Category: book reviews

The Itching Palm.

A Lesson in Greed.

Have you ever noticed the big push for tipping these days?  I’m talking about the “new” ways you can leave a tip such as:

  • at the counter for your order-taker at the fast-food burger joint;
  • whilst you press the ordering buttons on a kiosk;
  • at the automatic car wash;
  • at a self-checkout;
  • for picking up your order at a restaurant, grocery store, or department store;

and—

  • “rounding up” your grocery bill order for this charity and that charity that the grocery corporation will take as a tax deduction for itself, because it sure won’t be on your tax return.

I’m sure there are other places that have their hands out; you might know of those places.

These begging for money pushes really do frost me.  I don’t mind leaving a tip for my waitress or skycap, but why cashiers, door openers, and others wanting to put their hands into my wallet?

Then, one day, I discovered an old book about tipping:  “The Itching Palm:  A Study of the Habit of Tipping in America” by William R. Scott.  It was published in 1916.  It basically gives strong reasons why tipping for services is wrong, wrong, wrong. That is,

First, establish clearly in your mind that tipping is wrong.  The slogan is: ONE COMPENSATION FOR ONE SERVICE.

 Boy, oh, boy – does that passage ring true today!  I wholeheartedly agree with that statement.  I really don’t understand the blatant asking for money.  We pay for the service and products upfront, so why the hand-out, and without embarrassment?

Then there is the argument that certain employees aren’t paid well, and therefore, the tips from you and me help supplement their incomes.  Well, that is not my problem.  If the employers aren’t paying their employees well enough, should it be up to you and me to treat those employees as charity cases?  At least now, people who earn tips are no longer taxed on tips.

Overall, this is a well-written work with good points and sensible logic that is appropriate for today as it was over a century ago.  I quite enjoyed reading it, particularly for a view on tipping practices in the early 20th century that do mirror the world of today.

To read this eye-opening 1916 book for yourself, pick up a free copy you can read on-line at Project Gutenberg: “The Itching Palm:  A Study of the Habit of Tipping in America” by William R. Scott HERE VIA THIS LINK.  I believe that it will get you thinking about mindlessly giving out money tips willy-nilly, as it did for me.

In conclusion, if I want to help out or tip, let me do it on my own, and that includes giving a little something to a very worthwhile charity or religious mission.

And that’s my tip for the day.

 

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Books That Form Us – #3.

Third in a Series of My Book Reviews.

 Good books do more than entertain; they shape the soul in ways that are subtle yet profound.  Here are the books I read between July through September 2026.

✒️.The Children’s Kraft Shop by Adelia Belle Beard (1914).

This illustrated book from 1914 is filled with fun and educational crafts for children.  It is written as a story, with a brother and sister having conversations as they figure out how to create pinwheels, trolleys, airships, cars, and the like using items found around the house. It took me about a half hour to run through it. The illustrations are clear and useful.  This is in the public domain.  (Project Gutenberg).

 ✒️ The Eighteen Nineties: A Review of Art and Ideas at the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Holbrook Jackson (1922).

Surprisingly, this was quite dry reading but interesting enough (there were pockets of interesting information here and there).  (Project Gutenberg).

✒️.The Facts About Rejuvenation by Max Fishbein (1926).

Well, this is wild thinking in this Blue Book, but it was entertaining to read.  I am not really sure what to make of it with its talk of glands, radium, light, glandular rejuvenations, animal experiments, and as I said, this was entertaining, but I took a lot of it with a grain of salt. (Project Gutenberg).

✒️ How to Become Mentally Superior: What Makes One Rise Above the Average by Henry M. La Chateliler (1929).

What moved me to pick up this book was the title; I just had to see what this was all about.  It started with the assertion that “The most striking characteristic of great men is their zeal for work. None of them observed the eight-hour day, no matter what the field of their activities. We may cite as examples great statesmen, such as Napoleon or Louis XIV; . . . Victor Hugo or Lamartine . . . Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci . . . Lavoisier or Pasteur . . . Bessemer or Siemens.”  The book goes on to state that besides becoming a slave to one’s worldly passions, also important are industry, imagination, judgment, and training.  In conclusion, the author asserts that “The family should set a good example to the younger children and inculcate a taste for toil; the secondary school must develop imagination and common sense; and finally the colleges and universities must impart training.”  This is a very short book, with about 32 pages.  (Project Gutenberg).

✒️ Dying to Be Beautiful: The Fight for Safe Cosmetics by Gwen Kay (2005).

Fascinating history of cosmetics in the twentieth century that reads like a college dissertation.  It was sort of interesting because I already knew much of what was written from reading elsewhere over the years.  (Internet Archive).

 

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