Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-10-04
HASKIN LETTER
DEALING WITH THE RENT PROFITEERS.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

/ that purpose, and the landlord states his
side Of it on similar blank. Then the
committee makes an investigation to de-
eermine whether or not these facts arr
true. With this information in hand,
Captain Goldsmith then brings the ten
ant and the landlord into his office and
literally argues them into equitable set
tlement. The results are the triumph of
moral suasion rather than of legal au-
thority. The landlord is under no com
| pulsion to concede the slightest advant-
age to the tenant, but he usually ends by
conceding a great deal before Captain
Goldsmith gets through with him.
Sometimes these hearings last far into
night, while each side yields inch by
inch. In the process, the captain usually
removes his coat and finally his collar.
His English grows more ungrammatical
with each passing hour, but his vigor re
mains as sturdy as ever. One landlord,
departing limp and haggard from one
such sitting, declared that Goldsmith
| had wrung his concessions out of him
by sheer physical force
Before Mayor Hylan picked him out
for his rent profiteering committee,
Goldsmith was captain in the Intelli-
gence corps of the navy, and. although he
/ is now in civilian clothes, the titel still
sticks to him. He is rather short,
rotund Jew( with shrewd, beady eyes
and pleasing, clean shaven, almost jov-
al countenanee. You might picture him
presiding with dignity over an exclusive
women's wear shop until he starts to
talk, and then you realize that here is a
man of remarkable energy and person
ality and-a vision.
An example of the captains skill in
the matter of arbitration was afforded
in the recent tenants strike in Williams
burg. This strike, which ran for six
weeks in a block of seventeen Walk-up,
cold-water tenements involved nearly
two thousand persons and a rent total
of about $4,000 a year. About two
months ago this chain of tenements
was bought by a realty company, which
/ Immediately decided to raise the rent.
Many repairs We're needed on the houses,
and in order to make these. the com
pany explained, an increase of $4,000
year would have to be made in the rent
total, to be divided among 4J0 families,
The tenants suspected that something
of the sort would happen as soon as they
learned that the property had changed
hands. so they quietly began to organize,
and when the landlords attempted to put
the increase into effect, they found
tenants union ready to oppose it. This
union appointed committee, which
called on the landlords and informed
them that the raise was exhorbitant. 4
great deal of haggllng ensued. aud the
landlords reduced their raise by half. But
this was not accepted. A further reduc-
tion was insisted upon. and the land
lords absolutely refused to consider 1t.
So the strike began
A tenants strike has none of the dis
! agreeable features of other kinds Of
/ strikes. in which the strikers wages are
cut off, SO that it proved more entertain
] ing than anything else. They simply
paid their rent to their own treasurer
! instead Of the landlords, aud prevented
agents Of the latter from approaching
/ the houses with threats Of violence. The
women paraded up and down the streets,
with cardboard signs reading Here IS
Rent Strike" hung over their shoul
ders and tackled to baby carriages.
store was hired for the strike headquar
ters. and this was also decorated with
signs. while group of excited women
piekets always held the door.
All attempts Of the city marshal to
eyct the striking tenants from the hous
es were a failure. The men forced their
way in, but they We're met by mob of
women who asked if they belonged to
union. When the men said they did the
women explained that they were also
unionists. belonging to the Williamsburg
! tenants league. At which. the men re-
fused to continue their work. T
Eventually, after six weeks. the case
1 WIS aIilcdbiN duIiS AZ NaPidit .foid
smiths office, after q day and night of
uninterrupted session. The strike COM
mittee agreed to accept a total raise OF
$40 instead of the proposed $4,000.
1T would have saved lot of trouble
! if they had brought the case to our
committee in the first place. declared
| the captain, who does not believe in rent
strikes. During this strike, he says, the
/ tenants paid nearly $4,000 to a lawyer
/ to represent them in the courts when it
was foregone conclusion that the law
yer would be unable to help them.
| When it comes to a last resort the
captain has much more efficasieus
method of bringing a landlord to terms