Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-02-25
some LANDLORDS
! HAVE KINDLY TRAIT
r,ve Out of 1000 Have Cut
Rent Recently, Canvass
Of City Shows
Bu1 OTHER SIDE-0H.H!

Notwithstanding the. nge-'ong' por-
Arorol of the landlord as llcart'ess mon
.,cr mud villain Of the first water. he
,s not always so black as painted.
In fact. landlords vary not only in
degree but in kind: there nre the good
=. we'll rs tho bad. and large sprink-
ling Of Indifferent ones.
such is the deduction of tho Phi'n-
d.lchia Housing Association after re-
ceiy,ny from its agents reports based on
rersonal interviews. with tenants In
many sections of the city. +
Saws one woman. i'll for weeks and
I unable to earn sufficient money to make
spds meet. "my landlord Is the grand
s,t man," this because he mad told her
rsver 10 worry about such n thing as
,be rent, and TO pay when she could.
oNbouph she was already in arrears.
From another quarter. 1.-THE gas man
las to hang by his feet from the cellar
vfndow when he comes to collect from
the meter, because the cellar is full Of
vater''-and the report adds. the
landlord in the case refuses oven to
come and look the premises over.
The refusal to inspect his property
seems 10 be one Of the commonest faults
n the landlord, most in evidence when
the need Of repairs Is absolutely essen
tial. In short, when II glance Mt the
property surely means money out of his
pocket, he plays the ostrich trick and
refuses to take the glance.
Oblivious TO Tenants Woes
A tenant reports. "The roof leaks so
S.dlv that we cant use the top floor
Of the house. and the water drips down
through on us. The furnace crate is
burnt out But. the landlord isn't
Interested.
Gases Of rent raising following the
slIghtest improvements are frequent.
hut into the front rank with the fellow
that invented interest moves the land
lord who raises the rent when the tenant
does the improving.
In West Philadelphia house. n
woman declared that by papcring few
rooms because she could not stand the
dirt and drabness. she 50 ticklcd the
landlord that the rent jumped from SIT
TO So. and the selling price of the
house from $1,000 in 1908 to $4,000 in
1921. Promises Of improvements to
induce rental are common, and it may
he added are soon forgotten. In one
instance, extensive repairs upon Oc-
cupanry was the consideration. The
only repairs made. however. were to n
leaking roof. under the guiding hand
went from $13 to $3.50.
Negroes Not Harassed
Charges that the Negro tenants have
been unduly mulcted in Philadelphia
have been proved untrue by the inves-
tigations just completed. A chart of
the entire city covering the years 1914
1921. inclusive. shows that not only
have the rentals among the Negroes
not risen so rapidly as those in homes
leased to the white population. but
that even In the district south of Mar
ket street and west Of Broad. houses
occupied by the white element have nd
vanced more than 80 per cent, while
those Of the Negro population have
risen only 36 per cent.
Detroit is the one large city in the
United States that shows rent de-
made by the Department Of Labor.
Seven other cities have stayed on the
upgrade. In Philadelphia. out OF
1000 homes covered in the investigation,
five showed an actual decrease, usually
due to l"nicncy or to personal relation
ship between lessor and lessee.
Big Increases in 1920
The greatest volume of increase took
place in 1920. but sudden jumps in
rentals. with and without due cause,
marked 1921. The record is held by
4 West Philadelphia landlord, who ud-
vanccd the rent from S@4 in 1914, to
$40 in 1921. after the installment of
heating system and electric lights.
Fear of landlords Is present in many
homes. not SO much of being forced
into the street as Of paying an cxOrbi-
;,ant rent. Many persons refused all
information to the Housing Associa-
t!on, stating that were the house owner
TO find out that they had complained
no would raise their rent. But. as has
been said. the bark of the villainous
landlord is often worse than his bite.
Witness the case of the woman with
,hrcc children on Rcdficld street. Her
landlord demands each month $40. She
pays him the usual 800. and no more
said until the next installment is
que; It's II ways for $40. but the land
Inn