ans of swift communication have made it possible for them to
accomplish almost as much as if they were in the office back home. Such
men do not like to be interrupted, and if a garrulous or an intrusive
person approaches it is within the bounds of courtesy to turn him aside.
Generally, however, there is a comradery of the road, a sort of good
fellowship among voyagers which lets down ordinary bars, and the men who
like to rest as they travel find it highly diverting and interesting to
talk with other men from various parts of the country. This holds true
in hotels, especially in the commercial hotels, where traveling men
foregather to meet their customers and transact their business, and in
hotels in small places where the possibilities for amusement are limited
and the people have to depend on one another for entertainment. But
there are limits. No man should ever thrust himself upon another and it
is almost an iron clad rule that he should never "pick up" women
acquaintances when traveling. It is permissible to talk with them, but
not to annoy them with personal attentions nor to place them under
obligation by paying their bills. If a man and a woman who are traveling
on the same train fall into conversation and go into the dining car
together, each one should pay his or her own check, or if he insists
upon paying at the table she should insist upon settling afterwards. In
hotels also this is essentially true.

Hotels are judged more by the people who come to them than by anything
else. The guests indicate the quality of the service, and for this
reason, most hotels prefer that they be gentlemen. There is an
atmosphere about a first-class hotel that frightens away second-rate
people. Most places have standards and many a man has been turned away
even when there was an empty room because the management did not like
his looks.

Tipping is one of the most vexatious petty problems with which a
traveler is confronted. It is an undemocratic custom which every
sensible man deplores but sees no way around. Waiters, porters, and
other functionaries who are in positions to receive tips draw very small
salaries, if any. They depend upon the generosity of the public they
serve. The system may be all wrong (we believe it is) but it means bread
and butter to those who live by it, and it is only just, as matters are
now arranged, for the traveler to pay. It is foolish to tip
extravagantly or to tip every pirate who performs even th