Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net _The Itching Palm_ A STUDY OF THE HABIT OF TIPPING IN AMERICA _By_ WILLIAM R. SCOTT _Author of_ _"The Americans in Panama," "Scientific Circulation Management," Etc._ THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1916 COPYRIGHT 1916 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY The Itching Palm THE AUTHOR WILL BE PLEASED TO CORRESPOND WITH ANY READER WHO APPROVES OF, OR HAS COMMENTS TO MAKE UPON, THE ATTITUDE TAKEN IN THIS BOOK TOWARD THE TIPPING CUSTOM. WILLIAM R. SCOTT. PADUCAH, KENTUCKY. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I FLUNKYISM IN AMERICA 7 II ON PERSONAL LIBERTY 10 III BARBARY PIRATES 15 IV PERSONNEL AND DISTRIBUTION 19 V THE ECONOMICS OF TIPPING 26 VI THE ETHICS OF TIPPING 36 VII THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIPPING 47 VIII THE LITERATURE OF TIPPING 58 IX TIPPING AND THE STAGE 68 X THE EMPLOYEE VIEWPOINT 73 XI THE EMPLOYER VIEWPOINT 88 XII ONE STEP FORWARD 97 XIII THE SLEEPING-CAR PHASE 105 XIV THE GOVERNMENT AND TIPPING 113 XV LAWS AGAINST TIPPING 122 XVI SAMUEL GOMPERS ON TIPPING 144 XVII THE WAY OUT 158 INDEX 169 THE ITCHING PALM I FLUNKYISM IN AMERICA "Oliver Cromwell struck a mortal blow at the universal heart of Flunkyism," wrote Carlyle of the execution of Charles I. Yet, Flunkyism is not dead! In the United States alone more than 5,000,000 persons derive their incomes, in whole or in part, from "tips," or gratuities. They have the moral malady denominated The Itching Palm. Tipping is the modern form of Flunkyism. Flunkyism may be defined as a willingness to be servile for a consideration. It is democracy's deadly foe. The two ideas cannot live together except in a false peace. The tendency always is for one to sap the vitality of the other. The full significance of the foregoing figures is realized in the further knowledge that these 5,000,000 persons with itching palms are fully 10 per cent of our entire industrial population; for the number of persons engaged in gainful occupations in this country is less than 50,000,000.