Evening star., 1922-04-26
URGES EXTENSION
OF BALL RENT LAW
correspondent Discusses Principle
Which, He Believes, Justi-,
fies the Act.
To the Editor Of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star; ~ -.
AS briefly as possible, wish to pre-
sent the principle by which the Ball rent
. Ihe Constitution authorizes Congress
10 exercise exclusive legislation in all
cases whatsoever over the District of
Columbia. Legislative power is thus
described by Chief Justice Slaw Of the
supreme court of Massachusetts. in the
case OF. Commonwealth v. Alger, 81
Ut is a settled principle. growing out
OF the nature of well-ordered civil So
clety, that every holder of property, how
ever absolute and unqualified may be
ms title. holds it under the implied la
lated that it shall not be inju-
riSus \ to the rights. Of the community
All property Is derived directly
s6r indirectly from the government. and
neld subject to those general regula-
tlons which are necessary to the COM
mon good and general welfare. Rights
q property. like all other social and
conventional rights, are subject to such
reasonable limitations in their enjoy
ment as shall prevent them from being
INJURIOUS, and to: such reasonable re-
I straints and regulations established by
law as the legislature. under the gov
serning and controlling power vested in
them by the Constitution, may think
necessary and expedient. This lis very
dinerent from the right OF eminent do
main. the right Of a government to take
condition of providing a reasonable
compensation therefor The power
we allude to Is rather the police
power, the power vested in the legisla-
.ars an by the Constitution to make. ordain
and establish all manner of wholesome.
ana reasonable laws, statutes and ordi-
nances as they shall judge to
be for the good and welfare Of the COM
monwealth. and Of the sub subjects OF
the same"
Approved by High Courts.
This excellent statement Of the law
has been quoted and approved by many
OF the highest courts in the land. The
supreme court of Kansas. quoting 1t.
says: Numerous subjects which for
merly were chiefly private, with only an
incidental public aspect. have become
social subjects. demanding regulation of
kind and to an extent which former
conditions did not warrant.
When once subject is found to be
power the only limitations upon the
exercise of. the power are that regula-
tions must have reference in fact, to the
welfare of society, and must be fairly
designed to protect the public against
evils which might otherwise occur.
Within these limits the legislature is
the sole Judge of the nature and extent
of the measures necessary to accomplish
its purpose" IS Kansas. 604-5.
Under Control Of Congress-.
The Constitution established the
District of Columbia as the seat of
government of the United States and
placed 1t absolutely in the control
of Congress. The. latter is made the
sole judge Of what is best for the
District for tho purpose, for which
1t was created. In the exercise of
the police power the Congress may
prohibit anything that in its 3udg--
ment is inimical to the interests OF
the government of the United States.
The latter has of necessity. many
thousands Of employees and omcials
living here. When the cost OF living
of these persons was doubled was
the government The bonus law and
the clamor for still greater increase
in the wages Of such employees is
the answer. $780,
What are some Of the evils against
which the Ball law was and 10 de-
rents Of thousands Of tho govern
| ment's workers were doubled-not
the rents of new buildings. which
cost more than the old ones, but the
rents of the old buildings. This was
principally pure greed and graft. to
| A scheme was devised to compel oc-
cupants of apartments to buy the
buildings at double their pre-war
price or value This scheme was to
sell on the cooperative plan. The
landlords refused to rent the apart
ments or renew leases at any price.
Buy or get out was their edict. The
Ball law enabled the tenants to
largely defeat this nefarious scheme.
|. No Rental Lists, Now. He Says.
To enlarge this scheme practically
all residences have been withdrawn
from the rental lists. Almost any OF
the recent issues Of The Star win
show that in the want advertisements
are ten or more columns OF properties
for sale, while only about ten unfur-
nished houses are for rent. Almost
none OF the latter is offered by an
agent. All this shows a combination
by landlords and agents to compel
government workers to buy, and at
exorbitant prices.
These evils are not only sufficient to
warrant. but are sufficient to demand
and require the enactment and con-
tinuanoe Of the Ball law by Congress
in the exercise Of its police power un-
der the established principles OF the
law quoted.
II it is not continued thousands OF
tenants are bound to see serious
trouble next month-probably eVic-
ton. There is evidence that the land
lords will refuse to rent to any per-
son who has appealed to the Ball law
for protection Many of these are
losing sleep every night for fear this
IA" wiz ''0' - W. A. GREER.