Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-04-05
HASKIN LETTER
THE RENT REBELLION.
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN

the verge of rent rebellion. At least.
such is the current report being whis-
pered in loud stage whisper in Gotham.
Hints Of this coming catastrophe are al
most as numerous as the tenants re-
Gently evictcd from their homes, and
the atmosphere in all of the residential
districts appears to be charged with des-
perate motives.
Gradually, the tenants who have suf-
fered from rent-profiteering during the
past year are organizing their various
boroughs and preparing for action. 1hey
have not decided just what the action is
to be, but all are agreed that they must
take it. Tenants mass meetings are
being held on an average OF every other
night; tenants petitions and protests
are keeping the printers busy. and the
temper of these meetings and protests
may be gathered from the following ex-
| cerpt from an ex-soldier tenants speech
| which was delivered from soap box
| platform the other evening:
I'VE went to war to protect our
| homes. ladies' and gentlemen, and now
| that we have returned we find them
wrested from us by an enemy more IN
| sidious. more villainous than the Hun.
l need not say who that enemy is. -
| Here loud applause from the audience
signifed that he need not, but the speak
or could not resist the temptation to
is.' ha continued You have all suf-
fered from his hideous attacks. That
enemy, ladies' and gentlemen. is the rent
profiteer.'
A few nights later, circular was dis
| tributed from the platform of similar
| meeting, calling on all outraged tenants
to join the Tenants Rights League Of
Greater New York, (which is seeking to
bring together into one organization one
million tenants to resist to the utmost,
through concerted action, further prot
iteering in the Nome OF our people.
Full page advertisements IN the daily
napers and placards in the street cars.
subway trains and elevated trains will
make these leeching home breakers run
up the white flag and call for mercy.
pursued the circular dramatically. Ihls
is your battle Do not look for sub
stitute to do your fighting. Get on the
firing line with your victimized brother
and go into action at once.
| So far as is known, the only firing line
the tenants have in mind at present IS
s;tnatcd in the midst of the state leg
islature at Albany, but occasionally
there is a threat Of staging more Vio-
lent one should this battle end disas-
trously. The conduct Of the legislature
on the question of rent profiteering has
haon one TO challenge the admiration OF
all students of politics 1t has professed
repeatedly in the form of innumerabie
bills stern desire to punish greedy
landlords. According to one Albany au-
thority. it has introduced as many as
81 such disciplinary measures during 1ne
present session. Again we have heara X
was eighteen, but whether eighteen or
eighty, the fact remains, as the said
authoritv points out, that there Is moth
ing easier than to introduce bill IN
onv legislative body, provided you are
a member. The difficulty lies in getting
it passed.
For while this systematic but i'm
nortant course satisfied the tenants, but
recently, as the evictions and d,spossess
notices increased, it was suggested TO
the legislature that little action would
not be displcasing. Thus, urged ana
lnrodded by their constituents, the mem
hcrs of the state assembly at last reluc-
ltantly narrowed their attention to nine
~ the most promising bills and announc-
ed that they were about ready to put
few of them through =.
Immediately, new protests began ia
arr;vc in Albany, but this time from out
raxed landlords, who asserted that the
massage of any bills curtailing their ac-
tiyities would simply spoil everything
They pleaded with the legislature to
use a little common sense. Common
sense, they said, was not to interfere
with the free course OF rents, OUT 90
mass law exempting mortgages from
taxes, @ SO that people would build more
houses. When you restrict the price
Of rents, they told their state con-
grcssman, you arc merely creating pal
iiatiye and are making no effort to
strike at the roots of the problem. The
thing to do il to build. build. build.
This rather bewildered the legislature,
and many of it's members were inclined
to believe that the landlords were right
lespecially since they began to hear dis
u of hn aOraad 0f ten.