Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-16
TIPS ARE HIGH
IN WASHINGTON
GUESTS EXPECTED TO PAY
LlBE2ALLY
Missouri Representative, However,
Proposes to Stop II, and Expen-
sive Habit May Be Done
Away With
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald
WASHINGTON, d. c., Feb. 15.-
Tip? No tipl" Washington walters
and hotel keepers are excited, while
the public Is curlously Interested in
the fate Of the measure introduced by
Representative Murphy of Missouri
prohibiting the giving or taking OF tips
In hotels or restaurants. For the bene-
fit of their patrons the proprietors of
hotels say they favor such n measure,
but for the benefit of their walters they
oppose It.
Why n hotel proprietor should favor
such measure is not clear. When
one sees a smooth-faced cleanly white
waiter deftly attending to his wants
he instlnctively compliments the hotel
proprietor for employing such excellent
help and regards the "tip" as n token
of appreciation for specially attentive
service.
1t does not occur to the guest, as a
general rule, that he pays at the desk
for this service and then pays the
waiter. The rate of pay for the high
est class walters in Washington is $50
per month. In other words, the pro-
prietor pays 81 per day as sort of re-
tanning fee, to insure the presence Of
lilc waiter anu 10 TeCOInppIlSe MIN
such small services as he may perform
for the hotel itself. such as removing
soiled dishes and table linen.
| But for whatever the waiter does for
the guest the latter Is expected by the
hotel proprietor and the waiter to pay
out of his own pocket in addition to
settling a bill which Is always high
enough to include frst-class service.
The tariff Is usually 10 per cent of the
] l. Il lz..A
| checks, say from one to two dollars, II
is 25 cents.
Walter Expects Change
If the check is less than a dollar the
guest is expected to give the change
to the waiter. The interests of the
hotel proprietor and the waiter are
thus identical, for as the tip is gen.
orally regulated by the size of the
check, the larger the bill the larger the
tip. No complaint has been heard re-
Gently of the practice which formerly
prevailed to some extent, under which
the waiter made a false addition In lead
pencil and thus cheated the guest in
addition to getting a tip.
So much complaint was made OF this
custom that 1t was practically aban-
doned and Is no longer practiced in
first-class places Nor Is ii customary
hotel proprietors for the privilege of
waiting on their customers in return
for tips, as is the case in some places.
They are confined to the gentle practice
of frowning on the modest tipster and
of smiling on the more generous.
The writer fails to remember in the
course of long experience with Wash
ington hotels case where a man paid
| a bill at the table without tipping the
waiter, so he cannot say what happens
under such circumstances.
| At the So-called family hotels where
the patronage is largely confined to
permanent guests, the tariff for tips is
50 per week for the man and 81 per
week for each member of the family.
| Thus, where a family has n table at
which sits man. wife and two daugh-
ttrs the waiter is expected to receive
weekly honorarium of s5.
OF this the head waiter collects from
20 to so per cent. This rate varies from
about half as much to double. accord
ing to the standing of the hotel. Then
there is the weekly tip to the chamber
maid of from 81 to 81 per room or bed.
The head porter gets his every time a
piece of baggage is moved and the
porter moving the baggage is duly re-
warded. Tips to the head porter av-
erage 81. and the active porter receives
25 to 80 cents per large piece.
Bell Boys Get Theirs
There is no cut and dried system of
fleeing the bell boys. Permanent guests
in the smaller hotels try to get one or
two bell boys on their staff and fee
take their chances and fee all the
time. The schedule runs like this:
Bringing in bag and carrying to room,
25 cents: same on departure; pitcher
ice water. 10 cents; drinks In rooms, 10
to 25 cents: brushing coats, 10 cents;
stationery, 10 cents; other services In
proportion. The usual tip to pages
is 10 cents. They call the visitors
cards. Pages who open the door to the
telephone booths get 8 to 10 cents.
Elevator boys In family hotels expect
25 to 80 cents per week from each guest
or family. In the large European hotels
they seldom receive anything. The GUS
tom of clipping" the cook does not pre-
vail here although after a dinner party
it is considered Eau fait" to remember
him or her.
Cooks Well Paid
AS the cook does not come in contact
with the guests, she or he depends on
the hotel proprietors for their wages
together from what they rake off from
the walters. 1t is also considered fash
ionable to tip the head waiter. Moth
ing less than a dollar goes and If given
only occasionally 1t should be five. In
addition he gets a percentage of the
walters tips, and in most cases, at
least, receives something from the pro-
prietor
The hotels in Washington have an
other pleasant custom which appeals
strongly to the guests. The regular
price for a telephone call from a pay
station is cents. In most cities the
hotels supply telephones in the rooms
as an accommodation to the guests, but
In Washington they are made a source
of considerable revenue. In coming to
Washington the visitor is advised to
allow at least 10, and preferably 20 per