The Washington herald., 1921-08-24
HOUSEPASSES
DISTRICT RENT
Bill, 1855 TO65
Agrees With Senate in
Extending Ball Act
Seven Months.
FRIENDS DEFEAT
ALL AMENDMENTS
Two Roll Calls Forced by
Opponents, Led by
Focht.

Ball bill extending the lifs of the
District rent act for seven months.
or until May -. Is1a since it would
have expired on october a. The
only step remaining 70 make the
bin q law q the signature Of Presi-
dent Harding. since it went through
the House In the same form In which
Il passed the Senate.
Opponents Of the measure. led By
Chairman Focht Of the House Dis
trict Committee. sxerted every effort
to kill the b,li but were beaten back
by force Of members. To kill time.
two roll calls were forced. one on
q motion tor eeommit and the other
on final passage The motion 20
recommIt was beaten By . vote OF
17s to 60.
An Amenaments Beaten-
Friends Of the bill rejected all at
tempts % amend &c even coming
from It's advocates. some Of whom
wanted the TENS Of the measure
extended q year instead Of seven
months. on the ground that an
amendment would fores it into con
ference with the Senate and might
delay the measure until after the
proposed recess.
The original Ban act was units<
to . life Of two years which ~euls
have expired on October "a nest.
The bill extending the ortginKl act
modines IL by removing from the
operation Of the bill an b1a.resB
propertiea ana authoriEing tke Er-
pointment Of an attorney for y >
Rent Commission ~ a sGary q
sS.eee q year.
An attempt BY Chairman Pc-ht
to strike out the provision EUtrrr-
king the employment OF ar EttoT-
ney was defeated by q vote o: ~
to so.
Supported by Meyer Lonooss
An amendment by Represu tatiEe
Meyer London. OF New York, Lhe
lone Socialist member OF Congress,
to extend the act for twenty years
was rejected. London said he
strongly supported the bill, and ex-
pressed his pleasure at the zen
lightenment OF the House" for pass
ing q measure that was termed
''socialistic. anarchistic and pater-
nallstic" by its opponents
Representative Woodruff. OF Mich
igsn, member OF the District Com
rnfffaA Uhn EannrNnA ~ Kill
who led the fight for Il, declared it
was important that q curb be put
on excessive rents during the i'm
pending disarmament congress. He
declared that the rent hogs %
Washington are about 100 degrees
worse than those OF any other city"
Defended as Con,titutionnI.
Representative Woods. OF vir-
ginia. another member OF the COM
mittee. defended the constitution
ality OF the measure, declaring that
the government has a right to pre-
vent q landlord from imposing his
will unjustly upon a tenant Rep
resentative CnderhiIl. Of Massachu-
setts, another supporter OF the
measure. declared New York has ex-
tended its rent law to November.
1929, while in Massachusetts, the
rent law will run for another year.
Claims OF opponents Of the meas
ure that the original act had re-
tarded building construction in the
District were denied by Representa-
tive Begg, of Ohio. who declared
that the records show that sls.ooo,-
900 worth Of construction. the big
gest record in years, had been un-
dertaken in Washington this year.
Begg declared IL was important
that rents be regulated during the
forthcoming disarmament confer
ence. He cited instances where
rents had been pyramided from. .s6b
to slzs q month during the life OF
the rent law.
sNo Place for Pronteer."
Congress must either extend the
rent law or raise the salaries OF
government employees to meet the
demands Of the rent proflteer, Rep
resentative Sisson, OF Mississippi
declared The District OF Columbia
he said, Is FIRST Of all the seat OF
government is no place for the pro-
fiteer, and whoever doesn't recog-
nize that, should take his bag Ano
baggage and get out"
RepresentatiNe Manus OF AAAAuoah
former Republican leadr, while ex-
pressing objection to the general
class Of such legislation. announced
his support OF the Ball Act. declar-
ing he thought the public good de-
manded It
In denouncing the bill Chairman
Focht declared that most Of the
trouble between landlords and ten
ants grew out OF congestion dur
ing the war. The only remedy for
the situation, he said. Is to build
more houses. He insisted that the
bill was unconstitutional, socialistic
and anarchIstic.
Opposed by MiIlspsuEh.
~one would think the bill wss
drawn by q disgruntled tenant wha
wanted TO get even with his land
lord" declared former Senator
Burton, Of Ohio, who opposed the
measure. Repre- atative Millspaugh.
Of Missouri, one OF the i've mem
bers OF the House District Commit
tee who voted against reportinE
the measure. declared IT is about
time that the business men OF Cen
gress should draw the pucker1ng
strings on this kind OF lssislr-
ton" which, he said. had the SUP
mort of every socialist and every