Evening star., 1918-05-26
The Property Owners Side.

To the Editor Of The Star:
Does The Star realize that in the
discussion of the housing and rent
problem in the capital the property
owner or householder's side of the
case receives no consideration, while
the brief for .the thousands of per-
sons who have come to Washington
to help out during the war emergency
and who have a right to places in
which to live" is eloquently. if un-
fairly, argued by numerous chevallers
of the spoken and written word?
1t seems to be locally assumed that
all persons who have acquired or had
thrust upon them the burden of the
ownership Of property which is al
ways visible and always pays its
proportion of assessments for the
public benefit are SO enormously
wealthy that they can always be made
to bear a little heavier burden, even
to the point of housing these thou
and at less than these same patriots
could obtain housing for in any city
at the present time.
Does any one stop to consider that
there is limit to what even prop
erty owners can be forced to pay, and
that many people in the capital are
selling their property-homes to
which they are attached and would
like to keep-because they can no
longer carry the burden of expenses
at present living prices?
Does any one stop to consider the
case of the householder who, en-
deavors to house these thousands of
patriots? Does any one consider the
cost of keeping a house and rooms
clean and livable at the present prices
for service and of the cost of every
thing that goes with the upkeep Of
home? Does any one stop to con-
slider the cost in hard toll and pain
to the woman who, unable to hire
help, herself must scrub, scour, sweep,
clean for and after these thousands
Of patriots, or some of them?
Before any one speaks. let him try
1t. Does any one know what hard
experience some of these household
ers in the capital have had with some
of these same thousands of patriots?
Does any one know that some Of these
patriots have got into the home of a
trusting woman paying one days or
one weeks rent for one or two peo-
pie and have brought into those
rooms three times the number of
in the premises without paying rent
therefor until the householder was
able by process of law to have them
elected? Yet these laws that for 800
years have been framed for the
benefit of the landlord and his prop
istered that the confdinS woman
above mentioned has to pay lawyer
and costs of suit while these patriots
remained in her home, rent free, for
thirty days.
1t is indeed well that there are some
senators who are lawyers and who
remember that there is a Constitution
and are unwilling even in war times
to commit themselves to Russian
bolshevik legislation.
After all. 1t is well to remember thai
property owners represent the self.
sacrificing, law-abiding element whit
form the bulwark of the state, tht
country and the nation
Let US at least try to be fair. Dom
heap vituperation and abuse on tn,
property owner all the time. If tn,
property owner Is pushed to the wal
and knocked down, then where will
the thousands of patriots be housed
VIII they sweep. scour, scrub an,
clean for themselves? Will they pa,
the taxes and assessments and sup
port the District?
ELIZABETH ASKEW.