per cent gross, but at the end of a period, I think, of about six years we found that the estate I was interested in had lost over $30,000 on 15 per cent gross.

Senator POMERENE. Did you have it all rented?

Capt. PEYSER. We had it all rented most of the time.
Senator POMERENE. You lost how much?

Capt. PEYSER. $30,000.

Senator POMERENE. Where was the leak?

Capt. PEYSER. The leak was simply in the overhead charges. The cost was very severe. The janitors, a constantly increasing demand upon the janitor, and other things, the light and coal and things of that sort made the proposition a losing one. We sold it, and at the present time I am not interested in any manner or form in any apartment house in the city of Washington. The only one I ever had was the one I built, and sold in April of last year. I think it would be necessary to obtain 20 per cent, at least, gross to come out on an apartment house. Of course, I do not know what the increase has been in the last year, so that I have not followed them at all.

Senator HOLLIS. It seems to me that the matter of gross returns is hardly a fair measure, because you may start merely turning the house over to tenants, and from that you can go all the way up until you can not tell whether you are running a hotel or an apartment house; and when you come to running a hotel, the gross returns have nothing to do with the net returns.

Capt. PEYSER. This was unfurnished apartments; no furnished apartments or rooms in it whatever.

Maj. Potter is in sympathy with the rest of the sections of the Johnson bill. He wanted me to state that fact and that he thinks that the other features, pertaining to the apartment houses, are all right. Senator SHERMAN. May I inquire how much those weekly charges are for the Government furnishing board and lodging?

Capt. PEYSER. I can give you some concrete cases. At a place on Four-and-a-half Street and John Marshall Place, near C Street, which is being used by men connected with the Army Medical School, they are paying between $37.50 and $45 a month for room and breakfast and dinner-no luncheon.

Senator SHERMAN. Have you any figures there on room rent alone? Capt. PEYSER. Yes. At a place, No. 1600 Rhode Island Avenue, which is now being occupied by Army officers alone, they are paying from $20 to $35 per person for room alone, but the building is a very large building, and it is almost like a hotel. But I might say that at No. 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, which is conducted for young ladies, the rate for room and board-breakfast and dinner-will be between $40 and perhaps $42.50 per month.

Senator SHERMAN. You furnish board alone, do you?

Capt. PEYSER. No, sir. Of course the intent of the organization in the department was the housing and lodging.

Mr. BATES WARREN. May I ask a question?

Senator POMERENE. Yes.

Mr. BATES WARREN. Have you figured to see what they could get as rent for those rooms under the Johnson bill?

Capt. PEYSER. No; I have not, personally.

Mr. BATES WARREN. Do you think they could get one-half or onethird as much under the Johnson bill as they are now charging?

Capt. PEYSER. I would not like to answer that, because I have not figured that.

Mr. SHREVE. Captain, how many are there in those rooms, one or two in a room?

Capt. PEYSER. Where the room is small, only one. rooms they have as many as four.

Senator POMERENE. How large a room?

In the large

Capt. PEYSER. A very large room, I might say 30 by 12 feet, in the front of the house No. 1515 Massachusetts Avenue. I have inspected every one of those houses. In the house across the street on Rhode Island Avenue they have two in a room. At Eleventh and New York Avenue, in what was formerly known as Endree's Hotel, they are placing one in a room and giving room and board-breakfast and dinner--for $40 a month.

Mr. SHREVE. That is not a very desirable neighborhood, is it? Capt. PEYSER. No; I was just giving you according to the neighborhood and according to location and size of rooms. I have not figured out the proposition on the basis of the Johnson bill. Maj. Potter did so in the case of a small house, where the rental would be $5.65 a month.

Senator DILLINGHAM. Do you have any more difficulty finding accommodations for ladies than for the men?

Capt. PEYSER. Yes, sir; a great deal more.
Senator DILLINGHAM. Why is that?

Capt. PEYSER. Because men are willing to go to different parts of the city, and young ladies, the great majority of them, like to be within walking distance of their offices.

Senator DILLINGHAM. Are there any other reasons?

Capt. PEYSER. Transportation is not very good, either.

Senator DILLINGHAM. I have been told that those who own houses prefer to take gentlemen rather than ladies because they are out most of the time, and they go not care to go into the kitchen and wash out shirt waists, and things of that kind. Have you discovered anything of the kind?

Capt. PEYSER. No; we have not. I will say that the majority of the houses being maintained at the present time are being maintained for the young ladies. Outside of the one on John Marshall Place and the one on Rhode Island Avenue and the one on New Hampshire Avenue, all the houses are for ladies alone. We do not mix the two. The houses are either exclusively for the young ladies or for men alone.

Senator POMERENE. The subcommittee will adjourn now until to-morrow morning, when we will hear Mr. Brown the first thing in the morning.

Mr. LINKINS. Mr. Chairman

The CHAIRMAN. Do you desire to be heard?

Mr. LINKINS. For the board of trade; yes, sir.

Senator POMERENE. Can you be here to-morrow morning?

Mr. LINKINS. I will make an effort to be here.

Mr. SHREVE. Mr. Chairman, I represent the Federation of Citizens' Associations-that is, the consumers and I desire to be heard. Senator POMERENE. Let those who desire to be heard leave their names here with the clerk of the committee.

(At 1 o'clock p. m. the subcommittee adjourned until to-morro w Wednesday, March 27, 1918, at 10 o'clock a. m.)

ANTIPROFITEERING RENT BILL.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 1918.

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF COMMITTEE ON DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10 o'clock a. m., pursuant to adjournment, in the committee room, Capitol, Senator Atlee Pomerene presiding.

Present: Senators Pomerene (chairman), Hollis, Dillingham, and Sherman.

Senator POMERENE. I stated yesterday that I had asked the legislative reference service of the Library of Congress to look up the British legislation along this line, and they sent to me yesterday, by special messenger, legislation bearing on this subject in Great Britain, New South Wales, and New Zealand. I have not had the time to read this, but I think you will all be interested in it, and I am going to ask that it be incorporated in the record.

(The matter referred to is here printed in full in the record, as follows:)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Washington, March 26, 1918.

DEAR SENATOR: In response to the request contained in your letter of the 25th instant, received this morning, for information regarding foreign legislation during the war relative to the fixing of rent charges, I am inclosing herewith copies of the material which we have already prepared in the legislative reference files, namely, the laws enacted in Great Britain, New South Wales, and New Zealand.

I find from our index to the Journal Officiel of France that there are many references to decrees, ministerial orders, and circulars on the subject of rents and leases since the outbreak of the war. I do not believe these will contain any material bearing on the bill at present before your committee, but I shall have them examined carefully and shall advise you further if they are found to contain any pertinent material.

WAR RESTRICTIONS ON INCREASE OF RENT AND MORTGAGE INTEREST.

[War restrictions act, 1915, 5 and 6 Geo. 5, c. 97.]

AN ACT To restrict, in connection with the present war, the increase of the rent of small dwelling houses and the increase of the rate of interest on and the calling in of securities on such dwelling houses. (Dec. 23, 1915.)

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

RESTRICTIONS ON RAISING RENT OR RATE OF MORTGAGE INTEREST.

1. (1) Where the rent of a dwelling house to which this act applies, or the rate of interest on a mortgage to which this act applies, has been, since the com

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mencement of the present war, or is hereafter during the continuance of this act, increased above the standard rent or the standard rate of interest as hereinafter defined, the amount by which the rent or interest payable exceeds the amount which would have been payable had the increase not been made shall, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, be irrecoverable: Provided that

(i) This subsection shall not apply to any rent or mortgage interest which accrued due before the twenty-fifth day of November, nineteen hundred and fifteen; and

(ii) Where the landlord has, since the commencement of the present war, incurred, or during the continuance of this act incurs, expenditure on the improvement or structural alteration of a dwelling house (not including expenditure on decoration or repairs), an increase of rent at a rate not exceeding six per cent per annum on the amount so expended shall not be deemed to be an increase for the purposes of this act; and

(iii) Any transfer to a tenant of any burden or liability previously borne by the landlord shall for the purposes of this act be treated as an alteration of rent, and where, as the result of such a transfer, the terms on which a dwelling house is held are, on the whole, less favorable to the tenant than the previous terms, the rent shall be deemed to be increased, whether or not the sum periodically payable by way of rent is increased, and any increase of rent in respect of any transfer to a landlord of any burden or liability previously borne by the tenant where, as the result of such transfer, the terms on which a dwelling house is held are, on the whole, more favorable to the tenant than the previous terms, shall be deemed not to be an increase of rent for the purposes of this act; and if any question arises under this proviso, the question shall be determined by the county court, whose decision shall be final and conclusive; and

(iv) Where the landlord pays the rates chargeable on, or which but for the enactments relating to compounding would be chargeable on, the occupier of any dwelling house, an inrcease of the rent of the dwelling house shall not be deemed to be an increase for the purposes of this act if the amount of the increase does not exceed any increase in the amount for the time being payable by the landlord in respect of such rates over the corresponding amount paid in respect of the yearly, half yearly, or other period which included the third day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and for the purposes of this proviso the expression "rates" includes water rents and charges; and

(v) Where the rate of mortgage interest has been increased in compliance with, or in consequence of, a notice in writing demanding either repayment of the mortgage or an increased rate of interest given prior to the fourth day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen, such increase shall not be deemed to be an increase for the purposes of this act; and

(vi) Wherever an increase of rent is by this act permitted no such increase shall be due or recoverable until the expiry of four clear weeks after the landlord has served upon the tenant a notice in writing of his intention to increase the rent, accompanied—

(a) Where the increase of rent is on account of such expenditure as is mentioned in proviso (ii) to this subsection, by a statement of the improvements or alterations effected and of their cost; and

(b) Where the increase of rent is on account of an increase in rates, by a statement showing particulars of the increased amount charged in respect of rates on the dwelling house; and

(c) Where such a notice has been served on any tenant the increase may be continued without service of any fresh notice on any subsequent tenant.

(2) A person shall not, in consideration of the grant, renewal, or continuance of a tenancy of any dwelling house to which this act applies require the payment of any fine, premium, or other like sum in addition to the rent; and where any such payment has been made in respect of any such dwelling house after the twenty-fifth day of November, nineteen hundred and fifteen, then the amount shall be recoverable by the tenant by whom it was made from the landlord and may without prejudice to any other method of recovery be deducted from any rent payable by him to the landlord, but this provision shall not apply to any payment under an agreement entered into before the fourth day of August, 1914.

(3) No order for the recovery of possession of a dwelling house to which this act applies or for the ejectment of a tenant therefrom shall be made so long as the tenant continues to pay rent at the agreed rate as modified by this act and performs the other conditions of the tenancy, except on the ground that the