Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-06
FRIGHTENING AND PHONES.
Washington Should Not Be Selected
for Corrective Legislation.

To the Editor of The Star:
| beg leave to submit the following
questions for consideration of Congress
and the public.
If it is Ubiquitous to profiteer in the
matter of rents. how about food, cloth
ing. fuel, medicine and other necessities
,of life?
If it is against public policy to in
Icrease rents in Washington, how about
other sections of the country. espe
cialIy cities adjacent to environments,
" here the population has been greatly
increased temporarily? Why single out
one city only? Is it because it is more
wicked to profteer when it directly
affects the pocketbooks of our con-
gressmen'
II it is necessary to regulate rents by
law, allowing only 10 per cent increase
over normal times, why was over 100
per cent on wheat % to 30 on coal and
from 80 to 100 per cent on all other
necessities allowed, the prices of which
have been regulated by government
action?
Why have restrictive prices been
placed upon wheat and other articles
when cotton. wool and other war neces-
sites have been allowed to soar in price
from 200 to 100 per cent since the be-
ginning of the war? statement pub
lished in The Star of Wednesday, Feb
in retail price of foodstuffs for the
mo- h of December. 1917. over the same
month. 1915. of $50 per cent. Why has
Congress allowed this burden to be
placed upon the people? And why
should people who derive their income
from rents be compelled to pay this
increased cost in living expenses and
only be allowed to increase their in
come 10 per cent with which to meet it!
Why should Congress allow salary,
labor. building material and fuel. all
of which are necessary for the mainte-
nance Of rented property. to be in
creased from so to 100 per cent and
then undertake to say that the income
from the same property shall be in
creased only 10 per cent? In an article
recently published in The Star a lady
cited her experience where she had
sublet her fIat in Washington at $50
per month tshe did not state what rent
she paid. which was presumably about
$50 or S15), but made no complaint Of
profits she derived until she found that
she had to pay even a higher price for
poorer accommodations in another city.
Does not this condition prevail wker-
ever there is unusual demand for
rented property? Is this not sufficient
argument against singing out Wash
'ington should it become necessary to
regulate rentS2
The Postma Ster General has offered
to take over the local telephone bust
ness in Washington, guaranteeing to
Operate the same without any increase
in cost to the subscribers, paying the
deficiency out of the profits of the
postal fund. and u bin has been intro
duced in Congress TO authorize this.
Is it fair proposition that the wife
or mother of a boy called to the service
of his country at such great sacrifice
as most making should be required
to pay 3 cents to send letter to that
boy, cents of which is admittedly a
profit to the government and this profit
be used to help pay for thousands of
unnecessary and frivolous Telephone
calls that made by the residents of
Washington who enjoy a fiat rate serv-
ice. and by reason of this privilege con
costing the lines to the detriment and
sacrifice of the public service and i'm
portant business? Would it not be bet
ter to regulate this service under rea-
Sonable restrictions and prevent the
abuses of q practice that has grown up
without any justification and based
upon an unSound principle?
If il is correct business principle to
sell telephone service on an unlimited
basis why should not the same principle
hold good in gas and electric light?
How long would the Washington public.
stand for few careless and Indifferent
people using electric current and gas
TO such AN excess that a great ajority
would be deprived of it for necessary
purposes. and if the fiat rate is correct
III principle why are water meters being
installed in Washington
If company with trained experts
and years of experience cannot operate
a telephone system at a profit and re-
licve the congestion under present con-
ditions in Washington. how can an I'M
TRAINED organization undertake to do
it successfully? If it takes the Bell
ITeIephone Company with it's vast man
ufacturina plants and engineer and me-
chanical experts six to twelve months
to manufacture and install a new
switchboard apparatus. how can the
postal department expect to do it in
six weeks, as stated in Thursdays Star?
Should Congress in legislating con-
slider its own members, the CITY of
Washington only or the whole country.
NJ. +. CHURCH,
Falls Church. Va