Related article: the understrappers in a household, down to the mysterious individual known as the odd man, manage somehow to add to their legiti- mate earnings by levying contri- butions on the outside world ; or if they do not succeed in doing this, they are gathering experience in the system, to be used when they are promoted to a higher sphere. We believe* that all these functionaries are satisfied that the gains which they make in this somewhat anomalous way are their just perquisites, and see nothing in the least degree en- croaching on the purest honesty in accepting, or indeed insisting upon, them. And when the habit of securing perquisites on all supplies has been acquired, it may be carried to such lengths as would seem ridiculous, if they did not so L 1 62 BAILY S MAGAZINE. [March totally ignore all moral principle. Can such a case as this be con- ceived? A gentleman who lives in the country maintains on his property two separate establish- ments within a mile of each Order Medrol Online other, each with its own management and accounts, one his own farm under a bailiff, the other a stable for his hunters, &c., under a stud groom. Visiting his stable one day lately, he found that the supply of straw was running short and he told the stud groom to send to the farm for a couple of loads. The order was carried out, but when the straw was delivered, the groom asked the bailiff, " What am I going to get out of this ? " Could anything be more absurd than the idea that one of two men, serving the same master, should claim from the other a commission on the transfer of that master's goods from one part of the estate to another ? Of course there are many household establishments in which the evil of which we speak is reduced to a minimum because the master and mistress have sufficient time, knowledge and energy to devote to their personal affairs. All servants know per- fectly Medrol Mg well when their own depart- ments are thoroughly understood and supervised. Their powers are curtailed and they dare not, if they wish to keep their places, say that a good thing is bad or a bad thing is good. But, if the heads of a household are inexperi- enced or if they, from the claims of business or society, are unable to look after every detail of service closely and methodically, it may be received as a foregone conclu- sion that the supplies in house, stable and garden will eventually cost more than they ought to do and it will be fortunate indeed if they are not also of an inferior quality. Don't let us blame domestic servants too much, however. They only in their own sphere do what is done in other places on perhaps a larger scale. We have heard of mysterious operations in the City in which the word " commission " figures largely. We know from personal experi- ence that it is a not uncommon thing for persons who supervise goods purchased by Government contracts Purchase Medrol Online to have complimentary presents made to them to ensure their good will. It is not so very long ago that a great forage con- tractor stated in evidence before a Board of Inquiry that he only knew of two quartermasters Medrol Online who never received anything from him either in money or kind, and there was a captain in a dragoon r^^- ment who was much astonished at finding daily sundry articles of food hanging on the door handle of his barrack room, now a goose, now a salmon, now a Buy Medrol basket of choice vegetables, and only solved the mystery when he discovered that he had entered into occu- pation of quarters which had just been vacated by the quarter- master of another regiment. Some contractor had thought that he was the new quarter- master and was to be propitiated accordingly. In telling these two little incidents let us guard our- selves by saying that they Buy Cheap Medrol did not occur in the time of any regi- mental officer now serving and that we believe that the army is so well looked after nowadays that it is very difficult, if Generic Medrol not impossible, for any one to earn any commission from any con- tractor. One of the best-known channels through which perquisites flow is the custom of Christmas -and New Year's gifts from tradesmen to customers, and here the word ** customers " means generally the 1899-] PERQUISITES AND TIPS. 163 domestic servants of the people in whose name the goods are ordered and who pay the bills. Some weeks ago there was a considerable amount of corre- spondence and Medrol Tablets even a leading article in the Tifncs, on the subject. It is satisfactory to know that, in some quarters at any rate, a stand is being made against the' custom of Christmas and New Year's gifts. The Association of Millers has arranged to dis- continue it as far as the millers are concerned, and the old recipi- ents of their gifts, presumably the Medrol Price bakers, have seen the justice of the movement and have eagerly embraced the opportunity of freeing themselves in Cheap Medrol their turn from giving Christmas gifts to their Medrol Cost own customers. The Times in its leader said : ** We are very glad to hear that the practice of giving so-called presents has been found to be not only a tax Order Medrol upon tradesmen but unsatisfactory in its results, though our satisfaction would have been Purchase Medrol greater if the tradesmen in question had de- nounced the practice as immoral as well as unprofitable .... Householders and housekeepers can, if they choose, accelerate and assist this change Buy Medrol Online by strengthening the growing conviction of trades- men that bribes in the form of Christmas boxes do not pay. They can give their tradesmen and servants to understand that tradesmen who are found to be giving bribes will no longer be employed. Sooner or later the practice, if it exists, will be dis- covered, and the fear of detection and its consequences will make for honesty in the long run." Let us pass to the more per- sonal question of the tips and gratuities which every person who moves about in the world finds it necessary to part with, if he or