The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-03-17

40 IL PAAOO SANCAA " Vic
modious real estate concern O.
3457 Indiana Avenue, wer
typical in showing just what
the Negroes of Chicago have
to put up with.
Rents are unusually high, and
flats unusually scarce" said the adj
vertising manager of the O'Brien
Real Estate Company" The DAILY
WORKER investigator put the
charge that the real estate offices,
which seem to prosper in this section,
with their many-roomed suites all
covered with gilt letters, have been
turning out white tenants, filling
their houses with Negroes, and charg-
ing much higher rents for the same
flats.
Proud of Pro6teering.
/ Sure, we do that as agents when
the landlords want us to-" the
lO'Brien representative replied pug
naciously. eyes, many of them are
doing that. Why not, if they can
make more money at it? But let me
tell you," he continued, trying to
shift the blame to someone else,
THAT the Negro landlords whom we
represent are playing that game
much more than the whites. We
have Negroes looking for housing
accomodations, come in here almost
every day and ask US if we have any
flats for rent by white landlords. The
Negro tenants themselves would
rather have white landlords than
Negro. The Negro landlords are
more heartless about raising the
rents and it is harder to get them to
make repairs"
but both white and Negro land
lords are raising rents on colored
tenants after they have induced the
whites to move out?" we asked.
yes" came the answer, "The
Negro landlords not only learned
from the whites the game of goug-
ing Negro tenants, but they are go
ing white landlords one better in
their gouging and in charging high
rate of interest"
AS far as the large, scrouging land
lords are concerned, the DAILY
WORKER finds, it does not matter
whether the landlord is white or
Negro, the Negro tenants are being
Disseminated against just the same.
The DAILY WORKER came across a
house at 49th and Champlain, where
white landlord forced a white ten
ant who had been paying $50 month
to move out and installed instead a
Negro tenant, charging sos per
month for the same fiat.
Many Fire Traps.
These houses where the rents are
being raised are the worst accomoda-
tons in the city. Along Federal and
South Dearborn Streets, south of
32nd Street, the DAILY WORKER
investigator counted 26 broken front
windows which had been patched up
with boards or burlap, in two blocks.
Not one porch on these streets as
far south as 40th was in good repair.
Rotting boards, cracks in what few
brick houses there are, Uttered steps,
were noticeable on every house. Not
one house was freshly painted. Alleys
back of these streets are strangers to
rubbish collectors. Huge piles. of
junk, sawdust, rotten mattresses,
manure, ashes, garbage, add their de-
pressing aroma to the air, which is
ciogged with the cinders and smoke |
drifting over from the adjacent
Illinois Central railroad tracks. Fire
escapes are unknown. Fences are
broken down, rain spouts fallen to
the ground, many porches are so
fallen in that only one entrance in
the house can be used. From 300 |
on Federal and Dearborn Streets, as
far south as the DAILY WORKER !
investigator walked-about a mile
all the toilets are back privies. What
little plumbing there is in the houses
is so rusted and broken that in many
cases the roomers have to go next