New-York tribune., 1918-05-19
X The Golden Book of CONGRESS- \
Duplicating the French
Revolution
What may happen to luck
less householders In WASH
ington if Section 13 goes
through

1888 uOuSS>llOkOCAS Nx w &4SMs
ington if Section 13 goes
through
DISCUSsION of bill (H. r. 9248)
"to prevent extortion, to impose
taxes upon certain incomes in the District
of Columbia, and for other purposes" is
under way.
Section 13 provoked particular COM
ment. 1t reads thus:
Sec IS. That eng house or build
ing not occupied by the oaUner or q
tenant for a period of three months
an1mediately preceding the passage
months after the passage of this act,
may be commandeered by the Presi-
dent of the United States for the
period of the aCc1 and sac months
thereafter, and used for qua,' on gou-
e,nmemt purposes. the rentals and
conditions of tenancy to be fred by
the rent administrator IN his dis
creta0n.
Senator Reed warns his colleagues in
the following terms:
Beware, my friends! You may legslate
yourselves out of your own homes, those of
you who have been foolish enough to buy
property in Washington have to rent it
for any length of time; for, behold, the day
may come when Congress again will recess
for a longer period than ninety days. In
that event, when you return here you may
find that some rent administrator has
broken down your doors and installed lot
of tenants of his own selection. They may
have kicked holes in the plaster, broken
windows, and torn out the plumbing, but
you cannot even get writ of ejectment
against the rent administrator, because he
represents the sovereign government of the
United States You cannot recover dam
ages All you can do is to go to the court
mentioned in this bill and ask to have the
rent raised.
"rhe only time that !cgislaticn like this
has been really duplicated was during The
French Revolution. I said the other day,
when we moved back the hands of the clock
and thereby tried to arrest the march of
time, that there were two or three things
yet that the French revolutionists did that
had been overlooked, but that our reform
ers would find them in short time They
have discovered one more, and that is a
means to take somebody's property, take it
over to the govcrnment-not to take it over
to the government in good faith for gov
ernmental purpose, for none Of US question
| that right--but to take it over for the pur-
| pose of renting it to private individuals,
thus taking the property of one private citi-
zen not for public use, but for the use
and benefit of private citizen.
"That has been tried before. During the
| French Revolution they were a little more
direct. They were also little more frank
In the French Revolution they confiscated
| the estates Of the nobility; they not only
confscated the real property, but they con-
fiscated the personal property. The harri
| dams of the streets went about wearing the
fnery of ladies. The unshaven reformers
| moved into the homes of other men. Some
times they ordered it sold and bought it in
themselves. They, too, had administrators
who administered in a summary way upon
the property of other people. 1t was this
| disregard for law and fundamental rights
/ that destroyed the republic 1t was those
things that brought the man on horse
back 1t was those things that finally re-
established the monarchy in France. be-
cause the people came to learn that any
| government that made life and property
secure was to be preferred to any govern
ment that plundered the people at will and
that itself engaged in robbery and thievery.
! For. mark you. government can be thief