iend said that first of all he
believed that a big trade union must be formed of hotel help.
Tipping must give way to fair wages. The public could give its
share of assistance. He recommended that the guests at either
hotels or restaurants should follow these rules, notes of which
were taken on the spot. "Patronize, whenever possible, the
hotels and eating houses where tips are forbidden; there are
such places in England and on the continent. Refuse
importunities for tips, either through words or 'hanging
around,' where there has been no service. Where, for your own
comfort you feel constrained to tip give the bare minimum.
Whenever possible do not tip at all."

He added, and I felt that he had me also in mind, "Some
easy-going natured people believe that they tip the nearest
itching palm to them because of their sympathy with the poor.
Reflection should teach them that there can sometimes be real
charity without public demonstration."

True, church people might, with this purpose, give through their
own congregational agencies. In London, the American traveler
wishing to do the best with his withheld tip-appropriation,
might send it to the Westminster Children's Aid Society; In
Rome, to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals;
In Berlin, to the semi-public lodging houses. Everywhere,
trade-unionists can always give first to the genuine and
pressing claims of their own organizations. But, of course, if
the tipper, gives, not from motives of good-heartedness, but
mere vanity, all advice is thrown away on him. The hotel keeper
will continue growing rich on him and despising him. Other
folks in Europe may have good reason to tell him, what a plain
spoken Swiss citizen told a friend of mine: "You Americans with
your dirty dollars are ruining my country."

VANITY, ALL IS VANITY!

Mr. Gompers in this chapter from his book has shed much light on the
ethics, economics and psychology of tipping. The deliberate, shameless
exploitation of the public by employers and employees is revealed. No
ground to stand upon is left to the tip givers except vanity, and the
pernicious influence of the custom, to patron, employee and employer, is
so unmistakable that the doom of the custom is as certain as was
slavery, when the American conscience once squarely faces the issue.

Hotel and restaurant manage