Evening star., 1935-10-13
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

The question Of tipping was one that
agitated hotel patrons half century ago
to a considerable degree.
The Tipping The Star Of October 6,
N,;sa,o. 1885, says:
Mr. Potter Palmer has
resorted to an ingenious scheme in his
Chicago hotel to break down the tipping
nuisance. He takes the ground that he
paws the servants for their work and
that the extra money given them by
guests for service belongs to him and
hence he obliges the walters to turn over
their gifts to the hotel. The policy is
said to work like a charm. The patrons
of the hotel do not care to add to their
per diem by gratuities and the walters
see no advantage in taking fees which
have to be promptly handed over to the
proprietor. The scheme is commended
to hotel men in general. There Is no
more sense in tipping waiter or a bed
room servant who is faithful and oblig-
ing than a prompt salesman or an eff
cient helper of any sort. The system
is an outgrowth of the ariStocratic caste
basis of society in Europe and should not
get a foothold here where labor is held
to be honorable and paid for on its
merits"
Local fishermen have for many years
been complaining that the sport, espe-
cially in the Potomac River,
Potomac is on the decline. 1t was
E.biro the case half century ago
and apparently without
justification, as the following letter to
the editor of The Star. signed u. c. B., !"
printed in the issue of October z, 1885,
attests:
In a recent number of The Star you
had an item from the Frederick, Md,
News to the discouraging effect that the
golden days of bass fishing in the Poto-
mac are past; that the fish run smaller
and do not take the hook as well, and
that it is an all-day job to accomplish
the work which even five years ago might
have been accomplished in few hours.
Having recently had very pleasant and
successful, though short, vacation bass
fishing in the grand old river, am able
to assert with considerable emphasis that
the golden days have not departed, that
in fact they are now here and that the
truly good bass fishermen should be on
the alert and having good time. My
base of observation and action was Point
of Rocks, on the B. g. o. Railroad, near
Harpers Ferry, where boats and bait
may be obtained without trouble or de-
lay At other places such as Weverton,
Berlin and Tuscarora, all near the rail-
road and river, good fishing may be had
ct am indebted to Mr.. Jesse Clagett of
Frederick who, in the goodness Of his
piscatorial heart, procured extra fine bait
for me from some mysterious locality
and thereby enabled me to have sport
that went several pounds over first
rate average Mr.. C.. came in on three
occasions with strings of bass from 16
to 81 in number, all of good size and some
large, and at one time he captured noble
duke that weighed nearly z pounds
Hows that for golden days? One of my
own strings numbered seven and weighed
II pounds, the largest bass weighing ~
pounds, not river estimate, but weighed
in that weighed from 3 to AZ pounds
each.
"Of course, there are men with fine
tackle who go out with great expectations
and bottles of beer, with liquids and
lunches in large quantities, who hammer
| about in their boats like carpenters, who
| expose their eager forms to the shy fish,
and who somehow don't have very good
luck But they have jolly time, prob
ably; accumulate material for tough
| statements and soon make arrangements
to 20 and catch some more.
"The Potomac is grand river Tor
bass"