author
b. 1886
Best known for an early 20th-century critique of tipping culture, this American writer tackled everyday social habits with sharp opinions and a reformer's energy. His work also ranged into journalism and travel writing, giving his nonfiction a practical, observant tone.
by William R. (William Rufus) Scott
William Rufus Scott was an American nonfiction writer active in the early 1900s. Confirmed works include The Itching Palm (1916), a study of tipping in the United States, as well as The Americans in Panama and Scientific Circulation Management. In The Itching Palm, he argued strongly against tipping and treated it as a social and moral problem rather than just a matter of manners.
The available evidence also connects him with Paducah, Kentucky, which is named in the front matter of The Itching Palm. A memorial record for William Rufus Scott lists him as born in 1886 and deceased in 1951, matching the details provided here, but biographical information beyond that is limited and not consistently documented in major reference sources.
Because the surviving public record appears to be sparse, Scott is remembered mainly through his books rather than through a well-documented personal biography. Even so, his writing offers a vivid glimpse of Progressive Era debates about class, labor, and everyday American behavior.