The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKN. Director.
Washington, d. G.
RENT STRIKE IN WASHINGTON.

figure, just now going on in almost
every large American city. has at
tanned a special intensity in WASH
ington. With sweet accord the land
| lords have suddenly raised the rents
on Washington apartments from 20
to 100 per cent, with an average in
the neighborhood of so or so per cent.
The immediate result is an immense
! emotional upheaYal varying all the
way from mild irritation to tragic
| despair There are some persons
whose rent has been raised from 500
month to $500, and to whom this
means nothing more than postponing
/ the purchase of new car. And there
are others whose rents have been
raised from $12 a month to $40, and
to whom this means taking food away
| from the baby.
Every afternoon when the news
papers come off the press there are
1 apartment hunters ready to grab them
! columns. Some of these are pros
| perous-looking chaps who get into
| cars and dash off to have the first
/ look at the more desirable offerings.
But there is also the woman with one
| baby on her arm, and a child of five
| by the hand, who YEARLY boards a
| trolley on the same quest, and who
twill be too late if the apartment is
! relatively a good bargain.
A Dramatic Situation.
The situation here is especially dra-
matte because the Ball Rent act is still
pending in the supreme court with
the betting about even as to whether
it will be sustained or not. Some rent
laws have been declared unconstitu-
tional but on the other hand a law
almost exactly like the Ball Act was
recently sustained. The Ball Act. in
brief. establishes a rent commission
which has power to determine what
is a reasonable rent to a given prop
erty. Unless an appeal is noted, this
becomes the rent. If an appeal is
taken in 10 days by any party to the
complaint, the matter goes into court,
but the court can only decide points
of law Thus it may hold that not
all evidence has been adduced, and
may compel more evidence to be
taken. The rent commission makes
another finding. which is final.
This act has been declared uncon-
and is pending in the supreme court
with the prospects that it will be de-
cided there by the first of December.
In this situation, the tenant who be-
lieves that he is being mulcted has the
basis upon which to make a fight,
and thousands of them are making it.
They have formed an organization
known as the Tenants Protective
League of Washington for this pur-
pose The league, which has mem
bership fee of 81, gives free legal adj
vice and legal services for half the
usual attorneys fees. 1t has an ar
rangement with a bonding company
by which any of its members can be
bonded, who wish to refuse to get out
of their apartments.
By making use of the services OF this
league, a tenant in Washington may
IL, I,Te- 81 he al
and defy his landlord, usually with
considerable success. When he re-
ceives the notice to get out within
thirty days. he simply pays no atten-
ton to it. The landlord then goes into
court to get a writ of eviction. One of
the league attorneys appears and notes
an appeal This means that the case
cannot be decided until the constitu-
tionality of the act has been passed
upon by TIE supreme court
Legal Delay Helps Tenant.
If the supreme court holds the act
unconstitutional, then the writ of
eviction can be issued, and the tenant,
can be put out. But that is about all
that can happen to him, according to
attorneys for the league, and it is not
apt to happen for a long time Here
the well known delays of the law,
which usually benefit the stronger
party, are on the side of the tenant.
Cases of this kind are pili1g up so fast
that many of those being filed now
will not be reached for a couple of
years, during all of which time the
tenant will be enjoying the use of the
apartment at the old rent. Further
more, these attorneys say that no
action for the additional rent. which
the tenant refused to pay will be ef-
fective unless the landlord has. refused
to accept the old rent, which, is paid
by the tenant to the bonding company.
The total cost of thus noting an APP
peal aQd resisting eviction, provided
the machinery of the league is used, is
about 500. In the event that the Ban
act is sustained by the supreme court,
and the -enant wins in the action for
Il writ of eviction, he will get back all
but S27 of this money
OF course the landlord may combat
in various ways the desire of the ten
ant to stay in the apartment. He may
cut off the heat, the light, the gas or
the telephone service. and perhaps if
he Is ingenious he may find other
ways of annoying the recalcitrant.
Various cases of this have occurred
Usually, however, this sort of guer-
lila warfare is carried on by landlords
(and more often by landladies) who
own a single building each and live in
IT. Thus case is reported of one
woman with a baby Is months old
who refused to get out or to pay the
advanced rent. She could not find
another place to go and she could not
find the money to pay more rent. The
landlady promptly cut off the gas. so
that the woman could not cook any
thing.
A Vindictlye Landlady.
Another landlady took all the fur
n1ture out of a furnished apartment,
from which the occupant refused to
move, except a single chair. This she
herself occupied and announced her
intention of staying there until the
tenant had vacated.
Such instances as this are rare. A 4
reputable real estate agent does not
care to &c in for such practices, and
in the present state of public feeling
on the rent question. he can scarcely
afford to do so. In fact. the real es-
tate agent who collects the vents ana