The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-19
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFOR M A TION
BURE AU
FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Director.
Washington. D. C.
A FAIR DEAL FOR WAR WORKER
D. C.

Washington, D. c., Oct. 15.-That
unique idea, which the war has
brought forth, that every one who Will
do his work has right to enough 10
eat and place to live at fair price
has produced changes that few years
ago would have been considered little
short of revolutionary. Here In the
national capital it has led the gov
eminent of the United States to be-
come both a restaurateur and a
boarding house keeper, to pass laws
which practically place landlords I'M
der government control and to apply
the big stick of threatened closing
down to unruiy food dealers. The
surprising spectacle has been seen of
a large corporation which owns
national string of restaurants, reduc-
ing its prices by nearly half because
the government refused to let it exer-
else the time-honored privilege of
charging all the traffic could bear.
For better or for worse. the ancient
| law of supply and demand has re-
ceived a temporary repeal that cannot
| but do permanent damage to its
prestige.
OF course, despite the paterna1
care of his government, the lot of the
war worker in Washington is not al
| together soft. But almost every week
| sees some new measure for his relief,
and despite the flu and the steady
increase OF OVeIpOpulallOls
are improving.
The sight of weary but determined
young woman, armed with two suit
cases and a few parcels, marching
along the streets of Washington in
search of Rooms and Board" signs
| is becoming a rare sight. The Ameri-
| can girlhOOd which has been steadily
attracted to the national capital no
| longer wears out innumerabN door
bells and the patience of innumerable
| landla dies by asking sweetly to see the
room advertised in last nights paper.
| why, child exclaimed the twenty
sixth landlady on the list of one room
seeker, that room was rented fifteen
minutes after the ad was printed and
the young lady has all her pictures
stuck around the bureau looking
| glass;
This era in Washington's history is
now familiar chiefly to the residents
| who have been in the city several
| months. Newcomers are directed to
| Uncle Sans doorstep and instructed to
| fire their questions about prices and
| location at the government housing
and health bureau, which will answer
| them cheerfully.
| Rumors of profiteering in Washing
| ton have been spread widely thru the
| country by girls who entered the gov
eminent service to make money and
| who soon returned home reporting
| Washington a city of expensive cafes
| and lodging places. Some girls have
\ even turned back before they reached
| Washington because of absolutely
| true" information that you can't pos
sibly get room and board under SIS
a month" 1t is true that in some in
| stances girls are paying such sums for
| living expenses, but almost always it
is by choice. Rooms decorated in pink
| cretonne and meals served in fancy
china bring high prices in any city.
l q a yIr1G mn y-no
| able accommo dations and to protect
| them against profiteering, the housing
and health bureau was established as
a public information bureau. To this
| office, near the center of town, the in
| formation desk at the union station
| Here she learns of the undeniable ex-
| istence of a room, or a share in a
room, at fifteen dollars a month, and
meals at twenty or twenty-five dollars
a month for breakfast and dinner.
The success OF the bureau can best
| be judged by its popularity. There
are always lines Of applicants waiting
at different desks for advice on locat-
| ing a room, the right of landlord to
| raise rent, insufficient heat problems,
and other domestic matters which
| Uncle Sam has taken upon his already
| burdened shoulders to regulate.
That profiteering has been wide
| spread in the District of Columbia as
| in other crowded cities is undeniable.
The influx of government workers has
| necessitated a complete adaptation of
| the city's life to meet the government
| demands. Dignified private residences
| have become boarding house running
over with the young patriots who have
come to Washington to help win the
| war. blouse a war worker" has
been added to the list of war slogans.
! In he rIlE1 rdi n q
| house keepers have overdone their
patriotism by crowding five and six
| girls into one room and charging them
rates suitable for single rooms. The
same misguided patriotism melted
some cafe proprietors to serve smaller
portions than were desirable at the
prices asked. Efforts of the food ad-
ministration and housing bureau are
now effectually stamping out this
profiteering. Lists maintained by the
housing and health bureau show rates
as well as addresses and the bureau
instructS applicants that the rate can
not lawfully be raised above the price
asked by the renter when the room is
engaged.
The substance of the Salisbury
housing law. which applies only to the
District of Columbia is that the owner
of a house cannot raise the rent of a
tenant during the period of the war.
or turn him out except to sell the
property or to live on it himself. This
measure applies equally to persons
renting rooms, and was enacted as a
protection to war workers against
rent profiteering.
To minimize the need for war work.
erS to patroniZe expensive eating
places, the District of Columbia food
administration is urging the various
government department cafeterias to
serve three meals a day instead OF
luncheon only AS prices at these
cafeterias are from 10 to 40 per cent
lower than those in public cafes and
lunch rooms the saving to the war
worker is considerable. This three
meals-a-day plan has already been
established in the food administration
cafeteria and several others.