Evening star., 1921-02-25
RIGHT Of CONGRESS
T0F|X RENTS HERE
|SUPHELD IN BRIEF
Government Answers Suit to
Kill Ball Act and SauIs-
bury Resolution.
DUTY OF GOVERNMENT
TO GIVE CITY HOUSING
Lawyers Cite Experiences OF Wash
ington During War Rush.
Classic Is Signer.

The government today filed with the
Supreme Court of the United States
it's brief in the case of julius Block
versus Louis Hirsh. involving the con-
stitutionality Of the Ball rent COM
mission act and the salisbury reso-
luton.
Henry Fl. Classic, special assistant
to the Attorney General, signed the
government brief. with the solicitor
general, William L. Frierson. The
brief upholds the right Of Congress
to enact such legislation for the regu-
lation of rents in the District OF Co.
lumbia, and says: I'm conclusion 1t is
respectfully submitted:
l. That, under the circumstances
recited in this statute. Congress has
undoubted power to subject rents In
the District of Columbia to reasonable
regulation, and that the procedural
provisions for that purpose lack no
element of due process. 1t is hoped
that whatever disposition may be
made of the controversy between the
parties on the record, the central op-
Grafton of the act may not be LETT In
doubt.
Speaks of EvIctfOns.
"2. That continuances of occupancy
until expiration of the act, conditioned
upon fair compensation, is not open to
serious question with respect to sub
seuuent leases, and that, with respect
to those made before but expiring
after the act, the protection OF ten
ant paying the regulated rent Is an
appropriate means of attaining the
main object of the legislation, In that
it precludes eviction for the purpose
of extorting unjust and unlawful
rents.
"3. That the latter feature Of the
act Is in any event 80 clearly separate
from its regulatory operation that 1t
mitted to invalidate it,"
In support Of its contention that the
government has a right to regulate
rentals in the District OF Columbia,
the government brief describes the
unique relationship Of the District
Of Columbia and the federal govern
ment. The fact that it is the consti-
tutional seat of government does not
change the law. the brief says. but 1t
gives to matters of population, hous-l
ing and other economic relations q
Significance they would not have else
where. TIE government at Washs
fngton must live. and 1T must live at
Washington.
Dangerous to Health.
when the government is forced.
as it was forced. by the exigencies
of war, to concentrate in this limited
area a new army OF civil employees
out of proportion to the Districts
permanent population and beyond the
expectation OF any normal increase.
such a great and sudden influx of
population necessarily places the
whole body OF civil employees at the
mercy Of those who possess the avail
able facilities for shelter and habita-
ton.
THE tempting raise in rents there
by occasioned imperiled the security
of all employees who do not happen
to be protected by long leases. On
the other hand, the newcomers. whose
services are equally necessary to the
government. ar confrontd with the
alternative of declining to come or
Of bidding against one another to the
point where the proportion Of income
required for shelter threatens seri-
ously to reduce the amount left for
the other necessarfes of life.
1T is a matter OF common knowledge
that the high rents paid by war
workers resulted in conditions of
overcrowding dangerous to health.
and. during the influenza epidemic.
even to life. The obvious result of
such a situation here is an immense
dislocation which impairs, and NAV
even fmpeTl, the success of the ad-
mtnistrative mobilization upon which
may depend the very safety of the
country"