Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-28

and other rental agents of Omaha
to in a general way fix the price
of rents and that such a profiteer-
ing organization had existed for
more than two years, T. A. Dono-
hoe, agent of the Angelus apart
ments, Twenty-fifth avenue and
Farnam street, yesterday emphati-
cally declared he was not member.
Mr.. Donohoe had called at The
Bee office to protest against what
he termed an effort on the part OF
this paper to center on the Angelus
in its campaign against excessive
rents and profiteering landlords.
Says Not Member.
II do not belong to the real es-
tate mems combine to boost rents
and my rents at the Angelus are
not excessive" insisted Mr.. Dono-
hoe. 1T is true | have friends
among the men who do belong to
the union or combine, but | never
attended any of their meetings"
Asked if he had never been ap-
preached on the subject of raising
his rents, Mr.. Donohoe admitted
that he had.
"About a year ago." he said,
"some of my friends in the real es-
tate business told me they thought
| was not getting enough for my
apartments and that l SHOULD
charge more.
Didn't Raise Then.
AT the time | didn't think ma
terial increase was necessary"
Asked to explain how it was that
he now thought that an increase of
from rs to 40 per cent was neces-
sary, Mr.. Donohoe declared that it
was lust simply the high cost of
everything" He denied that the
urging of other rental agents that
he boost his prices had anything to
do with this latest raise.
He explained that his janitor cost
him $l00 a month, that he had two
elevators in his building and that
they were always costing money,
too, besides the additional expense
of the winter coal.
In departing Mr.. Donohoe de-
clared that The Bee, the only local
newspaper making a fight against
profiteering, was dam fool" to
line I'D as it had. "
While Mr.. Donohoe did not say
so in so many words, he intima ted
this paper would lose some of its
advertising if it didn't drop its fight
on food and rent gougers.
Follow the Rest.
"All of the landlords in the city
are doing it, and it is up to me to do
it, too"
This was the explanation of R. C.
Strehlow, proprietor of 257 apart
ments in the Rowland, Majestic,
Margaret and Strehlow buildings on
the terrace at Yates street between
Sherman avenue and North Eight
eenth street, in reply to the demand
of one of his tenants, who asked
why he was increasing the rents on
his apartments IS per cent
The occupants of the apartments
in Strehlow terrace received notice
last week that their rents would be
increased. Some of them are NOV
ing out because they regard the new
rates as unfair and unreasonable.
The same conditions prevail all over
the city, however, and one woman
who had packed her furniture pre-
paratory to finding another place to
live where the rent is reasonable,
was lamenting the fact that she had
gone to the extra expense. After
spending a week in an attempt to
find an apartment house where the
rents did not appear to be out Of
all reason, she was unsuccessful.
1T is no USE" she said. "The real
estate men and property owners
have seen to it that the tenants can
find no relief by moving. The rents
have been increased about the same
all over the city. Nothing is to be
gained by moving. The cheapest
way is to simply remain and pay the
advance" =.
A committee representing the oc-
cupants Of the four apartments in
Strehlow terrace was appointed to
make an investigation to ascertain if
there was any good reason for
boosting the rents to the seemingly
unreasonable figure. 1t was reported
that there had been no increase in
the expense connected with the
maintenance of the buildings. The
janitor declared his pay had not
been increased, and it is estimated
that the price of coal this winter
will be no higher than it was last
winter. In fact some of the coal
dealers expressed the opnion that
fuel would be cheaper this year,
despite the fact that some of the
coal operators have already launch
ed a movement to raise the price.
Urges Appeal to Courts.
: II do not know just what steps
the tenants in these apartments will
take to resist the profteering de-
mands of the landlord" said one
woman occupant of the Rowland
apartments. There has been con-
siderable talk of appealing to the
courts for relief. In my opinion
this would be the proper thing to
do" 5-& a
One woman who was moving out
of her apartment because she felt
she could not afford to pay the rent
declared she had searched the city
for a fat (which could be rented at
reasonable figure and had been
unable to find anything.
Il then appealed to half dozen
real estate Offices" she declared. "I
was told by the real estate dealers
the only thing left for me to do was