The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-09
AND CHARGE SO AN HOUR
Storage Houses, Full, Offer No
Rclief-Sidewalk Seems
Only Refuge.

satisfy the greed OF tho moving men
Frantic appeals to the storage and van
concerns have failed in many instances
TO win n promise OF relief. The moving
concerns say pretty generally that they
cannot take on any more contracts. that
their hook arr full that they are help
less to relieve the plight OF tho APP
plicants, Thousands, therefore. have
settled back into n kind of hopeless
inertia. If the Lord does not provide
their goose is cooked. It is a misery
which affects their dispositions 80
deleteriously as to convert ordinarily
gentle and amiable men into creatures
of violent speech, turning to John Bar
leycorn, that false friend, TO soothe their
narrowed nerves. What TO do? as our
friends. the French say. No man knows.
Many wife, seeing her lord trickling
home at unlawful hours, refrains from
proper chastisement because she com
prehends the origin OF his fall
Landlord the Man to Blame.
To begin with. the responsibility for
all OF this unhappness lies in four cases
out Of five with the landlord A sus-
picion, long entertained. that landlords
are not human has been confirmed in
a multitude of minds. Before the
flowers OF June had withered these auto
Gratis served notice that tho rent must
be raised. Reasonable increases were
expected. A people calloused by the
blows of adversely were ready to dig
into pockets from which the fshhooks
had long since been extracted by Mr..
Kitchin But the landlords jumped the
increases shockingiy in innumerable IN
stances, not per cent. or 10 per cent.
but as much as c5 per cent. and even 40
per cent
One case In point is that OF q. man
who. occupying four room APARTMENT.
was asked to pay $1,000 a year instead
OF $3.50, the increase being about 39iper
cent. Some knuckled under to such
extortion rather than endure the agones
of moving day. Others. in tremendous
numbers. told the landlords to keep their
old flats. using bitter language the
while
But the odium OF scrambling New
York's happiness which falls upon the
landlords shoulders does not end with
his hunger for cash. His rules. immut-
able. IL seems. and protected by law and
custom pin tenants, incoming and out
i,
which leases expire and leases begin. It
is virtually impossible. az so many have
learned, to get into a new apartment be-
fore that date. Therefore the helpless
householder has nowhere to go With hrs
lares and penates and the man who IL
coming into his place is in equal nd
case.
The whole makes a vicious circle sim
ply because landlords will not spread
their leases over period of time sui
fcient to convenience tenants. Every
body must come and go in desperate
haste on this evil October /.
Now enters the guilt of the moving
concern men. Perhaps It Is not all guilt
because circumstances grip them as 1t
grips the movee. When II comes to the
matter of scarcity Of labor their tales
are all the same. All are shorthanded.
All are working with greatly depleted
force. All have more business than they
can possibly take on and are throwing
business out OF the window every day.
But people who must somehow be moved
cannot see why moving rates are so high
even II the scarcity of labor and the high
price of beer and the increased cost OF
other necessaries are taken into consid-
Grafton.
ss an Hour Is Charge Now.
Take the situation OF the man who ap-
piled In time and signed a contract to be
moved on SlCh and such n day He
found that the big. licensed concerns are
charging IS an hour. the time beginning
the instant the van or vans leave their
garages. That IS the rate fixed by the
Van Owners Association and neither
prayer nor profanity can change 1t.
Tackled to this rate are other interest
Inn 10 Il . a
a barrel and 81 for packing a box; $50
extra for moving a piano and so cents
for every flight of stairs the music box
goes up, and so on. Estimates have
shown that in the majority OF cases the
citizen who can get his household effects
transported from place to place will be
lucky II he gets out for less than 500.
not TO mention damaged furniture and a
personal disposition that months will not
repair.
Investigation disclosed that there is
an Aldermanic ordinance regulating"
moving rates. but like some other
ordinances IL conceais a joker. BY
law moving rates are fixed in accord
ance with the size and capacity of the
van to be used. II II Is a motor driven
vehicle. having an inside ft1or space OF
at least seventy square feet the legal
rate is $l.75 an hour and tho van is re-
quired to move at speed of not less
than eight miles an hour. If II f.
motor driven vehicle having an inside
floor space OF at least ninety SQUARE
feet tho charge should be $3.50 an hour
For the services of every man employed
In addition to the driver charge of 30
cents an hour additional is permitted
Since four men usually are employed on
q van this would bring the legal charge
up 10 81 an hour. with maybe a little
more for the family pIanola.
But the big concerns are demanding
IS an hour and getting IT, The ny nv
night, wildcat movers are charging
whatever they like and are also getting
II. 1t has been nothing unusual for
such to ask $40, sl2 and even IA nm
hour.
The Joker detected in the ordinance
referred to consists simply in n "specia1
contract proviso which states that "tha
amount to be charg, d for loading. trans /
porting or transmitting and UNLOADING
OF merchandise. household or offire
furniture or other bulky articles by a ,
public cartnHu may be agreed up5n In
advance written memorandum
to be signed by both parties" That
cute little clause gives tho van ownnrs
opportunity to agree upon a nrice and ia F.,
enforce 1t by contract OF mutual agree !
ment.
Can't Even store Furniture,
But what about the unfortunate cit,- |
zen who can't find any concern or any
person TO waste mis- substance on? His #
name II legion in Manhattan. BROOKLYN ,
and The Bronx, ana probably in Queens