Denver labor bulletin., 1918-10-12
BAD HOUSING OF
LABOR IN BERLIN
SCHOOL BUILDINGS ARE
BEING TAKEN OVER.
Rent Profiteering and Extortion
Causes General Complaint. and Mu-
nicipal Authorities Using Halls
and City Buildings for Families.

Berlin papers reveal an extremely
serious housing condition in Germany,
not confined by any means to the capi-
tai but extending even to the most
remote provinces. Widespread de-
mands are arising that the imperial
government make due provision not
onl; for the relief of the present dis
tress but for the housing of the mil
lions of soldiers who will after the
war return from the front.
Building material and labor alike
are lacking, and altho an appropriation
of 500 100000 marks was made to
promote adequate housing, the money
apparently has not been expended and
seems to have resulted more in discus
sion than in accomplishment.
The Berlin municipal building COM
mission has been forced, as a tenn
porary measure, to commander ll0
school buildings from the educational
authorities, and to fit them out as
dwellings. This means that the chill
dren of Berlin lack 1906 classrooms.
"a halls for entertainments and 65
gymnasiums. In order to provide
some sort of school system for the
children 1t has been suggested that the
remaining 90 school buildings in Ber-
lin be opened from o'clock in the
morning till z at night for six days
in the week, so that all the children
may be accommodated.
In 1917, according to employment
statistics that have come to the de-
partment of labor, there were three
jobs for every worker in the building
trades in Germany. These statistics
are unofficial. but other evidence indi-
Gates that they may be approximately
correct, for the amount Of building in
important German cities mas been re-
duced greatly during the war as a
result Of the labor shortage
Rent profteering has been Of a type
IN Berlin to indicate that this species
Of war pronteer exists in every coun-
try on the map, for the complaints
against their operations are strikingly
like those in other countries at war.
The Norwaerts says editorially:
Many landlords demand an in
crease in rent October /. altho the
lease runs till April l. They are not
so ignorant as not 10 know that this
is inadmissible but they calculate that
many tenant, ignorant of the condi-
tions, will fall into the trap. Conse-
quently. it is no novelty to see three
rent raises in year and half. Fur
thermore, they refuse to make guar
anteed rent reductions, and demand
not only the full rent but also an in
crease. They try to make these agree
ments with the soldiers wives alone,
( behind the backs of the relief commit
tees, before which they have agreed
to make rent reductions, and often
times they persuade the soldiers wives
not to inform the fiscal authorities of
this, so that the landlords remain as
sured of the municipal allowances for
rent
The Vorwaerts charges the land
lords with extortion. 1t cites one dras-
tic method of dealing with the profit
GERS which probably proved effective.
The general commanding the Seventh
army corps issued an order based on
the state of siege, whereby he forbade
any rent increases or evictions with
out the full permission of the local
authorities.