The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-02-22
Daily Worker Begins
Series on Rent Problem
(Coatinlled ION Paae ~

Continued from Page O1le)
tage. make the most of it, the public
be damned. 1t was-and how?
remember, seven years ago when
vas the editor Of several local conf
munity newspapers, sitting on the
platform before a meeting Of the city
parliament of community councils, in
the aldermanic chamber Of the City
Hall, when resolution of protest was
drafted to be sent to the United Real
Estate Owners Association of Great
er New York It urged the reduc-
ton of rentals, and included figures,
calculations and statistics proving
/ that rents could be appreciably re-
duced throughout the city while land
/ lords would still receive at least so
per cent more than their pre-war in
come in spite Of any future increase
taxes.
Tossed Into Wastebasket.
One week later ] was present at
the meeting of the executive commit
tee of the Real Estate Owners As
ISOLATION in the Hotel Waldorf
Astoria. The resolution was read.
Then the secretary filed it in con-
venient wastebasket. Immediately
afterward, with a precision that was
unconsciously sarcastic, a committee
was appointed to cooperate with an
expert accountant to determine to just
what extent it would be safe to fur
Their increase rentals.
] II, rfv~ IN
structed the delegates from the
numerous locals of the organization to
advise the members they represented
to "jack up rents to the top-notch-
so that the individual landlord will
have made enough to be able to afford
empty apartments, rather than lower
the rents, when the depression in
real estate comes" The depression
was forecasted for this year-it has
been put off now for five years.
The Landlords Role.
Meanwhile the housing situation is
becoming worse every day. Who are
guilty?
First. there is the individual land
lord. Well organized into real estate
associations. he has taken advantage
of every opportunity to raise the
rents without making any repairs OF
improvements. No sooner did the
housing shortage arise, than wait
ing lists" came into vogue. Land
lords kept lists of people who desired
rooms. From these lists he selected
only those whom he knew would be
willing to do without repairs. and who
would accept raises without making
any complaint. If tenant caused
any trouble, he could easily dispossess
& him, and the rooms re-rented the
same day by consulting the waiting
lists"
Tenants were blacklisted. Powerful
Hobbies were maintained at the legis-
lature to Illustrate the passage Of re-
lief measures. The courts felt the
Influence of the undercover operations
Of the real estate owners.
Mergers In Landlordism.
Then, there are the corporations
owning strings of houses throughout
the city. These have a separate or
ganizati0n OF their own, cooperating
with the other, having as a sole pur-
pose the scalping Of the rent-payer.
Finally, I would include the pro
fiteering building contractors, and the
scarcity Of moderately priced new
buildings. Only a negligible few Of
the new buildings erected in Manhat
tan have unfinished rooms for less
than twenty dollars a month pei
room. Only in Queens and Richmond
are there any,, and even these are
few.
The New York worker is becoming
desperate. He is caught in the center
Of the vicious circle, and he cannot
even go around with it. And the
major cause is the housing situation
This series Of articles will analyz,
that situation.
/ ri Hill n.