Evening star., 1921-08-19
|MONDE[LPRED|CTS
RENT ACT APPROVAL

|RENl All APPRUVAL
House Leader Believes the
Measure Will Be Considered
Before Congress Recess.
The Ball bill. extending the District
rent act until May. 1922 will be
given consideration in the House be-
fore the recess next week. il oppor-
tunity arises. Representative Mon
dell. majority leader of the House.
said today.
Il am confident that the Ball bill
extending the rent act will pass the
House and in ample time, whether it
is taken up before the recess begins
or after the House returns from the
recess" said Mr.. Mondell.
Much will depend upon the state of
the business before the House as to
whether the bill is taken up and put
through before the recess. But if
Tie x1OQSc returns the ldSt OF oep-
tember. or even the first of October.
there will be plenty of time to put
the bill through after the return and
before October %, the date when the
present act expires"
Bill to Be Promptly Reported.
Chairman Focht of the House Dis.
trict committee said today that the bill
would be. reported to the House
promptly. He indicated that he nigh,
make the report himself. as a formal
procedure. although he voted agains,
the bill in the committee. If he does
not make it. he will designate some
other member to make the report
As soon as the report Is made the
bill will be placed Son the calendar. 1,
| may then be called up when the lead
ers decide that the time is opportune
II necessary. special rule will be re
ported to expedite the pasSage Of thl
The passage Of the bill by the Hous.
by large vote is predicted by the sup.
porters Of the bill and conceded by its
opponents. The bin passed the Senate
on Tuesday by AN overwhelming vote
Favorable Action Voted. Q to s.
After hearing lasting two and q
half hours. during which six witnesses
were allowed to give evidence. the
House District committee by a vote
of 8 to. 5 last night ordered a .favora.
/ BILE report on the Ball bill extending
the rent act of the District until May
%. 1892.
: The bill was ordered reported with.
out amendment, the members of The
committee supporting the measure
feeling that to make any change in
the Senate bill might delay fina
| enactment of the proposed law. Some
of the committeeman favored extend.
ing the life of the rent act for 9
year. or until October %. 1922. Wher
the bill comes into the House al
amendment making such provision
may be offered.
Lfne-Up in Committee.
The vote on report, of the bill las
night was as follows:
| Ayes. 9-Zihlman. Maryland; Lam
pert, Wisconsin: Keller, Minnesota
Woodruff. Michigan; Underhill, Mas
sachusetts: Woods. Virginia; Blanton
Texas: Hammer, North Carolina, ant
O'Brien.. New Jersey.
Noes. 5-Focht, Pennsylvania; Reed
West Virginia; Millspaugh, Missouri
Sproul, Illinois. and Kunz, Illinois.
Five republicans and four democrat
voted for the bill. while four repub
licans and one democrat opposed il.
Representative Blanton of Texas
democrat. in a statement at the outse
of the hearing paid his respects to tn
real estate dealers of Washington. de
claring they were pleasant gentlemei
to deal with. but bloodless
Representative Hammer of Nort]
Carolina declared that any long hear
ings on the bill would delay and de
feat the measure. For that reason b
moved to hear only those who had no
appeared before the Senate commit
tee, on the ground that the Senat
| q O oil
House members. Chairman Focht
Representative Millspaugh and other
resisted this motion. however, and tn
hearings finally got under way, witt
w. K. Linkfns. a real estate broker
on the stand.
ME-. Linkins' Testimony.
Mr.. Linkins told the committee tina
in his opinion housing conditions ii
| Washington are rapidly approachin,
normal. The Ball rent act, however
he said. was preventing the rental o
property, which is held for sale in
stead Of rent. Under the rent act, h
said. control of the property by tn
owner passes away.
Mr.. Linkins was questioned closel,
by committeeman as to the reason fo
the formation of the real estate boa I'd
particularly as to whether there wa,
any collusion to keep up rents. Thi
Mr. Linkins denied emphatically. say
| ing tnag tno only reason Tor the or
ganizatfon was to raise the ethics o
the real estate business"
Mr.. Linkins told the committee tha
the average increase in rents on oil,
property, erected before the war, ha
been 20 per cent in the case of house.
and 20 to so per cent in some apart
ment houses.
To this Mr.. Hammer took excep
tion, declaring that his observatio
had been that the increase in apart
ments had been at least 100 per cen,
Representative Bexg . Witness.
Representative Begg of Ohio, repub
llican, appeared as the next witnes.
He announced that he was the onl
member of the House who had on
posed the original rent act. and tina
he, had come to make atonement.
He said he had become convinced tha
the rent act was needed In the Dis
trict. He described the alleged pyra
miding of. rents in apartment house
through fake sales.
Howe Totten, an owner Of propert
here, interrupted to ask Mr.. Begg {
give the names of men w.o were py
ramiding rents But Mr.. Begg decline
to do so at the time. though, he SAID
II any one would come to his offic
!! he would furnish the information.
| Mr.. Begg called attention to tn
1 coming disarmament conference Il
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