Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1877 — Fees to Watters. [ARTICLE]

Fees to Watters.

Onb of the pustoius which got wjdsy extended through the inflation period, ssmnraiii&iMs of feeing waiters ttAg&faer pihg” the'S&iltth Say. This is a European habltVana'ls'a relic of the days of universal serfdom, when the servant was held incapable of making a contract, but was-given What the gentry pleased to toss'him. It i* ' preserved in England and On the Continent as a mark of of inferior caste between the menial class and those ahoVft mem. - In this country, it has been introdfrold to Suit the factions of the gilded youth whose chief recreation Is to “ sling money” idiotically, and who have no scruples against monopolizing all the public conveniences, When it can be done by a judicious distribution of greenbacks.

There are four parties Interested in this offense, one of them cheating, all the others cheated. First, there is the party who bestows the fee. He asks especial favors of another man's hireling, whose business it is to serve the whole public with equal fidelity. Then there is the menial who gets the fee—he is the first one who is chested. It is no kindness to him to bestow fees habitually upon him. When any position becomes valuable to the occnpant on account of the fees which accrue to him, his wages fall in like proportion, or he has to pay such sums for the appointment as greatly to reduce the profits. A ho-tel-waiter’s wages, for instance, range very low, if he is in a position to get feed; knd Sheriff O’Brien, who took thousands of dollars in legal fees, protested that it cost bin oil of his revenues to keep himself in office and pay his political assessments. The poareet-paid waiters in the civiljzed world are those on the Continent, who are paid entirely by fees. Third and fourth, the employer of the labor and the public who do not pay fees are alike deprived of services which belong to them, when feeing is so irregular as not to be the universally-observed custom. ** The subject has lately been much discussed in the public column of the London Telegraph, where these facts are illustrated, A “retired writer’’ complains tnat he received only twelve shillings a' week wages, but fails to see that it is the very practice of “tipping” that keeps his wages so low. A hair dresser Objects to it from the employer's point of view and hat of tne non-feeing public. It is an unAmerican custom which has got too strong a foottiold in this country. There is no knowing how,soon it will creep in‘o the domestic service, when visitors in families will foe expected to remember the house-servadts with “ trinkgeld,” as is the odious custom in Germany.— Springfield (Mast.) Republican.