Evening star., 1924-02-22

| 600 lines OF advertising OF Houses
for Sale" whereas for the past six
January, 1924: sompiled); they ex- =
said Mr.. McKeever. "in place of try
ing TO rent houses, the owners are
| ly, If the houses produced abnormal
ly large incomes khe policy OF the
| owners would be to consider them
as an investment yielding good re-
turn"
Gives Apartment Figures.
! He next called attention to a chart
I showing the lines of advertising on
! Apartments for Rent"
| In the time OF war there was in
the neighborhood of $4,000 lines of
| advertising per month under this
classification, and during the critical
shortage Of 1918 and 1919 this fell to
approximately 5000 lines.
! For the past year, the figures for
April. July, October and January in
dicate." be said. that the monthly ad :
/ vertisins was in excess Of 10000 lines,
! or more than twice as much as was
! inserted in normal times Certainly
these real estate brokers and owners
would not spend money for advertis-
ing II the demand was not soft and
the supply much larger than normal"
/ The next chart he described shows
the lines of advertising from people
: VINO wanted to rent houses and apart
mentS In normal time this business
amounted to less than 1000 lines per
month. but during the critical short
F., age of 1913 and 1919 about 5000 lines
month were inserted. be cause peo-
pie could not obtain houses or apart
! inentS from the real estate brokers
due TO the shortage
! Sees More Space Available.
; however, this shortage has been
growing less acute he said, "and we
!. ma that in January, 1924, there was
! !,o05 lines OF this advertisi:e which
| indicates that we have returned to
| normal times and that the situation
mas been relieved to the point where
Il IS no loPser necessary for persons
wanting ~ rent to advertise to secure
tne space they DESIRE"
ootae, me chart based on advertising
covering rooms for rent showed that
IN 1914. 1915. 1916 and 1917 there were
ABOUT 10000 lines of advertising of
rooms for rent" and that in recent
years this has been over 10000 so
the present time
he exhibited another chart showing
the increase in the six items which
enter into the cost of living as anal
! iata iah ana reported by the bureau of
hartment Of Labor. You may note
from this chart" he pointed out that
4! housing" has increased far less than
any or the items which enter into the
cost of living
doubts Tenants Figures.
"hlle tenants may testify that
their rent has increased 100 per cent
'or more, or members of the Rent
commission may testify that from
thcir observation rents have increas-
auv per cent or more. neither the
osnahis nor the rent commissioners
d. StdtlSticlanS, and their. individual |
opinions should not be considered in
view OF the statistics compiled by an
asehcS oil the government whose
.unctlon IT is to obtain and digest
housing" @iuuc
ne submitted statement prepared
pH tue bureau of labor statistics for
! IIcieasc IN the morning papers of
oahuar! -, I324 which showed nine
teeh cues where the per cent of in
crease for these six items ent.r into
the E.lnS cost are compared vim
December. 1914 Will
IN the following cities rent had in
any Of the other items which enter
INTO II, the cost of living: Boston. Mass
Houston. Tex; Jack ksonyilJn Fla
moblic. Ala; Portland. Ne; san
wa.hi sancisco and Oakland, Calf, and
In the following cities bousips
mas had the lowest increase Of anv
but one, of the listed items. Hai,i
more, Md; Buffalo. y. Y: CIaycIand
/ ohio; New York. y. Y; Norfolk, Va :
lniiaoeiphla. Pa; Portland, Ore. ;
Since in fifteen of these nineteen
cities rent has increased less than
any other item or less, but one, il is
quite evident that there is no need
t%r tf resulhtion of housing. either
where" argued Mr.. McKecver.
ON the other hand, in fifteen of
these nineteen cities furniture and
furnishings have increased more
! than any OF the listed items, SO II
would appear that there is more need
to regulate furniture and furnish
inGs. which is practically as much a
part of the home as the dwelling
than to control or attempt to con-
troll the item Whict: has been most
reasonable in its advances
Percentage OF Increase.
Mr. Mckeexer also explained to the
committee chart show ing the per-
centage of increase in the six items
which enter into cost of living for
the nineteen cities where December,
1928, is compared with 1914 by the
bureau of labor statistics.
None of these nineteen cities he
Stlu, SHOWS housing as the hlShcSt
item. With the possible exception
of food. housing In every case has
been the most reasonable in it's in
creases, in spite of the fact that the
increase in construction costs and i'll
labor rates has been notoriousIy high,
he declared.
Ills OF Rent Raise.
The committee heard Paul Z. Birch
603 l. Park road, street car motor
man, who told how his rent had been
increased from $3.50 to $3.50 and
that the Rent Commission had ordered
it reduced to S35. He said the Rent
Commission ought to be continued,
because sit is a godsend to the peo-
pie What w ould have become of me
without it?' He said his landlord had
already threatened that as soon as
the Rent Commission went out of ex-
istence. "out you GO"
Representative Blanton suggested
that the subcommittee had heard
many complaints of tenants and
ought now to adopt general policy.
He stressed that his own resolution,
to have a survey of the housing sit
uation made by the police depart
ment, ought to furnish the committee
with valuable information.