Evening star., 1945-09-25
Letters to The Star
Landlord Tells His Troubles
In Time of War

Home builders have had all Govern
ment restrictions lifted by Mobilization
Director Snyder. How about lifting or
amending the d. c. rent control law?
II the ceiling on the price of houses
has been lifted, then there should be
no ceiling on rentals.
I would like to call Representative
Randolph's and Senator Bilbo's atten-
ton to the fact that the D. @. Rent
Control Board is forcing many prewar
landlords to sell their property because
Of low rentals which they refuse to
adjust.
Morris Cafritz testified at the House
District Committee on September 10,
1945, that the act "has done nothing
but good for the tenant" That sums it
up In a nutshell.
A landlord can present to the Rent
Control Board figures to prove that he
Is operating at loss due to 200 per
cent increase In maintenance cost, but
as far as the Rent Control Board Is
concerned he can continue to operate
at loss.
I, for one, took a beating all during
the war, but the war Is over and I do
not intend to continue to operate at q
loss. This condition has forced me and
many other landlords to sell our prop
erty. dispossessing many families. My
houses represent my life savings and
total income. Wage earners, under the
Little Steel Formula" were allowed IS
per cent increase, but prewar landlords
have not been allowed any increase.
PREWAR LANDLORD.
Proximity Fuses for Bombs
To the Editor of The Star:
When the secret of the proximity
fuse" was revealed for the first time
last week, the news stories, apart from
discussing its peacetime possibilities, de-
scribed this tremendously important ra-
dar device only in terms of how 1t
had revolutionized the accuracy and
deadliness of antiaircraft and artillery
shells. This left the impression that 1t
had not been used in bombs, and The
Stars editorial on the subject said 1t
apparently had not, excepting per-
haps the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atom
ic missiles.
For the sake of the record, this i'm
pression-which seems to have stemmed
from a mixup in the timing of various
official releases-should be corrected.
The fact is that before the wars end,
the proximity fuse" had been used not
only in antiaircraft and artillery shells
but in aerial bombs and airborne rockets
as well. It's first major combat use in
this respect was during the saturation
bombing of Two Jima last February, and
it helped to demoralize the enemy else
where in the Pacific through the bomb
ing and rocketing of places like Wake.
Luzon, Okinawa and Kyushu in Japan
proper. Moreover, our 18th Air Force
introduced it in Italy last April, and at
about the same time the 9th Air Force
began throwing 1t with devastating ef-
feet against fax batteries defending the
western approaches to Germany.
These are but few illustrations to
things than shells. The one for bombs
and airborne rockets, which differs
structurally from the one for shells, was
developed principally by the National
Bureau Of Standards under the auspices
of the National Defense Research Com
mittee's Division headed by DR.. Alex
ander Elicit, other members being Drs.
Lyman J. Briggs, w. D. Coolidge, John
T. Tate and Hugh L. Dryden, and F. L.
Hovde and Harry Diamond. Work on
the project. carried out in cooperation
with the Ordnance Department and
numerous universities and industrial
laboratories, began as far back as De-
cember, 1910. w. H. H.