Pueblo chieftain., 1921-09-12
The Cfieftain's Monday Morning Farm Page
THE BALL RENT LAW

was laughed at. Things simply aren't
done that way. The method of govern
ment is to take the longest road and
go to sleep on the way.
You can't blame tho justices of the
supreme court They are among the
hardest working mon in the country
The system which provides that law
may be put into effect before 1t has
been decided whether 1t is valid or not,
is to blame.
The five justices who upheld this
Rent Act undoubtedly did as much as
1t was possible to do at that late date
toward relieving an almost intolerable
condition. over 1000 cases have been
filed with the rent commission. over
5000 of them have been disposed of.
, In nearly a thousand cases rents have
been reduced. In over 500 cases ad-
justments have been reached by simp-
ly bringing the parties together and
making them talk 1T over. The COM
mission has not functioned perfectly.
OF course. In some cases landlords
have succeeded in collecting from the
tenant more ftnt than the commission
allowed. BY tho terms of the renewed
act the commission is provided with ~
special attorney to prosecute such 1
cases.
THE LEGAL QUlBBLE
II the upholding judges saved thsi
| day for many a tenant the dissenting
| judges undoubtedly made the best
argument on tho Constitution. TheY
| had simply 10 point out that the Cons
| stitution provides that you cannot take
| life. liberty or property without due
! process of law and that property can
| not be taken even for public use with
| out compensation. This act. in effect.
| took mans property out OF his hands
for private use without due process of
law.
! The Justices who upheld the law tooh
| their stand chiefly on two grounds. In
the first place they said: This is an
| emergency measure" or course, you,
| can justify nearly anything on that
ground after n fashion. The war had,
created n rent emergency all over thel
| country. and national rent commissl
| sion would have been the logical thing
II had created an equally grave omerG-
ency with regard to food. clothing, and
| every other necessity OF life, Why not
| emergency pricc-nxing commissions TO
regulnte the distribution OF all these
] things?
| In the second place tho Justices held
| that III man can he prohibited by
| law from building n house above cor-
tain height on his property. there Ia
no reason why he should not he pro-
hibitcd from charging moro than n ccr-
tain rcut II he cannot raise tho roof
| too high. why lot him raise the rent
| too high The analogy iS moro in
| gcnlous than sound, The rights in
volvcd ARE altogether different. ono
| thing which our Constitution makes
who wrote II intended that private
| property should hc forever sacrct In
tho United States. They meant that
Ia man should have tho right to do
what he plcnsed with his own pos
sessions. and that he should he allowed
to sell them and rent them for RS much
as no could get. II the tenant didn't
Ike Il. lot him go Fomcvh"r" else.
George Washington himself wns
landlord on n largo scale. lie charged
nS much az he could get and made
tho tenant pay IT, n hc could hear OF
this rcnt commission operating In tho
town OF his name, he would kick the
lid off his coffin.
put what. after nli. Is n Constitution
among emergencies Why worry ahou.
La Constitution which contains both
MIR whceicrH famous Eighto~nth
Amendment That is the practical
question. never stated. which lies back
Of many laws Tho enemies Of tho rent
law cnll II pRtcrnnliSm and stat" 80
cinlism. II is II IL Just ms raternslistlo
~ the corn laws of tho Grncci were. II
IL Just Rs much state socialism as a
municipal dining hail would he. and
aE our free lunches for school children
arc Nevertheless. u iH io0 per cont
American. because II ir practical
mhkc-hlft with which to meet m
emergency II IL ny nhkoshir'r rrd
compromises that we keep tho cresk-
ing machinery Of our government 60
irg. ". have never faced tho logic
NJ economic md political principle-
Politicians get Themselves elected h-
talking about tho principles NJ tho
fathers and hold their jobs and keep
tho government going by breaking
them. Tho Bail Ac, is a characteristic
! fracture.