New-York tribune., 1920-06-16
WarehOusen1en
Join Van Men
I'm Lease Fight
n. Y. Association Votes
to Do No Moving in
October Unless Dates of
Expiration Are Spread
Rush Causes High Prices
Phone and Gas Companies
Favor Movers Stand;
Landlords Are Opposed

Landlords Are Opposed
The New York Furniture Ware
housemen's Association last night
voted not to do any moving this Oc-
tober, when the majority of tenants
leases expire. unless the landlords CO.
operate in spreading the leasing date
from October /.
The Van Owners Association will
meet tomorrow night and, according
to Charles S. Morris, president, Will
take similar stand. This association
comprises III van owners and, with the
Warehousemen's Association, includes
al the large concerns of their kind in
the city.
The New York Telephone Company,
the Consolidated Gas Company, the
Kiwanis Club, members of which are
interior decorators, and the Associa-
ton of Master Painters and Decorators
have expressed their approval of q
more extended period of time in which
leases may expire. Committees have
been appointed to cooperate with land
lords that alterations may be made
quicker when apartments are vacated.
Several large real estate operators
said yesterday that it would be in
advisable to offer optional dates for
the termination of leases. No tenant,
,hey said, whose lease expired in Oc-
tober would want to take over a new
apartment in September and pay a
nonth's rent on an apartment he was
not occupying. On the other hand,
they said, no landlord would be likely
without paying for the month the
apartment might remain vacant
Not Many Families Moving
They said that not so many families
would be moving this year and that 1t
vas better to have all move at the
same time.
Pease & Gilman was the only realty
firm that suggested q plan for the aid
Of their tenants. &. Merritt Ives, vice
president, said that when it was known
that a tenant desired to move his COM
pany made an effort to find another
apartment for him. Then it was sug-
gested that he move few weeks be-
fore the expiration of his lease to
avoid the rush.
He did not believe landlords would
change the present system Of leases.
ait would be better" he said, "if some
plan could be devised to give the re-
liable moving men chance to serve
all As it is, lot of fly-by-night con-
Germs flood the city and do lot Of
damage
"He doubted that the two moving as
sociations would suspend work in the
rush season.
Grant Wayne, president Of the Fur
niture reimbursement Association,
said yesterday:
I'VE don't want to be called prof.
teers. Our men work by the hour.
When we attempt to meet the rush Of
business, we find several parties NOV
ing from one apartment The eleva-
tor is being used. Perhaps the tenant
has tried previously and been unable
high.
Offer Any Price for Vans
persons come in during the first
part of October and offer any price
tor van. We haven't got one. They
hire one Of these street-corner NOV
ers, who get any price they ask.
Rather than be called gougers, we
prefer not to handle such work"
The Kiwanis Club has adopted a
resolution urging that the question be
placed before the real estate owners
and agents, requesting them to extend
their leasing date. A committee has
been appointed to cooperate with the
landlords and moving men.
The Master Painters and Decorators
request real estate interests to con-
slider the wasteful, inefficient and ex-
pensive burden on the public that a
uniform leasing date entails.
Although officials of the New York
Telephone Company could not be
reached last night, it is understood
that the opinions of the plant superin-
tendent have been favorable to a
change from the sudden influx of
work on October l.
They are also said to have esti-
mated that the telephone company
spends hundreds of thousands of dol
lars paying for overtime work in that
season.
The same concentrated demand for
work IS felt by the gas companies.
Question Timely Says Morris
This subject is timely" said Mr..
Morris, the van owners president, yes
terday, because, in compliance with
the law, landlords are already giving
their tenants notice to sign new
leases. Leases did not always end on
October /. If the time for their expira
would adjust itself"
About 1000 persons crowded into
the Seventh Municipal District Court,
10th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue,
yesterday, where Justice S. Clinton
Crane disposed Of 245 cases involving
landlords and tenants.
Most OF the cases in which land
lords asked for rent increases Of more
than 70 per cent were settled or a
lower basis.
To-day the Mayors housing commit
tee will meet in the Board Of EST
mat. mate chamber in the City Hall to OBJ
tain pledges Of home building loan.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company has pledged itself to under
write mortgages for home building, to
the extent Of s5o,0O0000.
Letters have been sent to all LARGO
employers Of labor, asking how far
they will go toward assisting their
employees to obtain their own homes
either by building or purchase.