The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-19


enacted by congress for regulating
rentals in the District OF Columbia
. has been extended by another aci
/ of congress until next May, and
we'll informed persons assert that
its life will have to be prolonged
again for at least two years more
/ in all
! The Bali rent law is of wide in
! terest, for several reasons. In the
! first place, OF all the rent laws
passed during the war. this one
alone represents the wisdom OF our
national congress and not merely
i that OF some local legislature. In
the second place, it is an excellent
example of the sort of emergency
i legislation the war brought into
| being. Theoretically, all of this
emergency legislation was expect
ed to expire soon after the war was
! over A good deal Of it has ex-
PRED or has been killed, but a good
. deal Of it also survives, of which
| this law is sample. OF course, 1t
/ is anticipated that all of this legiS-
lation will eventually perish. In
! theory, We go back to 1913. In
! practice, obviously. We never can.
/ The little fellow" who has been
rescued from a profteering land
| lord by the rent commission. will
not forget the fact, any more than
a dog will forget the hand that fed
| him. This man has gained new
J conception of government as a
/ thing which can step in and save
him in spite of the constitution, the
law of supply and demand, the
rights of eminent domain and pri-
vate property, and all the other
gods of his fathers. in the names
of which he has long been f1eeced
without a whimper. In a word, a
demand for such legislation has
been created. and the pillars of con-
servatism will have to shout Dol
sheyism" with all their lungs TO
keep it down.
! The Ball rent act. in brief, ap-
pointed a commission which was
empowered to hear disputes be-
tween landlords and tenants, and
to determine, with the help of the
tax assessor, what was a reason
able rent. An appeal from its de-
cision may be taken to the court of
appeals. but the court can modify
the decisions of the commission
only for error in law. The act fur
Their prohibits the eviction of a ten
ant, even though his lease has ex-
pired, provided he pays the usual
rent or the rent fixed by the COM
mission The landlord can evict
the tenant only if he wishes to live
in the premises himself or to raze
the building
Wait q Year.
Soon after this law had been
passed one of the Incredible alb
surdities of government was illus
trated. Was the law constitution
al or was it not? That was mat
ter for the courts to decide. But
the courts move slowly. A test
case was brought and the lower
court held the act unconstitutional
in January, 1920. An appeal was
taken TO the supreme court. The
question then was whether the SUI
preme court would uphold the low
er court or reverse it. If it upheld
the lower court the law was as
dead as a door nail. If it did not,
the law was effective.
For over a year-until April,
1921-this state of suspense con-
tinued. Renters and landlords
alike were in a state of confusion
which greatly complicated the
emeT gency that the law was crea-
ted to meet Some tenants, gam
bling the law would be held valid,
refused to move when the landlord
raised the rent, or to pay the ad-
Yanced rent. Landlords made pet
ty warfare in some cases, cutting
of gas and water and otherwise
seeking to make the tenant miser-
able. Nobody knew what was go
ing to happen next. Nobody could
know except the supreme court,
and it wouldn't tell. The tenant
who took his stand upon the law
was uneasy in his boots. II it were
not upheld he could be thrown out
in the street and sued for back
rent. The landlord, betting the
daw would not be upheld. was
equally uncomfortable. If it were
upheld, all his calculations were
upset.
Finally, after the war was over,
when the emergency in housing
was beginning to subside, when all
imaginable cruelties and injustices
had been suffered, the supreme
court in its infinite majesty and in
credible sIowness, handed down a
decision. Five to four it upheld
the law.
Why couldn't the supreme court
pass on the constitutionality of the
law before it was put into effect?''