New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-06


themselves gouged by grasping Scrooges u
landlords, limit to the demands OF wnom -
cot only By the calculated ability or the ZEN
ant to stand just one more twlSI o. '''
screw It must not be supposed tha' '''
Fair Rents Court is a radical blow a. tne
stability that attaches to property ownership
in every civilized country on eartn' j. ''
nothing of the kind The judge taxes l"'o
careful consideration the capital lhVe7'e"'
the current values Of house and land proper
ties and money. He allows margin lot
obsolescence. Only when all possible FACTORS
have been weighed does he give his rulhg'
ruling based upon a fair return TO the iahu-
lord. and no more. In the first case ever
tried in the court, the judge found that 0
nor cent was a fair return on the owner
investment. Al.
Tho state entered upon the venture WIN
full realization of its empirical as wen a.
immediate, value. At the inauguration cere
nony State Attorney General man a''e'
t;oninp the interest with which the whole OF
Australia and the older countries OF '"'
world would watch the experiment SAID
A Fair Rents Court
students of social problems, not less thah
rack-rented tenants, will interest themselves
in the history Of this court, and, whetner Vi
rot the DEVELOPMENT of our judicial systems
il TO extend to the trial of questions not
hitherto brought before judges and magi'-
trates, will, to some extent, be settled Dg
what transpires in the Fair Rents Court.
So much for what might be termed mol
vidual salies upon hitherto securely m
trenched privilege. The government OF New
South Wales administered an even more
deadly thrust by a general attack all along
the line. It created Necessary Common
TIES Control Commission, with power 10 TN
1he limit of almost everything not strictly
Injuries.
This. again, swas no radical measure de-
vised to hamper and annoy private rights;
II was entirely due to the greed OF the IOou
snocrIators. 70 which reference already mas
been made. It was literally measure %
self.defence Just after war was declared
Australia presented an almost exact parallel
70 the situation recently obtaining in many
bio centres in the United States. without
rbyme or reason. the war was seized upon
as the excuse to send up the prices OF all
tbe common necessities of life. The situa-
TO, ranidilv became intolerable. The specu-
Iators seemed firmly in the saddle But the
Labor government of New South wales also
was firmly in the legislative and executive
saddle-a little fact that the SPECTATORS, IN
tovicated with success and the lmmealaVe
rrospect of wringing still further sums from
the pockets Of a long suffering popuIace'
c,orlooked or failed TO make due allowance
for. Lo. ord
The lists were set for the combat ana
!, was TO he n POutTdnce. The SPECTATORS
we're endorsed utterly defeated Ana tne
lance with which the Labor government ala
;ts work was the Necessary Commodlties
Control Commission.
Penalties for Spectators
The commission was given control over
gas and fuel, over all articles OF 1000 or
drink and all ingredients used IN the manu-
facture of such articles, over an! goods
which the commission might persuade the
government to place under It's control f'he
or iail-or both-awaited such spectators
~ MIGHT DEFY the commissions daily issued
bulletins giving the maximum prices OF ne
cessities. The same penalties threatened all
who might withhold supplies.
Having made the law, the government
showed from the outset that it intended TO
have II enforced to the full. The day before
tho first price fixing bulletin was issued the
following prices were asked Tor various
commodities: Wheat, S1.26 bushel; hour
S56O1 a ton; bread. about to be raised from
: 70 cents for a two pound loaf. AFTER the
issue of the bulletin the prices dropped TO:
Wheat 81 bushel; -four, S46.S7 tom
bread. ordered to remain at : cents Tor the
pound loaf. $1,000,
Tho speculators held 100000 bushels Of
,ybeat for immediate shipment to London.
The government seized it out of hand. IL
was then that the spectators were finally
endorsed and put out of action About
1000 900 bushels of wheat, held for market
rigging purposes. were released by the panic
str;ckcn corner operators. After that price
liking went out of fashion in New South
Wales.
What has been done in Australia can be
doro anywhere else. And was 1t not
Macaulay who said: THE best OF prophets
for the future is the past!