his guests
and his employees is not his affair. But he proves his insincerity by
adjusting his wage scale on the estimate that the guests will pass
money to his employees!

Professional hospitality as "enjoyed" by Americans is a travesty on
democracy. That Europe should have such a system and spirit is
historically understandable. Tipping, and the aristocratic idea it
exemplifies, is what we left Europe to escape. It is a cancer in the
breast of democracy.

THE CHAUFFEUR

It would be possible to run through all the classes tipped and prove
that the extra compensation is unearned. The chauffeur is a latter-day
instance of the itching palm. Like the barber, the chauffeur is paid
well for his work. He does nothing for which the patron should give him
a tip. The taxi-meter charges the patron roundly for all the service
given, yet tipping chauffeurs is as common in the larger cities as
tipping barbers or waiters. It simply shows the spread of the practice
to workers who have no other claim upon it than their own avaricious
impulses--and the extreme docility of the public. Every tip given to a
chauffeur is so clearly a bad economic transaction that further argument
is unnecessary.

So widespread has the practice become that tipping is, individually, a
problem, as well as collectively. The traveler has a formidable cost to
face in the tipping required. When the total passes $200,000,000 a year,
it becomes a problem which the American people will find more difficult
of solution the longer it continues unchecked.

The whole argument is summed up in this. Tipping is an economic waste
because it is double pay for one service--or pay for no service. It
causes one person to give wealth to another without a fair return in
values, or without any return. The pay that employers give to their
employees should be the only compensation they receive. All the money
given by the public on the side is unearned increment.

The best condition for a fair exchange of wealth is where standards are
known and prices are definite. Self-respect and sound economics flourish
in such an atmosphere, whereas, if values are hazy and compensation is
indirect and irregular, as it is under the custom of tipping, the
bickering that follows degrades manhood.

From an economic viewpoint, all businesses are on an abnormal basis
which figure minimum wages, or no wages, to their employees on the
assumption that the public will, through gratuities, pay for