The Washington herald., 1922-05-05
REAL ESTATE men
DENY PROP PACAlSDA
AGAINST RENT ACT
Mrs. Taylor Tells House
Committee of Fake"
Advertisements.
LINKINS PROTESTS
Tenants Complain of Poor
Service and Practice
OF Eviction.
LINKINs PROTESTS

District Committee yesterday that
the real estate operators Of the
District were circulatig propaganda
against the Ball rent act were en-
phatically denied by George r. Lin
kins, of the firm of George w.
Linkins. who declared that he had
tried to organize the real estate
men without success.
The real estate men won't prop
agand." he declared.
Mrs Clara Sears Taylor, Of the
Rent Commission, then explained
that she had not charged that want
ads were propaganda, but insisted
that she had stated in her previous
testimony that many of the adver-
tisements appearing in the news
papers represented apartments that
were merely available for the sum-
mer months. Mrs. Taylor said that
ii looked as though the real estate
men had inserted ads to give' the
impression that vacant apartments
were plentiful.
Many Favor Act.
Linkins then stated that many of
the real estate men are not op-
posed to the Ball act. The act
worked as a detriment only to those
engaged in renting of property, he
explained.
]. F. NJ. Bowie testified that one.
CT the greatest evils of the Ball
law was its tendency to create ami
mostly between the tenant and the
landlord.
Bowie denied rumors to the effect
that the real estate operators kept
black list in which the. names of
those appealing to the Rent Com
mission were circulated.
Joseph E. O'Tool, of Pelham
Courts, told the committee that his
rent had been increased from SIS
to 800 a month. He appealed to
the. Rent Commission, which re-
duced the amount to ss25O after
hearing the case. Subsequently he
was served with a notice to vacate
as the landlord wished to occupy
the apartment. this being in ac-
cordance with the Ball law. The
fact that there were several va
cant apartments In the building
caused him to suspect that the
landlord was not acting in good
faith, which caused him to once
more take the matter up with the
Rent Commission, which sustained
him the second time, he said.
Hammer Reads Protest,
In answer tr a question by Rep
resentative Millspaugh. who wished
to know what he had to kick
about. O'Tool explained that he
U1aralV rufehad 80 -, .
landlords resorted to this means
to evict tenants.
Representative Hammer read a
letter into the records from a Mrs.
McEacherin. resident of the
Monmouth, who called the atten-
tion OF the committee to the lack
Of elevator service. hot water,
heat and other conveniences for
which they were charged. Illness
was charged to the condition OF
the apartment.
Capt Julius Peyser appeared be-
fore the committee and explained
that he had helped to frame the
Ball act and during it's existence
had tried the cases Of about 5000
tenants He declared that he did
not believe the act helped the
tenant. and its continuance would
be bad practice. He argued that
the cases might better be tried by
A Judge or jury than by a rent
commission. Mrs. Taylor. accord
ing to Capt. Peyser. is the only
member of the board who appar-
entity understands its provisions.
Capt Peyser insisted that three
quarters of the trouble was due to
the sub-letting evil.
Petty Offers Aid.
Representative Hammer called
attention to printed reports that
the Ball act would be rewritten and
asked that this error be corrected.
John A. Petty, executive secre-
tary of the Washington Real Es-
tate Board. after the hearing made
the following statement relative to
recent changes made before the
House District Committee that
fake real estate classified adver-
tisements" are appearing in wash
!ngton papers.
Attention is called to statements
appearing in the local papers with
in the last day or two purportinS
TO quote Mrs. Taylor, one of the
Rent Commissioners, as having
testified before the House COM
mittee on the District in substance
that the classified advertisements
Of properties for rent contain fake
advertisements as a part of plopa-
Sranda movement.