New-York tribune., 1919-10-31

new applicants for membership will be
awaited They are not slow to come,
and as soon as there is an application
for mem bership from new address an
organizer ia sent to the house to en-
roll all the tenants in the house. In
this way the leagues grow with mush
room rapidity.
In all leagues the membership dues
are 81 year, but in some cases an ad-
ditional security" ranging from s. to
one months rent is demanded The
security" is a forfeit to go into the
league treasury in the event that a
tenant weakens and pays his rent in
advance Of a settlement, when strike
has been declared against landlord.
If the tenant holds out until the
strike is won the Security" is re-
turned to him. In the East Side
league q new member receives on pay
ment of dues and security" half
dozen small signs printed in red in
English and Yiddish, reading: "This
House Is On Strike" They are to be
pasted in the windows when a rent
strike is declared against the landlord.
and employ organizers. This Is the
method Of the Greater New York
League in The Bronx. The organize re
canvass all the houses in the district,
enrolling new members and collecting
81 from each, Of which 35 cents goes to
the organizer and the balance into the
treasury of the league.
10000 in Two Months
Ten thousand new members we're
added to The Bronx league during July
and August, according to Morris Gis-
net. In other leagues the organizers
are paid salary OF $25 week, and
this, Gisnet says, is the plan that is
soon to be adopted by all the leagues.
So far definite boundaries have been
laid down for only one of the leagues
the East Side organization, which eX-
tends from Monroe Street on the south
and from East River went to Third Ave
nue. Soon after election, Gisnct says,
a conference is to be held Of the heads
of all the leagues. At this conference
the city will be mapped out in districts
with definite boundaries. The limits
Of the present leagues will be set and
organizers will be sent into those dis
trcts where there are as yet no
leagues to start organizations there
and recruit members by an active and
aggressive campaign. Beckerman says
the organization Of league south of
Monroe Street is already under way and
VIII DC COIIplcleu Nltllu tWO NtchS
while the plans are ready for another
league west Of Third Avenue
1t might seem that it would be diff
cult to organize the middle and upper
West Side, but Gisnet says he has re-
ceived hundreds of letters of inquiry
and applications for membership from
the West Side, and he anticipates no
difficulty in organizing those sections.
Beckerman Maps Out Campaign
Beckerman looks forward to series
of tenants leagues with a membership
of 100000 by spring, and he maps out
the campaign as follows:
"The whole group Of leagues will be
under the general direction of the CEN
tral conference or executive committee,
but each district will have its own
local organization and directing exec
utive. The districts will be again sub
divided, with an executive committee
for each subdivision, and these com
mittees will deal with the landlords
"The committees will decide upon the
rents to be paid by the tenants in the
various apartment houses through out
the city and upon the repairs and al
terations to be made by the landlords.
They will inform the landlords of the
conditions, and they will require re
pairs and alterations and leases signed
before rents are paid. All painting.
repairs and alterations will be carried
out under supervision Of the commit
tees, and all rents will be paid to the
committees, who will turn the money
over to the landlords when the agree