out of q hundred who has ever
peen able actually to keep his VOW that ne
would not tip the barber. He finds SUCH an
acuteness in the situation by the time he
has placed his hat on his head and started
for the door, there Is such light Of ex-
pectancy in the BARRIERS eye, an expect
ancy based upon so many tips received, that
the majority Of men simply cave utterly
under the situation and pass over to the
barber the customary tip.
just now strong a character 1t taxes 10
STICK to 1t Is shown in the case OF no less
eminent an individual than j. Pierpont NOT
gan. Mr.. Morgan Is the chief of all the
antf-tippers. He's q liberal man with his
distributes literally hundreds of thousands
OF dollars in the form OF presents among
them. He's a generous man in his handling
of his household servants. of the people
employed on his yacht-of all hands whose
names appear on his regular pay-rolls. But
1t is straight fact that he has not handed
out a single ten-cent piece in the form OF a
tip to persons other than his own employees
or servants in five years. He became DIS
gusted with the tipping system as he had
seen it exhibited for so many years in Eu-
rope about that time. and he made up MS
mind that he. for one, would utterly drop
the habit of tipping. He's pretty strong
man. 1T is needless to say, and he has stuck
to his determination. My route was good
deal along the same general path as MS last
summer, for example and l saw MIN leave
France. but st-of them In Switzerland
without comforting even copper pourboire
upon the expectant and sorely disappointed
and mystified servants.
You know how the hotel employees line up
over there for their tips when you're taking
your departure from the hosiery. It's the
regular and accepted thing for them to
form themselves into the hedge formation.
so that you'll have to pass through the two
lines of them in order to reach the convey
ance that is to carry you to the ssation
You begin at the two rows Of expectant
ones as you emerge from the hotel. and you
make your donations in accordance with
the degree Of the recipient extending MS
hand. They're adj there, from the house
steward downwto. the boots and they all
confidently look to you for tip no matter
whether they've turned over hand for
your comfort or not. Indeed. there are some
of the hotels In Switzerland where even the
proprietors. incredible as 1t may seem, ex-
pect their tip when you leave their hostel
ries. iss Ia.
But Mr.. Morgan was equal to 1t. as I
say on the several occasions that I saw
him leave the continental hotels, and the
amazement with which he was regarded By
the expectant Zones, who looked for little
less than shower of gold from so fabu-
lousy wealthy an American .Milor'.' as
they all took pains to call him during his
stays-the establishment with which they
gazed after him as he swung serenely
through the long lines and stepped into
his carriage without so much as once put
ting hand into his pocket. was, nothing
short of amuslng.lIThey didn't dare In his
case. to make audible remarks about him as
he swung along, for the respect Of Euro
pean underlings is pretty strong for those
who invariably occupy suites of rooms set
aside for royalty, but their darkness in
looking into each others eyes and throwing
up their hands and Struggling their Shout
ders as they dismally slouched back to their
working stations was worth witnessing.
But there are, as say few men capable
of sticking to such a determination with
the calm Indifference of J. Pierpont Nor
gan. A few weeks ago dined at famous
New York restaurant, where the walters
are all Frenchmen, in company with New
Yorker Of large wealth. We fell to talking
OF the tipping business during the meal
and he announced to me that he was not
going to tip the waiter serving us-he had
invited me to the dinner. and Of course he
was to settle the reckoning. / laughed at
him, and told him that he wouldn't have
the nerve to fail to tip a steely-eyed
French waiter with black mutton-chop whis-
kers. who was so obsequious in his atten-
tions and whose manner so plainly be-
tokened that he expected to be well re-
warded for his exertions.
81 won't, eh?' said the New Yorker
Well. just watch me. I'll not only do what
I've stated, but I'll do something more in
credible more out of the question; more
daring. perhaps-I'll give that Frenchman
one five-cent piece for his pains
We'll, OF course never thought he would
dare to do tilt was too far out of the
question: as he said-to bestow a nickel
upon one Of the smoothest walters In one
of the most famous eating places in the
world-it looked too absurd for belief.
But my friend did 1t. The bill for the
dinner came to an exact SIT. Carefully go
ing over his silver change and extracting a
worn nickel from it, he placed 1t on the
walters ready tray, saying in French:
That Is for you.
1.-The waiter picked it up. examined it.
smiled, and laid it down.
monsieur or the mint has made mis-
take he said in French The piece is not
gilded
s. note"