The evening world. Newspaper, May 8, 1919, Page 23

CTTY JUDGES FIND HONEST LANDLORDS; ROAST PROFITEERS Parkin Suggests Many Rem- edies Involving Special Legislative Session. ‘The Mayor's Committee on Rent Profiteering is to-day considering the G@aggestions made at the conference of Municipal Court Justices held in the committee's rooms in the Municipal Building yesterday afternoon. Chair- | man Hirsch calls especial attention of his colleagues to the fact that every Justice who spoke at the meeting ex- Pressed the belief that the great body of landlords in the city stands free of the charge of profiteering, but that there still remains a large number of exploiters, mostly lessees, who are syetematically robbing their tenants, though in a perfectly legal way. These every speaker scourged, all agreeing that, though the one permanent cure for the deplorable situation is more housing facilities, some means must be discovered to rescue tenants as soon as possible from the clutches of these unconscionable profiteers. Justice Jacob Pankin, known as the; Socialist Judge, opened the speaking programme with a number of definite suggestions. He favored the calling ‘af @ special soxsion of the Legislature for the purpose of repealing the law which makes the hiring of all apart~ ments for more than one month void unless the agreement is in writing; to enact a law making the monthly rental fixed or paid on any May 1/ the monthly rental until the next May | 1; to enact a law providing that every | owner or lessec of a tenement or, apartment house in this city shail display a placard in the public hall-/ way of such building showing the rental charged for each apartment; to enact a law empowering the Gov- ernor to appoint a commission of five catalogue all tenement and apart-| ment houses in this city; to fix the rentals for each building according to jocation and improvements in the building and to pass upon applica~ tions by owners or lessees who wish to inerease the rent of any tenants, provided that no Increase shall be made between May 1 of any year and the same date in the next year. He also asked the conference to express itself in favor of the organ- jzation of tenants for the purpose of acting collectively in arriving at an agreement as to the rent to be charged for apartments, and to favor a law empowering the city to build municipal dwelling houses to be let to tenants at cost. Practically all the other speakers confined their remarks to one or more of these propositions. Justice L. Prince opposed Justice Pankin's entire programme. He said the law nullifying all hiring agree- ments not in writing bad put a stop to faked testimony of tenants who used to pretend their landlords had given them oral leases and get away with it, He believed the Legislature could do very little to relieve the present situation. Justice Harry Robitzek of the Bronx thought the Legislature might enact a law giving Justices more discretion, permitting them to deal with the proved profiteer and the just land- lord in different ways. He sald that his experience, even in that section where tenants are suffering 80 mucb from profiteering landlords, has con- vinced him that 95 per cent. of the Jandlords are decent and reasonable. but that the other.6 per cent. should be blacklisted and driven out of busi- ness, Several Assemblymen were present and expressed the opinion that a spe- cial session of the Legislature should ve called only after some definite plan had been discussed and agreed upon by the Justices, Justice Jacob 8. Strah) of Brooklyn, mggested that the Governor or Mayor take the whole matter of rent profiteering in hapd as a war meas- ure and issue a mandate prohibiting the exploiting sof tenants, who now do not know from month to month when or how much their rent may be increase! or what the axpense of moving will be, even if they can find other quarters. FATHER DUFFY TELLS 165TH MOTHERS’ BOYS WERE GOOD “Never Any Cause to Worry,” He Says, for Their Virtues Were to the Fore in France. “You never had much cause to worry about those boys in France, ‘They are a wonderfully good lot of boys.” That was what Father Duffy, Chap- lain of the old 69th, told 500 mothers of the 165th Infantry at an informal mee an's Auxili t in’ with @ ontinued, “and t a big propositic & up Aga evevou know how they camp on. this You” th pretty we n Just noir bad ha and “multi ain virtues and will know how they | wero in When they were | wounded went away, waving ‘0. long, fellows; white shee ney quarrelled With doctors and nurses and every one else until they got back to nt in the mud and the figh There was # feeling that they rather be killed with the 69th than be anywhere else. They did not like war, but they felt they had to go through with it. ‘That's just the kind of fellows they are, and I know them better than any ono ‘else,”* | ‘The meeting Was in charge of Mrs. George fB nt of the Woman's A ather Duffy came from Cam to make the address, T-Ceut Fare Case to Trial, After hearing further arguments yen- terday in relation to the alleged tle gallty of the special ordinance passed Dy tne Youse Duncil, pers ‘oad Company fare outside the mitting the Yon lo eharge a 40-c el mits. Justice ite Plains arranged to try the ts-| sues involved to-morrow morning, hs and it did them| Morschauser aty TENANT SUGGESTS ABOOBY PRIZE FOR - WORST LANDLORD | Letters to the Evening World Prove Many Are Qualified to Compete. Here are a few more evidences of rent profiteering as reported in re- sponse to The Evening World's re- quest for facts.in such cases: | A tenant of an apartment house on Bast 162d Street says he paid $24 for | five rooms until six months ago, when ‘the rent was raised to $27, the custom- \ary reason for the increase being jthat of the high cost of repair ma- | terial and labor, together with the ad- | vanced price of coal and the increase jin taxes, The tenant declares that not a dollar has becn spent for re- ‘pairs since then, that not a pound of coal has bean burned by the landlord, and that the tax books show a de- crease of three points. Yet, on the first of this month an- other boost in rent was made, this time fom $7, making in all an increase from $24 to $34 a month, or 42 per cent. within six months, not a dollar of which has been spent for the bene- fit of the tenants, And this particu- lar tenant has a son now in the Army of Occupation in Germany, who has been fighting for a year or more to make this country safe for the land- lord who is exploiting his father. An East 50th Street tenant begs The Evening World not to reveal his name because bis landlord would surely dis possess him at the end of the month. His fears are grounded on the fact that last winter, when tire condition of the house was re-~ Ported to the Department of Health, the landlord offered a reward for the name of tle tenant making the re port. The writer says that durmg the winter there not only was no heat or hot water, but the windows were s0 loose tenants had to put plugs in them on windy days to keep them from being blown in. This tenant says there is only one toilet for five families, and that most of the time the flush does not work. Also he reports that there is no wash basin, the many members of the five families being compelled to use the bath tub instead, and that the plumb- ing is in such condition that it takes a long time for a little water to run away from it. He says that when one of the kitchen floors fell through and a woman tenant narrowly es- caped injury, she was compelled to pay for having not only the floor re- paired but also for replacing the plumbing which was dislodged by the accident. G This tenant quggests that The Pve- ning World offer a booby prize fe the worst landlord in town, and says this one would be sure to win it. A Bronx tenant tells a pitiful story of suffering at the hands ‘of her “landlady.” She writes: “My father, age over seventy, and myself are alone in apartments which formerly rented for $24, but for which $27 was demanded of us when we took them. My mother was living then, but ehe died soon after we moved in, and in the very next month our rent was raised to $29. The next month after that my father was stricken with pneumonia as the result of total lack of the heat for which we paid, and as he lay at death's door our landlady, knowing he was too ill keep the kitchen range burning at been killed or whose to be moved, rai the rent again, | societ: to care for several infor- making it §it. All winter T had to funate children of ‘Boigium and f7 vance. Don’t Poison Baby. ORTY YEARS AGO almost every mother th it her child must have | F PAREGORIC or landanum to make it drags will produce FEW DROPS TOO M. will produce the SLEEP sore cae, a FROM WHICH THERE IS NO WAKING. have health has been ruined for lite by paregoric, lauda- narcotic prod retail full head because the place was #0 call cold, and even-at that could not keep rife. th. Twice I have had =! to attend my father 4?}o_L for colds he has caught in the apart- ment, and the expense of all this is beyond our means.” antiinientnaee Haji to Ald Orphans. A bal masque will be given by members of Le Salon's War Orphans’ Fund this evening at the Ritz-Carlton. The ballroom has been donated for the occasion. The President of the organization, the Countess of Castel- vecehio, hopes that the amount real- ized from the affair will enable tho “THE RETAIL PRICES AR I THE GAME EVERYWHERE THEY COST NO MORE IN SAN FRANCISCO THAN IN NEWYORK” im OULU TONIC CH OHHTULHTTTHTNTH Sail LL, “fl “THE SHOE THAT HOLDS ITS SHAPE” Stee rareaic® $400 $4:50 $500 $600 $7:00 & SH0O F you have been paying $10 to $12 for fine shoes, a trial will convince you that for style,comfort and serviceW.L.Douglas $7 and $8 shoes are equally as good and will give excellent TTUTULIUNTOMILITTCUI CONTAIN N C3, if it bears the signature satisfaction. The actual value is determined and the retail Genuine Castoria always bears the signatare of A stamped on the bottom. The stamped price isW.L. | | Verret ’Tis done. We have fought the good fight. We have won. So, let us rejoice, as becomes the Victors. United StatesTires — are Good Tires Put the Victory Loan over with a— | smash, Pay our debt of gratitude right | royally. Come across like Men. Then— face the future unflinchingly. | Readjust ourselves—put our houses in | | order— get down to Business. It is the pleasure and privilege of all | motorists to get behind—and push. Asa matter of Loyalty and Judgment. per someaneetnt the pn: Nate he i | price paid for them. The retail prices arethesame everywhere. | Fey sect ne mavetn Sen Francisco than they do in New York W. L. Dou i 85 Nassau Street. #2770 Third Ave. 755 Broadway, cor. 8th St. B47 Bighth Aw 7 Broad 14th. 1 Street. * 250 h or. 36th St. BROOKLYN. (Times Sq.) 421 Fulton Street, *& 706 Broad * 1367 Broad 20th St. | % 478 Fifth marked wi we carry las Stores in Greater New York: nedespetoa di ten el Hoo ritk ‘Avenue. hal JERSEY CITY—18 Newark Avenue, — HOBOK EN— 120 Washingto! Sete . | SUNION HILL. 276 heey nme ARK _ 831 Broad Street. *xTRENTON-—29 East State *& 984 Third Av #1452 Third Avi ts L. Dougias Shoes for Women 2202 Third Av., One Block from 14th St. “L,” Hudson Tube neh yy Station Station and 14th St. jt, Crease Crosstown line. town line. Sth St AT BOTH STORES ING Begin Housekeeping Right! Let us settle YOUR furniture question. You can. not become an expert on furniture, but YOU can deal with a firm that sells on honor, as we. do, and feel satisfied that what you buy is WHAT YOU WANT, and that the prices are as LOW as shrewd VOLUME-BUYING and careful judg- ment can make them. Besides, whenever desired, Englander Wit-Edge Spring We Make Terms to Fit?’ hill Pia orate it og $1Q-98 Plain Figure Tags on Everything tee ee MOTOR TRUCK DELIVERIES EVERYWHERE Queen Anne Period Quartered Oak || Four pieces, con- | sisting of Buffet, China Closet, Serving Tab. and Dining Table, 48 in. wide, 6 ft. extension, Greenpoint Decorated Bed Tea Wagon In Antique Ivory; two-inch heavy fillers, with posts, Porceloid Side Icer perforated panels Hygienic, ith . ted raised medal SDDS rivisea, PQABS Nictar’’ $D4- lions, at tray ... Period design in Mahogany, 6th Ave. & 15th St. Open Saturday Evenings at BothStores 84th St. and 3d Ave, makes more ‘Offers | | The Sunday World’s ot Positions" than any Want Directory other two mediume in the universe.