The evening world., 1918-05-15
ONLY FAIRNESS AND EQUITY.

~ WV SH''No S"Aga "''p@ "a -N" ANh wv ~N-
become or is about to become a profiteer.
Many property owners and lessees are conscentiousy
figuring how they ian share increased expenses fairly and cquitaby
with rent payers.
Others, however, are not.
Just az economic disturbances resulting from the wal were
seized upon rs a pretext for boosting prices of food and other
necessities faster than and far beyond the inevitable economic
rise, 81 rents in many quarters r being arbitrarily marked up to
figures calculated to secure the landlord a substantial extra "wsr
profit over and above his additional expense.
When a tenant who has been informed that $500 IS to be added
to his rent next year finds that a determined stand on his part speed
lily reduces the threatened raise to $500 or even less, he naturally con
cludes that there is something more in tho air than a carefully and
Justly worked out economic advance Of rentals.
Be it remembered, moreover, that if New York apartment house
tenants are not in a state Of mind this spring TO sympathke deeply
with their landlords, it is in many cases the landlords fault.
Not that last winters cold and coal famine could have been pre-
vented by tho landlords. But tho indifference and lack Of initiative
shown by many Of the latter when 1t WINS a question Of meeting cmer-
gepcy and doing what could be done for the comfort Of their tenants,
did not lessen the general suffering.
A sample Of the mood in which landlords must expect, at the
present timO, to find New York fiat jewellers confronted with a raise
Of rent, is the following from a letter written by an Evening World
reader in reference 10 one of this newspapers earlier editorials on
rent prOfteorng;
81 pay ,SaSo Per month for five rooms and have been
notified. as have other tenants, Of an increase. There are
fortynine families In the place
Telephone tolls have been raised this month from five
cents to eight cents each. There arc three unrepaired electric
Nights in my apartment which have burned out by reason Of
short circuits dus TO defective, wiring, flames rising to tho
ceiling each time The plumbing Is old and cold wator drb-
bls through it In the morning there Is not enough for
flushing purposes
There ar two radiators. During the first week Of the
cold spell one a out Of commission. Tho other gave evil
dsncss of heat at about Q A. M and Z p. NJ. Al those times
the temperature of the apartment rose to ii degrees, the high
est figure reached in five weeks.
The elevator boys left at Christmas time because they
got but S25 per month. The tenants walked for several days.
Water pipes burst IN nearly all apartments. One which burst
in mine was not repaired for two months.
For three nights last week the hall outside my apartment
ws not lighted. Three times this winter the elevator has
fallen
The list is not exhausted. but tho situation is indicated"
Tenants have their grievances. Landlords have their burdens.
All justice demands lie that, at a time when wal is putting
heavier loads upon everybody, the rights of the tenant shall net
be the first to be forgotten, while the landlord is permitted to
transfer his ENTIRE added burden to the tenants shoulders,
PLUS a hundredweight IT SO besides for extra profits sake.
New York is not the only community in the country where the
proiiteering landlord i at work.
The District Of Columbia is in the nature Of a specially protected
reservation watched over by Congress and three Commissioners an.
pointed by the President. Yet in Washington prorteering in rents
has reached a point where Congress finds it necessary to come to the
rescue Of tenants with legislation fixing a just and legal basis upon
which rents shall be rcckoned while the war lasts.
New York wants no more.
As between landlord and tenant it seeks only Justice and equity
The quickest way to arrive at a fair system of figuring rent.
that will put a stop to landlord profiteering in this city under covor
of war exigency is to have IN open-handed showdown of the fact,
and figures.
The Evening World invites tenants and landlords alike .
come forward with any data that may help to show how rent, n,
this time can be equitably determined.
Letters From the People