The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-06-02
WATERS GET LITTLE
SYMPATHY IN STRIKE
After Three and a Half Weeks
It's a Question If They'll
Win Contest.
LOST $4,000 YESTERDAY
That's One Estimate Based on
the Figure Of $500 Now
Said to BE Out.

since the walters in New York hotels an,
restaurants began the series of strikes
which their leaders boosted would bring
hotel proprictors TO their knees. and yes
terday people about town were asking
themselves what had been accomplished
whether the walters had got any nearer
their goal than they were at the start
whether they had accomplished anything
To what extent the hotels had suffered
and just how those who were accustomed
to take meals in the public restaurants
werr accepting the situation and the
inevitable dscomforts that had pro-
cc"dcd from the attempt to disrupt one
Of the best conducted of American busi-
ncsscs.
Interviews with a Humbar of persons
who are in the habit of finching or dining
ont brought out that sympathy with the
walters in their holding oUt for the rccog-
milton of the union iS practically nil -
except among that protion of the public
which does not support walters at all.
and even there it is confined to union
symrathizcrs. On the contrary. there il
much approval of the aims of that agree
'ncnt which is being circulated uptown
binding the signers To tips of not over
10 per cent. Lots of people go much further
and have announced that they will never
tip again. because of the Inconvenience
they have been put TO whrn dining or
lunching out. with only limited time TO
spare 10 keep an engagement 10y the man
who was ser. ing them suddenly quitting
and leaving them to got the rest Of their
meal aS best thcy could.
Not few men who are accustomed
10 give liberal tips We're heard to express
themselves bitterly on the subject One
bf tho managers at the Waldorf was talk
inE yesterday about hearing one of tn"
best known brokers in New York. known
aS on" Of IN" most generous tippcrs about
the hotel. declare emphatically that he
had vowed never again to tip a waiter
who had struck Some doubt was cx-
pressed. and the manager rushed away
and brought up the broker
Yes. | said it," the latter agreed. "and
furthermore ! mean it. In the course Of
the las, twenty years | have given away
thousands of dollars in tips to walters
never less than quarter and sometimes
as much a. 81 at a time. iet what did
IL count for mo to spend lot Of money
on men lust for bringing me few plates
Of food! Hereafter | shall ask every
man who serves mo whether he was
striker II he was | shall not give him
a cent and | can tell you | have talked
with hundreds who feel just the same
as L.
There was considerable discussion
Yesterday as to whether this strike did
not AFFORD the long desired opportunity
of abolishing tips and one heard here
and there revival Of the theory that
the management of hotel might per
form a public service by charging 10
yar cent. If the amount of bill for ser
vice. giving the same to the walters
Experienced managers say this would
not work. Ii had been done in London
or something similar 10 it. and at the
Criterion restaurant it was Tn. custom
for years TO charge the guest sixrencr
for service" This was supposed to
cover tip to th" waiter, but the Ameri.
can who got OF without an extra some
thing to the attendant was rare Mana
gers say the public would never hang
together on question of this kind be-
will want TO bc more quickly and better
served than the man II, the next table
and you couldn't stop him from slipping
an inducement to the waiter
From a financial standpoint the walters
lave undoubtedly suffered far more
than the hotels. II. ar Was estimated.
there were $500 walters and other hotel
employees out on strike Yesterday they
lost in one day something like 5000 or
$1,000 on the two items of wages and
tips, for there We're many waters who
would have taken in during the day.
Saturday being usually characterized
by heavy luncheon trade. from ~ to
SO each. One considerable item that
he men did not take into account when
they decided to strike was the question
OF food. In the various hotels it costs
from IS cents TO a dollar day 10 feed a
waiter. and of course the hotel gets its
raw materials at wholesale prices. Walters
On the average are heavy eaters. and
what they are paying for their meals, a
new expense. must be figured in.
There are men who went out on the
first strike at the Belmont on NAV 7
whose individual losses, tips and food.
run close up to 500. Tho walters union
unlike more deliberately formed oraani-
cations, has no strike fund. There il only
ha dollar a head initiation fee, which
mas h~en collected. but much of which
mas been used for hiring halls and for
he expenses OF those who are leading
he strike There Is no money TO dis
ribute to those who have not put by
savings
A hotel man was comparing the earn
ng capacity Of "a waiter with that of the
average man of education and special
equipment for profession.
"The contrast in earning capacity with
the case of the ordinary Young man whose
parents spend lot of money in keeping
him three or four years in college or al
a technical school is startling" said this
man. Suppose such young man has
completed an electrical course. The
most he can hope 10 draw in salary when
he first il graduated Il frequently 80 to s.
a week. After three or four years ex-
perience he may be getting as much AZ
$15. Unless he is "a man of exceptional
ability. when he il drawing $40 or $50
a week he has probably reached the limit
pf his earning capacity. In the case of
waiter tho chances are that after he has
been an omnibus for two months. lust
long enough to give him an opportunity
10 know where things are, he becomes a
full ficdged waiter and jumps in to make
big money, The work does not demand
a high order OF intelligence at all and not
a tenth OF one per cent of the men on
gagged at It could so out and earn 81 a
day at anything else"
faithful at the Waldorf have been fairly |
ftytn foo