Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-20
UNDER NEW RULING
Contention Over Provision Of Law
Regarding Water Rents.
QUESTION BEFORE COMMISSIONERS
ProtestAgainst Interpretation Made
by the District Registrar
STATEN ENT IN DEFENSE

Two interpretations Of the schedule OF
the water rents fixed by the District Com
missoners, March u of this year. have
just been laid before that body. One OF
these interpretations is in the nature OF II
strong protest against the practice OF the
water registrar, alleged to have been In
augurated under the new schedule. I'm
treating every private dwelling as a tene-
ment house. where one or more rooms may
be rented by the tenant owner, and Il
charge of so cents added to the water bill
for each room SO alleged to be rented
The protest is filed by Messrs. Britton 4
Gray, attorneys. In answer to this, Water
Registrar Green has submitted in writing
his understanding of the schedule, embrac-
ing his right to make such charge.
The subject Of .he protest by Britton &
Gray has also been cause of individual
complaint on the part of many tenants and
owners. who have been charged additional
amounts this year to cover rooms rented
by them.
The schedule of water rates under which
the charge is .made, is as follows:
THE rate for domestic purposes will be
charged according to stories and front
feet. On all tenements two stories high,
with front width of sixteen feet or less,
| $3.50 per annum. For each ad 1ftional
! front foot, or fraction thereof % cents.
| For each additional story part thereof,
| one-third of the charges as computed
| above
Boarding and tenement houses will be
| charged at rate IN accordance with the
stories and front feet, and in addition
| thereto 80 cents per annum for each and
every room over and above the number
OF three rooms in said boarding house
tenement"
Term Tenement House Defined.
The definition of tenement house is
given m no ION Of q,
Gray. 1t is taken from the American and
English Encyclopedia of Law which is de-
clared by them to be the legal interpreted
| ton. follows:
Tenement houses, French fats apart
| ment houses: The word tenement in the
sense here used signifies "a house or home
stead, or rooms let in house The COM
pound word tenement-house' must. there
| fore. signify a house with distinct tene-
ments or homes which separate, and diff
| ferent families or persons occupy as ten
ants, as distinguished from boarding houses
or hotels where the occupancy is not
or tenancy. but that of boarders or guests
In commenting on this definition Messrs.
Brltton q Gray say: This practical and
settled definition has apparently hitherto
controlled In applying the foregoing sched
uie OF water rates, until the present fiscal
year. when a new and novel departure
therefrom has been inaugurated.
This has resulted in individual injustice in
| many thousands of cases, some of which
are now brought to our attention, where
many private families occupying small
dwellings have rented one or more rooms,
not as distinct tenements homes which
separate or distinct families or persons
occupy as tenants, but as part of the same
family occupation, and where there is
necessarily common use Of the water IA
cilities for which the domestic rates are
| charged and paid.
Held to BE Not Justified.
| This innovation Is not justified first. by
the language or meaning of your regula-
| ton; nor, second. by the legal definit ron
| thereof, nor, again, by any consideration
| of simple Justice Its enforcement against
| ten previous years of directly opposite
| practice will injure many persons of linn
tied means whose occupation of modest
dwellings is made possible in thousands OF
| instances by renting one or more rooms to
| individuals whose occupancy and use of
the water facilities of the dwelling is
! wholly in common with the family of the
tenant or small owner, and in no possible
| manner a separate tenement home.
| THE regulation should hence be applied
| now as 1t has always been hitherto, and
| we respectfully submit that the water reg
| istrar and the collector Of taxes should be
Immediately so advised, In order that bills
may be properly corrected and this plainly
| unjust charge upon dwelling house occu-
pants may not be imposed"
Water Registrar's Position.
The communication of Water Registrar
! Green, which defines his position in impos-
! ing the charge, is as follows:
| Il have the honor to report that a clause
| in the act of June g 1859, of the legislative
assembly. prescribed followsw: Hotels
and boarding houses shall in addition to
| the regular annual water rate for private
| families, prescribed in the twenty-fourth
! section of this act. be charged for each
! bedroom for boarders or dodgers within the
| same the sum of 80 cents 1t would ap-
| pear from this act that the intent was to
| charge for each and every bed room rented
out.
This regulation has since been varied to
| cover a broader field. and we find the fol-
| lowing language in the last revision of the
| schedule OF rates adopted by the Commits
| sioners December 81, 1896: Boarding,
| apartment and tenement houses shall be
| charged at rate in accordance with the
| stories and front feet and In addition there
| to 90 cents per annum for each and every
| room over and above the number of three
rooms in the said boarding, apartment or
| tenement house.
| THE practice of charging for rooms has
| been in vogue since the inception of the
| water department. but until the re-exami-
nation of the entire District was begun, No
| vember, 1900, the department was without
| knowledge of a majority of houses which
| rented out rooms. At this period the ques-
ton was raised as to whether or not where
| private family rented out room more,
the regulation should be enforced to the
| letter, and such houses charged for all
rooms above three, or only charged for the
actual number sublet. The matter was
| referred to the Engineer Commissioner,
who directed the office in such cases to
charge only for the number of rented
rooms
THE words boarding apartment and ten
ement In the schedule are broad enough to
| cover each and every case where rooms
| are sublet and the only point remaining in
| doubt is whether the office shall continue
to place a liberal construction upon the
| said regulation or take 1t as found and
| charge for all rooms above three"
| LOw-Rate Tour to the Pacific Coast.
| Another opportunity to visit California
under the Pennsylvania railroad personally
| conducted tour system On September 23
| the Pennsylvania Railroad Company will
run another low-rate personally conducted
tour to the Pacific coast, covering a period
Of thirty days. The party will travel by
| special train Of Pullman sleeping, dining
and observation cars, and on the going trip
| will pass through the famous scenery of