At the moment of the highest power of the institution of slavery it was
not less wrong than at the moment the first ship-load of slaves was
landed. No mere accumulation of material property can vitiate a
principle of right. Hence, the very widespread acceptance of the tipping
custom lends no authority to it. If 95,000,000 Americans are engaged in
tipping 5,000,000 Americans, and if both the givers and the receivers
apparently concur in the rightness of the custom, it does not thereby
become right. We must go back to first principles to find the answer.

TIPPING AND SLAVERY

The American democracy could not live in the face of a lie such as
slavery presented, and it cannot live in the face of a lie such as
tipping presents. The aim of American statesmanship should be to keep
fresh and strong the original concepts of democracy and to beat back the
efforts of base human qualities to override these concepts.

The relation of a man giving a tip and a man accepting it is as
undemocratic as the relation of master and slave. A citizen in a
republic ought to stand shoulder to shoulder with every other citizen,
with no thought of cringing, without an assumption of superiority or an
acknowledgment of inferiority. This is elementary preaching and yet the
distance we have strayed from primary principles makes it necessary to
prove the case against tipping.

The psychology of tipping may be stated more in detail in the following
formula:

To one-quarter part of generosity add two parts of pride and one part of
fear.

FIRST INGREDIENT, GENEROSITY

This is a subtle element and merges into a sense of obligation on slight
provocation. You feel that your position in life is more fortunate, and
pity enters your thought. If an extra service is given, in reality or in
appearance, the servitor has pitched his appeal upon the ground of
obligation. Few persons can rest easily until a sense of obligation is
discharged through some form of compensation. The opportunity to balance
the account comes when cash is being passed between you and the person
serving. You offer a cash consideration proportioned to your sense of
obligation.

Inasmuch as the whole argument in favor of tipping is based upon the
allegation that the servitor actually gives a value in extra service,
the element of obligation will be examined closely.

The Pullman porter or the waiter who can succeed in making a patron feel
a sense of obligation knows that he has