The Pullman company stands in the public mind as the leading exponent of
tipping. It certainly is the largest beneficiary of the custom, as a
simple calculation will show.

The company has about 6,500 porters, who receive $27.50 a month in
wages. Suppose the porters received no tips. The company then would have
to pay living wages. Assuming that the long hours of work would not
attract desirable porters under a straight wage system without at least
$60 a month pay, each one of the 6,500 would have an increase of $32.50
a month, or $390 a year.

This would mean an increase in the company's annual pay-roll of
$2,535,000!

In other words, the company saves about two and a half millions a year
through the tips given to its porters. What part of the large annual
dividend is furnished by this saving is a secret of the company's books.

Some of these porters after many years' service receive $42 a month in
wages, and this would bring down the foregoing estimate, though not to
any radical extent. The tips bring their incomes to $100, $150, $200 and
more a month! There are, of course, many runs on which the porters
derive smaller amounts in gratuities, and the best runs are given as a
reward for long and faithful service.

WHAT THE PULLMAN MANAGER SAID

The Walsh Commission, appointed to investigate industrial conditions in
the United States, in 1915 singled out the Pullman tipping practice for
investigation. Some of the testimony given by the general manager of the
company follows:

"The company simply accepts conditions as it finds them. The
company did not invent tipping. It was here when the company
began."

"What do you say to making tipping unlawful and paying employees
a living wage?" Chairman Walsh asked.

"If such a condition arises, I presume we would have to pay
wages necessary to get the service."

* * * * *

"Do you get your negroes in the South?"

"Yes, we have been looking after them in the South. The South is
a bigger field and the men there are more adapted for the work
than the Northern negroes."

"Well, be plain," Chairman Walsh said, "are the negroes from the
South more docile and less independent than those from the
North?"

"Well, no, but the Southern negro is more pleasing to the
traveling public. He is more adapted to wait on people and serve
with a smile."

* *