Evening star., 1918-02-23
NO WAR EXTORT|ON
BY PROF|TEER|NG
Whether in Rentals, Fuel,
Food, Ships, Labor or Mu-
nitions, Here or Elsewhere!
CURBING WARTIME GREED
THEODORE w. MOVES.
Editorial Correspondence of The Star.

War profiteering exists in respect to
rentals, fuel food, shipbuilding, etc.
etc. etc.
| 1t exists here and in every place
| where the war demand for anything
far exceeds the supply, or where any
conditions furnish avarice the tempta-
ton and the opportunity.
1t is a chronic and widespread war
evil. springing from fallen human ma
ture, to be directly attacked every
ished.
| 1t is the black spot upon the sun OF
Americas unselfsh loyalty and war;
| time patriotic devotion.
The gist of the local rentals profiteer-
ing evil is that some landlords and
many tenants leasing to- subtenants
have taken advantage of the rush OF
newcomers to Washington incident to
the war, to charge grossly excessive
rentals for the occupancy of their
houses or apartments, or rooms. In
some cases they have doubled or tripled
the normal rental, to the injury of
government employees of small means,
who cannot meet the extortion.
To overcome this evil the national
government and the community have
Neen cooperating. Since the housing
supply will in any event fall far short
tive demand. the government will wisely
soon expend large sums in temporary
structures to house part of those
whom it invites to the capital to render
national wartime service. Public-splr-
tied Washingtonians have organ
and have SYSTEMATICALLY searched
the city for housing accommodations at
reasonable rates. Obdurate landlords
have been shamed as unpatriotlc and
threatened with a communicating of
their property.
Wise eAnti-Profteering Law.
What supplemental curative and
punitive legislation is needed. and
what form will it wisely take?
The purpose of a just and effective
anti-profiteering law is to prevent and
punish extortion. Nothing is to be
prevented but extortion, nobody is to
be punished but extortioners. The evil
must be quickly checked.
The Poindexter lSenate) bill hHY the
merit of going directly and sv3g0rodSay
sublessor from n1akfAKa larger charge
for rooms or houses than that charged
on December /. 1917. to any soldier.
sailor or any officer. official or en-
ploye connected with the naval, mill
tary or civil service. or any employe
in plants engaged in manufacturing
war equipment and supplies. The pro-
hibition applies during the war. Fio-
lation of the law is misdemeanor,
punished by fine not exceeding $500.
The profiteers are defined specifically.
the victims are described distinctly.
the penalty is applied to the offenders
and no one else. The misdemeanor is
punished wherever 1t occurs, not only
here but anywhere in the United
States.
The Real Estate Brokers' Association
committee suggests a wartime rental
administrator and an appeal board to
take up specific cases of alleged ex-
'tortion and to do equity. with broad
rent-fixing powers.
These simple propositions of relief
attack directly the present evil. They
tend to relieve the victims of extortion
at once; and can be made to punish the
actual extortioners only.
There may be provisions in the Poin-
dexter bill in which Washington might
suggest change. if the bill were ap-
plicable to the District alone. But the
bill aims to correct particular form
of prof1teering everywhere it may be
found, and Washington accepts in ad-
vance, without hesitation, any pro-
Vision, however drastic, to cure this evil
which congressman think to be fair
when applied to their own constituents
and which Congress makes Of nation
wide application.
The Johnson bill refrains from singing
out and furnishing the local profiteers,
the specific individuals who in rooms
and house rentals have taken advantage
of the necessities Of Uncle Sans en-
ployes. The bill makes possible prof
iteers and extortioners of every lessor of
real estate of every description in the
District since January l. 1917. and it
brands and Furnishes as actual extor-
TONERS every such lessor whether Of a
residence, a store, a garage. or naked
ground who since January /. 1917. has
cent over the corresponding rental
charge of the last nine months of 1913
and the first nine months of 1916. If
the leased property of today was not
built or rented in the period between
April /. 1915. and September 30, 1916.
then the verdict whether the lessor is
an extortioner and profiteer turns on
the question whether he has received
Pc. cent Of the assessed value of his
property since the date of it's rental.
Real and Nominal Profteers.
The real profiteers who have extorted
sometimes triply from the needy in rent
ing houses and rooms under war condi-
ishment which they deserve by hiding
among the vast multitude of statutory
profiteers under the Johnson bill. profiteers
who have not preyed upon the needy, ex-
tortioners who have not extorted For
example, a Washington property owner
who, instead Of profiteering. had in the
present emergency dealt patriotically in
co operating with the government to
house the incoming clerks. but who had
rented garage to another Washingto-
nian early in 1917 (even before the United
States came into the war; at an increase
of more than 10 per cent over what he had
rented it for in 1915-16. would be a prof
iteer and extortioner under the Johnson
law; he would be fined by the District all
the garage rent money paid him over his
10 per cent increase; his lease would be
declared against public policy and unen-
forcible, and if he collected hereafter in
with it's terms. his tenant could
recover double the excess. with attor%
loss han a time