The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-02-18
QUESTION OF LIVE OR DIE

Uncle Sam when he is fighting for his life.
And it is ridiculous to assert that land
lord can save" money keeping his house
vacant, instead of renting it, unless the rent
is extremely low. And there are no extreme
ly low rents in Key West today.
All of which is pertinent to the report
that some Key West landlords refuse to
cent their houses or apartments at the
amounts that have been set by the rent-con-
troll office.
Let us dig deep into facts and be frank
with ourselves while we dig.
Profiteering in rents was becoming gen
eral in Key West before the rent-control Of
flee was established here Many instances
may be cited, but two are enough. We know
of one apartment that, in normal times was
rented at $40 month"; and the price had
been lacked up till it reached S85 We know
of house that was, and still is, little more
than a shack that brought in to its owner
$125 A month.
Those are exceptions, you may assert,
but such is not the case though we do know
of a good many landlords who refused to
take advantage of the conditions brought
about by the war and rented their places at
fair rents. If there were any exceptions, thew
pertained to the latter, not the former cases.
Sock while the seeking is good seemed
to be the dominant thought among some
owners Of rentable properties in Key West,
and there's no telling at what sums gouging
owners would have had their rents fixed by
this time had not Uncle Sam stepped into
the picture
Thus, if there is any complaint about
low rents in Key West today, the bulk of
the blame should be placed on the Shout
ders of profiteering landlords.
"Hunh," somebody may grunt, The
Citizen is backing down from it's former po-
sition!'
The Citizen is not doing any such
thing. The Citizen believes now, as it be-
lieved before, that the rent ceiling should
have been pegged at the March, 1912, CELL
ing, instead of at the prices charged in De-
tOber 1941. But that does not alter the fact
that it is foolish to try to fight Uncle Sam.
and ridiculous to say one can save money by
keeping his house or apartment off rent at
the prices set by the rent-control office
Let any landlord, who is taking that
position, ask himself this question: "Were
there no war and were times normal, would
rent my house for the amount fixed by the
rent-ceiling?"
On top of that question this one NAV be
propounded: How many of us would have
been delighted to rent below those ceilings
when there was little demand for housing
accommodations?
Finally, any Key Wester or anybody
else, who thinks he can spite the government
by keeping houses vacant is fooling nobody
except himself. Besides, this fact should not
be Overlooked there is an acute shortage of
housing accommodations in Key West and
every effort should be made to alleviate that
condition, even though we think we are los
ing few dimes in doing so.
Men at the front sometimes are glad
to have foXholeS in which to sleep. The only
way we, on the home front, can help those.
men is to send them abundant supplies of
all kinds. Every disadvantage on the home.
front has its repercussion on the firing line.
and it is surely grave disadvantage to a
worker in war plant not to have place
in which to eat or to sleep.
Keeping houses off rent affects war
workers, because, were it not for their
presence in Key West, hundreds of houses
would be unoccupied
Don't try to fight Uncle Sam, when he
is flinging everything, including the stove"
4
unpatriotic also.
Remember the men on the firing line.
1t is question of live or die with them, not