author
William R. (William Rufus) Scott
b. 1886
Best known for a sharp 1916 critique of tipping in America, this early 20th-century writer tackled everyday customs as social and economic questions. His work still feels lively because it argues that small habits can reveal big truths about class, dignity, and democracy.
1 Audiobook
The Itching Palm: A Study of the Habit of Tipping in America
by William R. (William Rufus) Scott
About the author
William R. Scott, listed by major library catalogs as William R. (William Rufus) Scott, 1886-, is the author of The Itching Palm: A Study of the Habit of Tipping in America, published in 1916. Records from the Library of Congress, HathiTrust, and Project Gutenberg also connect him with The Americans in Panama and identify him as the same William Rufus Scott behind those works.
The Itching Palm is the book he is most clearly known for today. In it, Scott treats tipping not as a minor social detail but as a window into power, manners, labor, and self-respect in the United States. The book's staying power comes from that mix of plainspoken argument and big-picture social criticism.
Very little dependable biographical information about his personal life was easy to confirm from strong public sources beyond his name form, birth year, and publications, so this profile keeps the focus on the work itself. What can be said with confidence is that Scott wrote with conviction, and that his best-known book remains a lively snapshot of American social debate in the 1910s.