hush-money from the corner
saloon-keeper? What is the difference between a tip to a bell-boy for
doing what the hotel pays him to do and the hush-money to a policeman
for overlooking the offence he is paid to detect?

The tipping practice has created an atmosphere of petty graft, the
constant breathing of which breeds all other forms of dishonesty. It is
small wonder that with so much avarice in low places that we have been
shocked by graft in high places. The tipping custom is educating the
grafting spirit much faster than the prosecuting arm of the government
can destroy it.

There is a direct connection between corruption in elections and the
custom of tipping. The man who lives upon tips will not see the
dishonesty of selling his vote, so readily as if he discerned the
immorality of gratuities. Of course, not all tip-takers sell their
votes; but the moral laxity in one direction predisposes toward laxity
in other directions.

SPLITTING COMMISSIONS

When a gratuity gets above a small amount, it is known as splitting
commissions, or plain graft. Salesmen in their anxiety to sell goods
will divide their commissions with the buyers. Frequently buyers or
purchasing agents will demand this concession when it has not been
offered. One New York department store found that its piano buyer was
accepting money for placing all orders with a particular manufacturer.
This store discharged its buyer, and yet the proprietor of the store
doubtless tipped the waiter at lunch the same day he so acted! He failed
to see that a waiter (paid to serve patrons) who accepts tips, is
precisely on the same level as a buyer (paid to purchase in the whole
market), who concentrates his orders with one house for a fee.

A clipping from The New York _Times_ shows the attitude that employers
are taking toward split commissions:

"Several wholesalers in this market received a letter yesterday
from a prominent dry goods retailer in the middle West saying
that their buyers would be in this city to-day and that each one
had signified her acceptance of a rule against taking petty
'graft.' The retailer asked that the salesmen try not to make
this rule difficult to observe. The rule follows: 'You must not
accept entertainment of any kind, even luncheon or dinner, from
any one in New York. We will make an allowance, sufficient to
cover all expenses, including entertainment.'"

This retail merchant had discover