New-York tribune., 1920-03-26
Copeland Hales
Flat Owner on
CoercionCharge
Mark W. Bremen Accused of
threatening to Evict Ten
ants Because One Com
plained of Lack of Heat
Letters in Renters Boxes
q Cuardia Favors Use of
Pelham Bay Cantonment
in City Housing Project

Health Commissioner Copeland ap-
o.arcd before Magistrate Harris yes
..naay and preferred charges of CO.
s,tion against Mark w. Bremen, owner
: i the apartment houses at SO, So, 81
md Sc Manhattan A~auue.
summons has been issued for
presen. who lives at ICE West Seventy
e;rhth Street. according to Theodore l..
Waugh, Assistant District Attorney,
VINO will press the case against the
hndlord before Magistrate Harris next
Tuesday.
Bremen is accused of threatening his
tenants with eviction after one of their
number had complained to the Board
Of Health that he was not supplying
safcient heat. Commissioner Cope
land based his complaint on informa-
ton supplied by Charles n. Coleman.
one Of Brenen's tenants.
Threats Both Oral and Written
1t is charged that the landlord placed
ktters in the letter boxes of his ten
ants warning them that since some one
had complained of him he proposed to
eyict all of them. He followed these
letters, it is alleged, by oral threats
Of eviction.
On January 13 last, the records show.
Bremen was fined $100 by Magistrate
Brough for having failed to furnish
sufficient heat. He was also criticized.
il is declared, by Judge Ellenbogen for
instituting eviction proceedings against
Two school teachers whose pay was
being held up.
Another complaint against Bremen
was that he permitted the heat to drop
IN an apartment where a case of scarlet
fever was being treated.
"ln some instances tenants have been
evicted by landlords because they
brought their legitimate grievances to
US" said DR.. Copeland yesterday. "We
do not propose to tolerate this sort of
thing any longer.
"The law provides that apartments
must be sanitary and warm, and it is
the duty of every citizen to give notice
to the Health Department when the
laws are violated. Furthermore, it is
the right of tenants to aid this de-
partment in correcting such evils and
abuses"
New Mortgage Plan Fought
The Real Estate Owners Protective
Association met last night at the Hotel
Majestic to plan q protest against the
bill introduced by Senator Gibbs at
Albany for graduated increase in the
interest rate on real estate mortgages,
the rate to advance according to the
proportion of the property covered by
the mortgage
The bill was denounced as inspired
by financial interests and calculated
to ruin real estate owners and dis
courage real estate development.
Magistrate Joseph S. Schwab, presi-
dent of the association, was authorized
10 appoint a committee to oppose the
measure at Albany. David Hirshfeld.
commissioner of Accounts, pledged the
eooperation of the Mayor and the
Mayors Committee ON Rent Profiteer-
ing in the fight.
eader the proposed law interest on
raaf estate mortgages would range
from per cent to 9 per cent. according
70 whether so per cent or 80 per cent
cred by the mortgage. A system would
be provided for the appraisal of the
property to be mortgaged. Those at
the meeting declared that when they
have made the significance of the bill
plain ii cannot be passed.
Ira j. Ettinger said that superficially
the measure seemed to make real es-
tate an attractive investment for
money lenders. Actually. he asserted.
1t was joke, and tragic one so far
as real estate men were concerned.
Lenders Hold Upper Hand
Borrowers, he asserted, always were
at the mercy of the lenders and under
the proposed law it would be the lender
who would determine the value of the
property to be mortgaged. The lender,
he declared, would invariably under
value the property, thus increasing the
proportion to be covered by the mort
gage and increasing his interest rate
accordingly. The immediate result
would be that banks and trust COM
panies would call in all past due mort
cages now running at 51s and per
cent to reinvest their money at TX per
cent or more, and the final result
would be "ruination and stagnation