Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-02-13

~ tention. This
- - year. hardly
MIR. PICKERING any bo d y
seems to pay attention to the
primary election that will be
held Monday:
Among the issues are the
questions of whether judges who
have gone to war should retain
their Offices. and whether courts
should be held at night for the
benefit of people who work five,
six or seven days a week. The
candidates. however. seem con-
siderably disturbed because no
body seems to pay much atten-
ton.
>As far as that goes, the law
and the courts haven't had
~ much to do since the war
started. There Il less crime,
although there II n tendency for
violent crime 10 increase. and
for Juvenile delinquency TO rise.
Other types Of crime decline.
Siler Freeman is another law
yer who has a nonlegal vocation,
too. He is the automobile edi-
tor OF this paper He adds that
civil law suits are not as numer-
GUS since the war. One reason.
ne says. is that people have a
little more money and are more
apt to settle dispute rather
than fight il out in court.
Lawyers are doing other types
Of war work too. For instance,
agencies like the OPA need large
numbers of lawyers. G. e org e
Johnson is one man I know-an
attorney now working in the
rent control division
Rent control seems simple
enough on the surface, but any
thing OF that sort always brings
problems that nobody saw ahead
of time. (For example, the day
after shoe rationing took effect,
officials were peppered with
questions like. "How does this
affect n man with one leg. who
wants 10 buy only one shoe :"
AS long as rent control has
been in effect. officials still have
a steady procession of people
who can't decide what 10 do.
II isn't always the tenant who
calls for help. Johnson says.
Sometimes the landlord gets a
raw deal.
Many times, he says. tenant
mistreats the house he lives in.
When the landlord protests, the
amt says, II can do anything
Sant to. and you can't put me
out
They will discover, however
that the landlord CAN kick
them out
Oddly enough. johnson has
learned, many tenants seemed
90 get mad at the landlord after
rem, control started. He doesn't
know why.
There are cases." he said, "of
tenants who used to be on good
terms with their landlords
friends, In fact. But now In
stead Of beinR friendly, they go
around and sling the rent check
at the landlord and call him
names"
If the landlords were raising
The rent. you could understand
ibis attitude. but since the land
lord is prohibited by law from
doing so. it is hard 10 see what
TIE tenants are sore about.
The human race is Just plain
goofy. Texas Guinan proved
this when she found that people
would pay good money 10 GO TO
her night club and be called
suckers.
Man is supposed to be a rea-
sonable creature, but dogs al
ways display more good sense
than people do. So do children.
Even cats sometimes do.
But not adult human beings.
Prohibition was a fine example
or this. People became chummy
with bootleggers, and made
bosom pals out Of thugs who
were strictly disreputable. And
Dragged about IT.
The same thing is true Of
TX markets. Everybody knows
St Vrationing is done for the
good of everybody. But still
people are proud Of knowing
somebody who sells them meat
al an outrageous price. and has
no conjunction at all about
selling uninspected meat that
may be diseased or spoiled for
all Nc knowS-or cares.