Evening star., 1932-12-30
Member of thu Associated Press,
The Strictest Landlord.

ncluQeQ III Jlle ICCouAAlCAoosASA1S
made by the special investigator for
the Senate District Committees sub
Sommittee inquiring into local rents and
real estate practices was proposed
moratorium for six months on FORE
closures Of mortgages and deeds OF
trust; the delegation of special au-
thority to the Municipal Court to stay
execution Of writs of eviction, when
such eviction would work hardship, and
amendment Of the eviction laws to pre-
vent eviction of tenants or execution
Of writs Of restitution for non-payment
Of rent provided the tenant pays rents
and nominal court costs before date set
for eviction.
One consideration that should be
borne in mind in connection with ex-
isting conditions In the real estate bus
1ness Is that, generally speaking, no
real estate man or mortgage holder will
move to foreclose or to evict If there Is
any way Of avoiding 1t. 1t is unneces-
sary to attribute this to any charitable
or altruistic motives on their part. In
the present condition Of the real estate
market 1t is better to have premises
occupied and tenants paying something,
or trying to pay something, than to
foreclose or eNct.
The interesting question is whether, If
search were made for the landlord with
the flintiest heart, he would be found
among the men in the banking and
real estate business or whether he would
be personified by our own munic-
ipal government. There are many
foreclosures and eWctions In Wash
ington these days. But next month
the municipal government Of the
District of Columbia is selling"
approximately $4,000 parcels of prop
erty In this city for non-payYent Of
taxes. That is the greatest number Of
ceeds by 1000 last years record sale.
And there is no dickering with the
municipal government when it comes to
paying taxes. Either you pay your taxes
or your property Is sold" The man
buying q home, or the renter Of prop
erty, if acting in good faith and with
. sood record behind him, will, in the
majority Of cases, have little difficulty
In obtaining from his landlord or note
holder some degree Of leniency If he
falls behind in his payments. But the
municipal government makes no excep-
tons.
1t is true that the "sale" OF tax
delinquent property may serve only 10
cloud the title and does not mean
actual transfer of the property. But
after the sale the owner Is penahzed
by usurious interest, at the rate OF !
Der cent a month, or IL per cent y'"r,
for two years and 8 per cent there
after, before he can redeem his prop
erty. The property owner may have
been hit by the depression and have
made all sorts Of economies in his liv-
ing standards. He may be 1ivin; on
halt Of what he lived on in 1920.
But his municipal government, which
1SZU was COStLlS uS6roo1, 1dAA Acc
costs in the fiscal year 1882 to $48,-
1886. A Police Department that IN
1920 cost $1,6s3,8o1, cost $3,50o,0oo in
1882. Local courts which cost the tax
payers $557, $50 in 1920 cost the tax
payers $l,004,951 in 1892. Miscel-
laneous Offices at the District Building
which cost 1895, 1896 in 1920 are costing,
with additions of personnel and new
functions. some $2,5l1,345 today. Such
comparisons might be indefinitely pro-
longed The point is that taxes con-
stitute one of the few items in the
cost Of living and the height Of rents
and price of property that has not de-
creased. And no leniency is shown by
the tax collector.
Yet few persons would take the po-
sttion that there should be mora
torium for six months on taxes. The
municipal government must exist and
must continue to function and continue
municipal improvements. That, how
ever, does not remove the Difficulty of
understanding why moratoriums are
tuNtifed in one class Of debts and not
justified In all others.