The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-02-19
Measure BY Murphy Is Aimed at
Hotel and Restaurant Walters.
CUSTOM LONG ESTABLISHED
Walters In Best Hotels Oct Not ovsr
$50 Monthly from tho Manage.
ment---SatisHed With Reye.
nue. from Tips.

WASHINGTON. Feb. is.--"Tip7 No
Tlp'" Washington walters and hotel
Keepers ARE excited. while the public
In curiously Interested IN the fate Of
the measure introduced by Rcpresen-
tativc Murphy. af Missouri, prohibit
Ing The giving or taking OF tips In
hotels Or roalaurup,a For the hene-
III Of their patrons the pfoprictorE Of
hotels say they favor such measure.
but for the benefit Of their walters they
oppose H. why hotel proprietor
should favor such measure n not
clear when one secs "A smooth. faced
cleanly white waiter defliy attending
to his wants he lnelinctiycly compll-
mouia tho hptol proprietor for employ.
ing such excclicn, help and regards the
Zip" an tokcn II appreciation for
specially attentive service, II does
rule. that he pays nt the desk for this
service and then pays The waiter, The
rate ~ pay for the highest class wal
tern In Washington iB $50 per month.
In other words the proprietor pays 81
per Jay an sort " retaining Zee, to
insure the presence Of tho waiter and
20 rcc0mpcnsc him for such small ser
vices as he may perform for The hotel
itself. such an removing solled dishes
and table linen But for whatever the
waiter does for the guest the latter
is expected by the hotel proprietor and |
tho waiter. TO pay out Of HIS own pock- |
et. In addition TO settling blu which |
In always high enough 10 include first
class service. The tariff In usually ten |
per cent OF the bill, on large checks
but on small checks say from, ane 10 |
two dollars, II is twenty fiye cents, II
the check ia less than dollar the guest
In expected 10 give the change TO the
waiter. Tho interests Of the hotel pro-
prictorR and tho walters are thus iden-
teal, for M the tip Ia generally regu-
lated by the size Of the check. tae
larger the bill the larger the tip No
complaint has been heard recently Of
the practice which formerly prevailed
TO some extent. under which the waiter
made n false addition In lead pencil
and thus cheated the guest In addition
TO getting tip. So much complaint
was made OF this custom that II was
practically abandoned and is no longer
prnctlced In first class places. Nor Ii
Il customary for walters in washing
ton to pay the hotel propretors for
tho privilege OF waiting on their cua-
toners In return for tips, M Is the case
In some places They are confined to
the gentle practice of frownIng on the
modest tlpstcr and OF smiling on the
more generous
The writer falls to remember In the
course of II long experience with Wasn.
lngton hotels. case where man paid
n bill Mt the table without tipping the :
waiter, so he can not say what happens 8
under such circumstances. !
At the so-caled family hotels where t
the patronage Ia largely confined to c
permanent guests the tariff for tips Is n
two dollars per week for the men and 9
one dollar per week for each member [
Of the family. Thus. where family {
has d table at which sits man, wife h
and two daughters, the waiter IL ex- 4
pected TO receive a weekly honorarium Il
of Ave dollars. or this the head wal II
ter collects from 30 to 40 per cent, This Il
rate varies from about half AS much &
TO double, according to the standng Il
of the hotel Then there Is the week O.
ly tip to the chambermaid, of from one a
to two dollars per room or bed The p
head porter gets his every time piece
of baggage Is moved and the porter o.
the baggage is duly rewarded. 81
Tips to the head porter avarage one p
dollar and the active porter receives 81
25 to so cents per large piece. Il
There Is no cut and dried system Of rt
feeling the bell boys Permanent b.
guests in the smaller hotc'" Wy to get 81
one or two boys on their staff and fee ct
them by the week, Transients have a.
to take their chances and fee all the fl
time. The schedule runs like this: CT
Bringing In bag and carrying to room,
Or cents; same on departure; pitcher re
leo water, 10 cents; drinks In rooms, II
10 to 25 cents; brushing coats, 10 cents G
stationery, 10 cents; other services In D
The usual tip to pages tr
IL 10 cents, They call the visitors lie
cards. Pages who open the door to OF
tho telephone booths get 6 to 10 cents
Elevator boys In family hotels expect
25 cents to so cents per week from each p'