El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-22

~ AE BnOSlly SWlnuAe at the DOt-
tom OF the whole tipping evil is
that carefully nurtured myth
about the quality and nature Of per
sonal service" we are taught that we
must tip those servants whose service
to US is Of a purely personal character.
When some one does something for US
we are to examine carefully into the
nature Of the thing done. and if we
discover that it is a personal service
then must we come up with coin. II,
on the other hand, the examination re-
veals the fact that the service was an
impersonal one, then we must not Of
fer a tip for it would be an insult
VIII Not Bear Examination.
This hOary fraud persists to such
degree that many intelligent persons
have accepted it without thinking. As
a matter Of fact the personal service"
theory viii not bear examination.
One goes into restaurant and buys
food. The man who gives It to him mas
performed personal service and must
be tipped. man goes into grocery
store and buys food. The man who
gives 1t to him has performed an tmper-
sOnal service and must not be tipped.
A guest at a hotel goes to desk
and makes arrangement with clerk TO
have his mail forwarded IAat IS I'M
personal. be goes to the next desk
and makes arrangement with nea0
porter to get his baggage transferred,
That is personal. The clerk must not
be tipped; the porter must
Perhaps the most idiOUic manifesto
ton Of this peculiar myth IS the De en-
cOUntered In a barrOOm- Two men en-
ter a barroom at the same time. One
Of them goes to the bar, STANDS W
and orders a drink OF Whtskey- Inc
bartender serves him. The other goes
to a table. sits down, and orders
rrfr of n
him. The only difference between the
two transactions IS that IN one the
customer stands, in the other ne Sis,
Yet according to the tipping rules ana
REGULATIONS. the service Of drink 70
the man standing at the bar IS lmpeT-
sOnal and under no circumstances cans
for tip. while the service OF the same
kind Of q drink to the man slLlh5
down in the same room is personal ana
must be rewarded with ''gratuity-
Making II Personal.
Then there IS the interesting case o.
the soda fountain and Ice cream eInp0-
rum As long as the concern deals
only in sOdas, ices and CONNECTIONS, no
tips are expected by anybody connected
with the establishment But let the
proprietor add tea and sandwiches 70
the bill of fare and then tips are ex-
! pected, even from those VINO DuF only
Ice cream. In some mysterious way tne
service has been translated rom the
| impersonal to the personal variety
According to the rules OF logic ana
the testimony OF the best dictionaries
of the English language, one might IN
fer that the salesman in a shore store
| fits shoe to ones foot But, accepting
l the standard Of the tipping system, this
performs a personal service when ne
/ Is an entirely impersonal service Inc
man who hands you your nat from us
peg has, however, performed an lnL4-
. mate personal service and must be re-
warded for his zeal and recompensed
for his mentality.
SUCH instances might De muLtlpllso,
[ but what's the use2 The theory OF the
I personal service as a basis for, ana an
/ explanation of, the tipping system IS
] absolutely ridiculous.
Tipping had its origin in generosity
/ especially in that particular FORM OF
( generosity expanded by alcohol Men
/ drinking together sometimes would re
/ member the poor devils who served
them, and knowing they received but
! starvation wages, would give them bit
] Of money to be spent for drink, usually
/ on the premises In German the WORD
/ for "tip'' IS ''trinkgeld," literally drink
money" In French tt is 'pourboire,
! literally FOR drink"
In Old England.
In the good old days in England, at
about the time the IS American colo
! MES were being settled, II was the
/ fashion to regulate everything by law
! Wages, for instance, were fixed by the
magistrates and the grand 1uries- Inc
| business OF government In every aspect
owning, property owning classes They
| fixed maximum wage laws. For in
stance, there were communities IN
| which II was a crime, punishable by
/ law to pay a farm labOrer more than
I 40 shiliings g year. Forty shillings is
| $40, and, although that was q great
deal more money then than II seems
now il was not what anybody would
/ call a princely income even then. Some
/ persons who desired to reward par
! ticularly good servant would violate the
I law to pay more
/ When the judges went the round Of
! the assizes-rode the circuit as we
J would say in America-it always meant
] a great deal Of extra work and trouble
/ for the servants OF the hosts who en-
/ tertained the justices and other men OF
/ the law. These guests, with the entire
/ consent Of their host would give each
/ servant a tip Tips were then known
/ as walls" The practice extended until
| every servant expected liberal Zee
] from every guest at his masters table.
/ This became such a burden that poor
men, even III they were gentlemen,
! could not accept invitations. Olver
/ Goldsmith, for instance, was forced 10
| decline dinner Invitations because he
/ could not afford TO tip the servants Of
Abolished by Law.
The system of walls was abolished
/ by law. Grand juries in various coun-
! ties, just about the time the American
! colonists were beginning to quarrel
with the mother country, aDOllSneQ the
walls by solemn resolutions and the
] practice was made amenable to punish
/ ment. But, Of course in the meantime
/ the maximum wage regulations had
gone and masters were permitted to
| paw their servants whatever they de-
! sired or whatever the servant could ex-
/ act
The walls system has returned OF late
I years-Of course it never was entirely
/ abolished in English country houses
/ and 1t IS now being cultivated in the
! United States In certain Of the So
called higher circles Of society the
British custom Of tipping the servants
| in a private house has become such a
/ burden that only the wealthy can af-
! ford it. OF course il always has been
/ the practice to tip on occasion under
| such circumstances, but this is differ
| ent.
The "tlp de luxe" expected and even
I demanded by the servants in the prl-
! vate homes Of the wealthy is no in
/ considerable sum. 1t has come 10 pass
| that a trip in the country for week
| r,1H fe mora awuaDe fva than sfaV for