Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-05-20
EXPECT RENT ACT
TO Be SIGNED BY
PRESIDENT MONDAY
Senator Ball Calls at White
House and Obtains
Assurance.
MINORITY REPORT MADE
BY HOUSE COMMITTEE
Expiration of Law Urged Due to
Lack of Demand for Houses
and Apartments.

! and Apartments.
| Assurances that the Senate would
| concur in the amendments to the
House bill the Ball rent act
| were given to President Harding to-
DAY by Senator Ball, chairman of
the District committee. who called
at the White House to request the
President to be in readiness to sign
the rent extension act Monday even
ing. provided the bill is ready at that
time.
The President intimated, it is un-
derstood, that If the bill is presented
10 him at that time he would sign it/
Senator Ball is understood to have
urged the necessity of this legisla-
| tion by citing to the President sew
era! instances that he knew of where
landlords were ready to increase
rentals as high as 100 per cent il
the extension act is not passed.
House Demands Denied.
Arguing that there is no real de-
! nand now for apartments and houses
| for rental purposes and that the rent
| regulating legislation lis violative of
every fundamental principle of prop
| erty rights the sIninority report on
! the bill drafted by the House Dis
| trict committee to extend the rent
act for two years was filed in the
| House today.
The minority report was prepared
/ by Representative Frank c. Mills
paugh of Missouri and was signed
! also by Representative Benjamin h
| Focht, chairman of the House District
| committee; Representative Elliot W.
! Sproul of Illinois and Representative
| Warren i. Lee of New York
The rent bill is to come I'M for
consideration in the House on Mon
/ day. which is District day. 1t will
| be in charge of Representative Stuart
| Reed of West Virginia Another bill
/ considerably different in many essen
ital provisions has already passed the
| Senate. 1t is understood that Sen
ator Ball. author of that measure.
| has arranged that conferees on the
! part of the Senate will promptly ac-
cept the provisions OF the House
measure as amendments il this leg
| islation passes the House.
| Propaganda Charge Disproved.
In the minority report reference is
| made to the charge brought out at
the hearings before the committee
| that many torrent advertisements in
| part of propaganda. The minority
| report disproves this charge by a
| comparison
The minority report states that the
/ four members signing it are con-
| vinced after extended hearings that
! the emergency for which this bill
| was largely enacted has passed. and
that ii would be exceedingly unwise
| to grant any extension upon it what
ever. 1t points out that the war has
| been over now for almost four years.
| and we believe il is high time to re-
peal such obnoxious measures as this
and to abolish commissions of this
nature which were created for war
! time needs.
I'VE do not feel that we would be
justified in compelling our consti-
| tuents through taxation to contribute
| to the expense incident to the mainte-
nance of a commission to fix rents
in the District of Columbia" the re-
| port continues.
| 1t is a self-evident fact. the report
! adds. that scarcely any member of
| the House. would recommend the
enactment of such legislation in his
own district. and if one cannot recon-
mend such legislation for his own
district, how can he be justified in
taxing the people of his district for
the maintenance of such an act"
Expiration Time Ripe.
In stressing the fact that the need
for such legislation has passed, the
report points out that there is at
| this time no great demand for apart
ments or houses for rental purposes
and inasmuch as the summer season
| is now close at hand when very
many apartments and houses will be
| for rent, ii would appear to US that
this is a very appropriate time to al
low this act to expire"
| The report declares that the pro-
posed legislation "is violatiye of
every fundamental principle of prop
| erty rights and at this time should
have no place in the statutes of our
| government. 1t has enabled real es-
tate building promoters to reap
| rich harvest and to profiteer to an
public, inasmuch as il has permitted
| them to build hundreds upon hun
dreds of houses of questionable con-
struction, for which they found a
| ready mar ket at exorbitant prices
| upon the installment plan, il being
plainly evident that no builder would
rent new houses for the reason that
| when once rented he could not OBJ
| tain possession of them in case of
failure and naturally they were with
poses
"A comparison of the lists of
houses and apartments for rent in
the rent ad columns of the daily
newspapers at this time with the
lists appearing in the same papers
several months ago. when the act
was extended. should convince the
most skeptical that the emergency
j for, which this act was created has
passed"
| subleasefS Accused.
"It is our opinion that the hearings
before the District committee de-
veloped the fact that by far the
| greatest amount of trouble in the
/ rental situation has been caused, not
| by the owners of the property. but
| subleasers, who have in reality been
the worst offenders as profiteers 1t
| seems to have been a practice for
| parties owning no property what
| ever, to lease chain of apartments
| and install therein minimum
| amount of very inferior furniture.
| and In many instances secondhand
furniture, and to double and some
! times triple the original rent
This situation was created by a
| provision of the Ball rent act which
| was construed to permit sub-letting
| even though 1t was prohibited in the
lease existing between the landlord
| and the tenant The operation of
this act has in very many instances
| worked a severe hardship upon
| widows whose only means of sub
sistence was the income from rentals
Of property owned by them which
| property represented their entire
property holdings. In many of these
cases where the income of widows
was involved, tenants had taken
the law. and caused great distress.
rent commission has resulted In q
congestion of their docket with the
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