New-York tribune., 1920-02-19
Pledge Remedy
To Stop Rent
Profiteering
New York Realty Men in
Two Weeks Will Present
Solution to Assembly's
Committee on Taxation
Opposed to Jesse Bill
Suggestion Made for Banks
to Get Increase i'm Loan
ing Power to IS Per Cent
From a Staff Correspondent

ALBANY, Feb. 18.-The representa-
.ives Of real estate interests in New
York City at hearing this afternoon
before the Assembly Committee on
Taxation agreed to come back to AL
bany in two weeks with constructive
suggestions for solving the rent prof
iteer;ng problem. They appeared in
opposition to the bill of Assemblyman
Jesse, creating two rent commissions
of three members each to determine
fair and reasonable rents, one for New
cork City and the other for Buffalo
and Rochester. They argued that the
only solution was more building and
that the appointing of more commits
sions would act as a further restric-
tion to all building activities.
There is no doubt lot of rent prof
iteering going on in New York City
and you gentlemen should have some
constructive suggestions to remedy the
situation" said Assemblyman James
F. Bly,, of Brooklyn.
the right thing here" said John [.
Parish, secretary of the advisory coun-
Gil of real estate interests Chairman
Franklin Judson then agreed to defer
action until March 3, when another
hearing will be given on all rent meas
ures and suggested solutions. Besides
the Jesse bill, Assemblymen Evans and
Ullman have introduced rent commits
sion bills for New York City, and be-
fore the next hearing they will be
transferred from the Cities to the Tax
Committee.
Among suggestions offered to-day to
the committee to increase building was
to permit savings banks to lend on
real estate up to IS per cent of its
value instead of only SO per cent, to
put insurance companies on the same
footing as savings banks, by requiring
that they invest certain part of their
funds in mortgages and to give some
guarantee to persons who build now
with the prevailing high prices. that
they Will get reasonable profit on
their equity in the property.
The housing situation in New York, "
said Mr.. Parish, "has reached state
where it threatens the civil order of
the city. l myself am victim of it..
The rent on an Office down town last
year was increased from $3.50 to $3.50,
and on May l it will be boosted to
$1,000. The only thing for me to do is
TO sign the lease, for l know that if |
sublet l could get S2,40O. There are
many great corporations in New York
City which on May l will be thrown
out of their Offices, and with no pros
pect of place to 60 AS for dwellings,
IN many cases the people themselves
force up the prices by competing with
each other
But this rent commission bill is not
the solution. We must have more
houses. Before the var there was a
mobile fund of millions of dollars
which every year was used for build
ing. That is now taken up in Liberty
bonds. and many people are refusing to
invest IN mortgages because Of the in
come taxes on them You have before
you the Lockwood McWhinney bill
which exempts from taxation the in
come from mortgages up to 100000.
think that the Legislature should pass
that bill.
1T would be an impetus to the
passage of the similar Calder Nc
Laughin bill in Congress-"
Others who appeared against the
Jesse bills were Stewart L. Browne fol
the United Real Estate Owners As
ssociation, Bernard Goodman for the
Greater New York Taxpayers Associa,
tion and Henry NJ. Goldberg They in
sisted that the original landlords were
not to blame for rent profiteering;
that they discouraged rather than en-
couraged it. They put the blame on
building and apartment house lesseea
and real estate speculators. Mr.. Good
man declared that under the present
circumstances no building is being done
because there is no profit in it.
s. Kaplan appeared for the Civil Ser
wee Reform Association, and asked that
the Jesse bill if passed be amended 80
that the employees of the proposed
rent commissions not be exempted from
civil service examinations.