New-York tribune., 1920-04-01
Quits
Committee OH
Rent Couging g
Friction Among Members of
Mayors Board Denied: !:
Preparations Made for
Many Eviction Gases
Queer Old Law Is Revived
City Marshal May Delay
Landlords in Actions
to Force Out Tenants

Rumors Of friction inside the Mayors
Committee Oh Rent Profiteering broke
out afresh yesterday with the an
nouncement of the resignation Of S
A. Lewinsohn, assistant chs aErman. The
resignation become effective immedi-
ately, i'll health after long work on
the committee being given as the
cause.
The committee yesterday began MAX
ing plans for handling the $4,000 evic-
tion cases expected to develop Oh May
]. A meeting of the city marshais Is
will be held Monday, at which arrange
ments will be made to take advantage
of a curious old law to slow down evic-
tion processes. Enlarged quarters will
be provided and preparations made to
double the number of cases that can
be heard in a day.
Chairman Hilly and Commissioner of
Accounts Hrshiield, of the Mayors
committee, denied that the resignation
of Mr.. Lewinsohn was due to any other
cause than his health. 1t had been
pointed out that there had seemed to
be a difference Of opinion between the
chairman and his assistant over The
rcnt-strlke question.
On Monday night Mr.. Lewinsohn,
speaking before the conference OF jew
ish organizations at Beethoven Hall,
at which it was we'll understood that
rent strike would be indorsed, gave
fiat pledge Of the support Of the
Mayors committee for "whatever you
may decide on at this conference On
Tuesday Chairman Hilly declared that
the committee would oppose a rent
strike and that law and order would
be maintained at any cost.
Hearing Rooms Increased
Mr.. Hilly insisted that this had moth
ing to do with the resignation, how
ever.
The committee. in preparing for the
increased trouble expected about May
l, has taken over three more rooms on
the twelfth floor of the Municipal
Building and will use them for hear
lngs. Three more assistants to the
Corporation Counsel will be assigned
to the committee and representatives Of
the Tenement House and Tax depart
ments also will be on hand. 1t is OK
pcctcd that with this increased force
the committee will be able to handle
500 cases day. The committee also
will have repre- sentative at every
municipal court on May / to give
prompt attention to the needs Of
tenants.
iHc ulGcllnE OF city marSnalS is cN-
pected to prepare plans to delay evic-
tions. According to figures the COM
mittec has compiled at least 50O00
leases will expire on May i. and in
half these cases eviction processes
will be asked Last year there were
96,623 summary proceedings sustained
by courts. There were 8,201 in Jnn-
uary and S,703 in February this year
The appearance of $4,000 such cases
in a single day is expected to swamp
the entire government machinery for
handling them.
Marshals Urged to Cooperate
The chief hope of mitigating the
trouble rests in an old law which pro-
vides that marshal need not serve
eviction papers unless no other mar
shall can be found to do it. This means
that the landlords desiring an eviction
can De made to go to all thirty-six
marshals in Manhattan, if not TO the
sixty seven in the greater city, and re-
turn 20 the first before he can get
papers served, provided that the mar
shals stand together They will be
askcd to do this, and if they do MAY
Day viii see long professions OF land
lords chasing from marshal to mar.
shall, while tenants may enjoy them.