Evening star., 1935-02-03
First-Get the Facts,

war time measures imposed under
duress of suddenly and dan
gerously crowded city, has been
proposed already and other measures
are being considered by individual
members of Congress. AS there are
more tenants than landlords and as
most members of Congress, sojourn-
ing in Washington, are lessees rather
than lessons, the possibility of oppres-
sive and unfair rental legislation is ap-
parent enough to put fair-minded
legislators on their guard.
Rental legislation is intended pri-
marily to punish and thus pre-
vent the universally condemned
evil of extortion through excess
sive rents and other sharp prac-
tices of which scme rascally landlords
may be guilty. But the tendency of
such legislation is to strike at all
owners of rental property in order to
get at the few who may be guilty of
reprehensible practices. Thus the
activities of few rascals in the busi-
ness may tempt legislators to seek the
virtual naturalization of all rental
property in the District, with the
accompanying destruction Of the ordi-
nary rights of all rental property
owners. The experience of the COM
munity under wartime anti-prof1teer-
ing and rental control experiments
should be enough to make every rental
property owner jealous of the inter-
eStS of his own tenants, and actively
interested in the enforcement of VOL
among those in the rental business
Non -profiteering owners of rental
property will naturally be quick to
cooperate to curb rental proflteering
by others in order to protect their
own property from seizure by the Gov
ernment. The mere threats of such
general seizure should suffice to bring
correction of the proflteering evil
without the enactment of legislation
which may impair the obligation of
contracts and will punish the just as
well as the unjust by taking control
Of their property from the innocent as
well as the guilty.
The rent commission bill which has
been introduced in the House by Mr..
Ellenbogen of Pennsylvania follows
in general the provisions of the So
called Ball rent law of war times.
These provisions, in the words Of the
bill, are:
Made necessary by emergencies
growing out of the war against the
depression, resulting in rental condi-
tions in the District of Columbia dam
gerous to the public and burdensome
to public officers and employees whose
duties require them to reside within
the District, and other persons whose
activities are essential to the nainte-
nance and comforts of such officers
and employees, and thereby embarrass-
ing the Federal Government In the
transaction of public business.
Any such declaration must be sup
ported by demonstrable facts before
its acceptance as the Just basis for
drastic rental legislation placing in
the hands of commission the right
to void contracts, freely and volun-
tarily entered into between landlord
and tenant, and the arbitrary rule over
all other relationships between land
lords and tenants. 1t is assumed that
It will be the purpose of the House
District Committee to seek the facts,
and carefully to sift the evidence
offered in their support, concerning
the actual conditions in Washington
today which may demand correction
through legislation. Such evidence, of
course, would not be confined to the
isolated experiences of apartment
seekers who have been unable to find
in Washington the accommodations
they enjoyed at home. The committee
will not accept as complete evidence
Of an unjustified increase in rents the
fact that some tenants have had to
pay more, but will examine the basis
for the additional charge demanded by
the landlord. The committee will not,
on the showing of facts relating to the
skullduggery of some landlords, con-
clude that they are typical and that,
as o result, the Federal Government
is, In truth, embarrassed in the trans
action Of its public business.
In other words, it Is yet to be
shown that an emergency such as is
pictured does in fact exist In Wash
ington. That must be shown before
legislation is enacted to deal with the
emergency. And such legislation, if
found necessary, need not 90 to the
extreme Of taking the management Of
all private rental property out of the
hands of the owners in order to
penalize the occasional prof1teer.
There are specific provisions Of the
Ellenbogen bill and the Dirksen resolu-
tion-both aimed with good intent
at the prevention of rent profiteering-
which were found to be unjustly op-
pressive and hurtful even in the emer-
eencies Of war. But analysis Of these
and other bills may await the neces-
sary first step. which is the establish
meut. beyond O doubt, Of the existence
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