The sun., 1919-10-01
STREETS CLOGGED
WITH MOVING VANS
Not Enough, Say Realty Men,
but Movers Blame Conges-
ton on the Landlords.
REFORM is DEMANDED
New York Only City That Ex-
poets Everybody to Change
Residence Same Day.

To-day is moving day. half. or a
third-or whatever the figures are no.
body knows really--of New York's fam
lilies have packed their household be-
longings and are ready to move--in
many cases they know not whittier.
Most Of them are confronted with three
questions Where shall we go? How
will we get there? How much will we
pay? There are no answers to the first
two questions, but the answer to the
third is another question: How much
have you?
Moving van owners and real estate
dealers, who collect money for taking
the people where they are going and
more money for letting them stay when
they get there, say solemnly that the
situation this year Is serious, and the
nan who has to move agrees with them.
They say further that affairs are APP
preaching a crisis. The chief reason for
the crisis, the moving van men say, is
the fact that landlords have adopted
an iron clad rule of making all leases
terminate on October 1. But on the
other hand the landlords blame the NOV
ing van people for not having enough
vans.
There are approximately 1000 NOV
ing vans available for service here, and
according to Charles s. Morris, president
of the Van Owners Association, the va
rious hauling concerns are literally
swamped with orders. All of them have
turned away much more business than
they have contracted for and could use
ten times the number OF vans that they
have. Mr.. Morris believes It will be at
least ten days before the situation be-
comes less serious and New York gets
comfortable again.
busy Scenes I'm Residence Streets.
All day yesterday moving vans and
every other kind of vehicle were to be
seen lined along the residential streets
receiving their loads of household goods,
and in some cases trailers were fastened
to trucks and both piled high with fur
niture Many owners of automobiles
are moving their own goods, which ac-
counts for the fact that a great many
persons who already have moved did
so at night, hence all that noise. The
cost of moving is greater than 1t ever
has been, just as the cost of staying
where you are is greater. The van
owners raised their prices from IS to $40
an hour, but they say this Is none too
high and for the curious many of the
van owners will submit figures proving
that they lose money every time they
haul so much as bird cage. Many
companies and individuals owning vans
and not affiliated with the organization
are charging and getting as high as s2o
an hour.
The Board of Aldermen has under
consideration an ordinance which will
,l.a
but 1t will not do anybody any good this
year. Mr.. Morris said yesterday that he
recently held conference with Robert
L, Moran, President of the Board Of AL
dermen. and assured him that the as
ISOLATION would support him in his fight
on profiteering moving men, ...-i
The only remedy for the situation,
Mr.. Moran believes. will be for real es-
tate men to change their custom OF hav-
ing all leases end on October 1.
Here in this great city OF 5000, 900
people," said he. eve formerly had two
moving days, May l and October 1.
Now it has narrowed down to one. New
Workers. are a migratory people, but It
is ridiculous that in this city every one
should try to change his residence on
the same day. OF course the real estate
owners are opposed to any change In
the present system. They profit by the
intensification of demands for housing
accommodations that mark the time
about October l." If an apartment is
not rented around that time, he said, it
looses some of its value under the pres
ent system of renting
More Moving Days Are Needed.
Chicago has seven moving days. four
in, tha nd in ha
Stewart H. Browne. president of the
United Real Estate Owners Association.
suggested yesterday that landlords take
II on themselves to distribute their
yearly leases about the year, by quar-
ters of the year for instance. instead Of
signing them all on October !. 1t was
said yesterday that IL the real estate
associations would give some such plan
as this their sanction they might be
able TO remedy the situation.
In Queens owners of vans have threat
ened to quit the service entirely and go
into other business in response to a de-
mand made by their employees for
higher wages. Many persons there are
buying their own property to escape
from the ever coming rent raises. 1t
was learned yesterday that transfers Of
real estate in the borough are greater
than ever before.
Van owners In Jersey City said they
had more orders than they could attend
to, and that a great many persons were
moving out of the city because they
could find no suitable homes there.
One moving firm in Brooklyn yester-
day said II had been Transporting fur
niture for sixty TO seventy families a
day for the last three weeks. Most of
the families, IL was said, are moving to
the suburbs, largely to Long Island, the
Oranges and Westminster county An
other concern said it was booked with
orders until October s. and had turned
down $4,000 worth of business In the
last two weeks