What low wages mean in actual living cannot be expressed by figures. Poor quarters in questionable parts of the city, clothing of the most utilitarian kind, no money for the pretty things that every well-constituted girl wants, nothing for recreation, and worst of all, debts after illness or unemployment which take the very heart out of a girl in the bitter struggle to pay them off. The proprietor of a Buffalo employment agency remarked, “Look at the Wants Ads; with the many factories in Buffalo you will find the list “Help Wanted for Restaurants” equals that of “Help Wanted for Factory Work,” and what does that mean?—Simply that the restaurant workers are a discontented lot and all because of the excessively long hours and low wages.” [Illustration: DIAGRAM 10.-Comparison of Weekly Wages (black line) and Weekly Income (dotted line) of Waitresses in Restaurants.] THE TIPPING SYSTEM. Tipping is a direct drag upon wages. When the public is perfectly willing to contribute part of a waitress’s wage, why should not the employer take advantage of this fact and pay her less? That is surely to be expected and is almost universally the case. Many girls, accustomed to making a good deal in tips or “scale,” as they call it, would not be willing to work for $9.00 a week and no tips, for they can often make more than this amount. But the better class of girl would prefer a living wage and no tips. As matters stand now, however, they are a very necessary part of a girl’s income. Comparing the weekly wage and the weekly income of waitresses as shown in Diagram 10, we find that without tips only 8 per cent. make as much as $9.00 a week, while with tips 50 per cent. receive $9.00 or more. The custom of tipping has two distinct disadvantages. First, it is an unreliable source of income. A girl may reasonably expect to make a certain amount in tips, but she cannot count upon doing so. The danger here is not only that she will receive less than it is possible for her to live on, but that she will get into debt, trusting to luck that her tips will be large enough to get her out. It is very easy to be over-confident. A tea-room waitress said: “Sometimes I make $12.00 a week in tips, sometimes almost nothing. You can’t depend on people.” Tea-rooms are the greatest sinners in respect to making their waitresses depend upon tips. The usual wage in several of the well-known New York tea-rooms is $3.50 a week for full time, which is ten or twelve hours a day.