102 L Street, SE.; 511 L Street, SE.; 618 L Street, SE.; 800 L Street, NW.; 1833 L Street, NW.; 2008 L Street, NW.; 1232 Linden Street, NE.; the Melrose, 1343 Clifton Street, NW., 119 per cent.

The Montgomery, 512 U Street. NW., 1651⁄2 per cent.

The Mt. Pleasant 3153 Mount Pleasant Street, NW.; 2318 M Street, NW.; 44 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.; 31 Michigan Avenue, NE.; 650 Morris Street, NE.; 750 Morton Place, NE.; 306 McLean Street, SW.; the New Berne, 11131117 Twelfth Street, NW., 100 per cent.

The Newport, 2164 Florida Avenue, NW.; the Newry, 1115-Eighth Street, NW.; the Norwood, 1341-45 East Capitol Street, 95 per cent.

626 N Street, NW.; 2116 N Street, NW.; 2427 N Street, NW.; 1128 New Jersey Avenue, SE.; 1130 New Jersey Avenue, SE.; 1633 Newton Street, NW.; 805 Ninth Street, NE.; 1338 North Capitol Street, 1631 Nineteenth Street, NW.; 2703 N Street, NW.; 2714 N. Street, NW.; the Octavia, 1669 Columbia Road, NW., 101 per cent.

3322 O Street, NW.; 3218 O Street, NW.; 3322 O Street, NW.; 701 One-half Street, SW.; 703 One-half Street, SW.; 707 One-half Street, SW.; 631 Orleans Street, NE.; the Palmer, 1450 Girard Street, NW., 60 per cent.

1515 Park Road NW., 100 per cent.

1517 Park Road NW.; 1523 Park Road NW., 66% per cent.

1527 Park Road NW.; the Parker, 3300 Sixteenth Street NW.; the Parkview, 423-27 Fourth Street NW., 772 per cent.

The Parkview, 610 Irving Street NW., 142 per cent.

The Pasadena, 2633 Adams Mill Road, 76 per cent.

The Plaza, 2210-16 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 98 per cent.

36 Porter Street NE., 42 per cent.

The Portsmouth, 1735 New Hampshire Avenue NW.; the Princeton, 1430 V Street NW.; 206 P Street NW.; 88 P Street NW.; 2622 P Street NW.; 606 Park Road NW.; 6062 Park Road NW.; 207 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.; 910 Pennsylvania Avenue SE.; 918 Pennsylvania Avenue SE.; 2816 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.; 30 Pierce Road NW.; 2225 Prout Street SE.; 162 Quander Street SE.; 1430 Rhode Island Avenue NW.; the Riviera, 223 H Street NW.; the Roland, 201 Second Street NE., 80 per cent.

The Rochester, 1438 Meridian Street NW.; 211 R Street NW.; the Sagamore, 1824 S Street NW., 1331⁄2 per cent.

The Seville, 2129 Eighteenth Street NW.; 2400 Sixteenth Street NW.; the Stanton, 128 C Street NE.; the Shelby, 1419 Columbia Road NW., 150 per cent. The Sheridan, 1523 Twenty-second Street NW.; the Seminole, 498 School Street SW.; 508 Seward Street SE.; 821 Second Street, SW.; 5081⁄2 Second Street SE.; 633 Second Street SW.; 720 Seventeenth Street NW.; 731 Seventh Street SE.; 926 Seventh Street SW.; 2355 Sherman Avenue NW.; 2357 Sherman Avenue NW.; 2359 Sherman Avenue NW.; 428 Sixteenth Street SE.; 746 Sixth Street NW.; 1020 Sixth Street NW.; 116 Sixteenth Street NE.; 425 Second Street SE.; 2618 Thirteenth Street NW.; 1666 Thirty-second Street NW., 100. per cent.

The Tokio, 3228 Hiatt Place NW., 85 per cent.

533 Twenty-first Street NW.; Tudor Ħall, 926 Massachusetts Avenue NW.; The Tulane, 2109 Eighteenth Street NW.; 1443 T Street NW.; 1833 T Street NW.; 322 Twenty-second Street NW.; 326 Twenty-second Street NW.; 1224 Twenty-fifth Street NW.; 1226 Twenty-fifth Street NW.; 1228 Twenty-fifth Street NW.; 1115 Twenty-first Street NW.; 1261 Third Street NW.; 517 Twentythird Street NW.; 1919 Twelfth Street NW.; 1153 Twenty-first Street NW.; 827 Twenty-sixth Street NW.; 808 Twenty-sixth Street NW.; 610 Twelfth Street NE.; 251 Third Street SW.; 412 Twenty-first Street NW.; 1717 Thirtythird Street NW.; 1330 Thirteenth Street NW.; 1311 Thirteenth Street NW.; 19B Todd Place NE.; 956 Twenty-sixth Street NW.; 1147 Twenty-first Street NW.; 527 Twenty-third Street NW.; 1921 Twenty-fifth Street NW.; 914 Twentyfifth Street NW.; 319 U Street NW.; 1257 Union Street SW.; 1338 V Street NW.; 1712 Vermont Avenue NW.; 1819 Vermont Avenue NW.; the Wallis, 1647 Lamont Street NW.; the Wallraff, 3025 Fifteenth Street NW., 113 per cent. The Warrington, 1801 Wyoming Avenue NW., 75 per cent.

The Wellington, 1701 Park Road NW., 112 per cent.

The Wentworth, 707 Twentieth Street NW.; the Wesley, 1421 Columbia Road, 712 per cent.

The Westover, 2501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.; the Westmoreland, 2122 California Avenue NW.; the Wilkshire, 1757 Columbia Road NW.; the Wilmington, 1811 Wyoming Avenue NW.; the Wilson, 2412 Seventeenth Street NW., 62 per cent.

The Winston, 3145 Mount Pleasant Street; the Wood, 219 T Street NE.; the Woodley, 1851 Columbia Road NW., 85 per cent.

The Worcester, 327 Second Street NE., 117 per cent.

The Woodworth, 1206 Tenth Street NW.; 247 W Street NW.; 410 Washington Street NW.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 88:

I, William T. Sabine, jr., secretary of the Rent Commission of the District of Columbia, do hereby certify that the foregoing list and supplemental lists of apartments and houses in the District of Columbia were compiled from notices to quit or notices of increased rentals reported by tenants, either in person, by telephone, or by letter, to employees of the Rent Commission of the District of Columbia between June 2, 1924, and January 24, 1925; that the commission has not received notices of increased rentals or notices to quit from all the tenants in all the apartment houses above mentioned; that in the column of percentages the per cent is figured on the demanded increase over the original rental paid by the tenant and not the last increased rental paid, and where two or more notices demanding increased rentals from tenants in the same apartment house have been received, the average of the increases demanded is given; that in cases where no percentage of increase is given, the tenant received a 30-days' notice to quit without demand for increase.

I further certify that said lists are to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief in all respects true and correct.

January 24, 1925.

WM. T. SABINE, Jr.,

Secretary of the Rent Commission of the District of Columbia. (Thereupon, at 12.02 o'clock p. m., the committee took a recess until 8 o'clock p. m.)

EVENING SESSION

The joint subcommittee met pursuant to adjournment at 8 o'clock p. m.

Present: Senators Ball (chairman) and Jones, and Representatives Lampert, Blanton, and Hammer.

Present also: Hon. Thomas P. Gore and others.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

This evening's testimony will be devoted entirely to the tenants. Now, I suppose the organization of tenants will have the right of way.

On Wednesday evening, tenants independent of any organization will have two or three hours, three hours if they desire it, but the organizations must close their testimony to-night.

Mrs. HENRY C. BROWN. Mr. Chairman, we would like to have as the first witness to-night Mr. Schirmer, the president of the Tenants' League, who will speak in his own behalf in refutation of the charges made by Mr. McKeever.

TESTIMONY OF MR. E. H. SCHIRMER

(The witness was thereupon sworn by the chairman.)

Mr. SCHIRMER. Mr. Chairman, I want to make a statement in regard to that contract that Mr. McKeever introduced into the record.

Mrs. Butts only loaned me $150 on September 4, for which I gave her my note. Mrs. Butts three or four days later notified me that she wished to drop the matter. I made two payments of $15 each on this note, but when the third curtail was due I was notified that the note must be paid in full, as I had in the meantime connected myself with the present Tenants' League, which is an entirely

different organization in which no one receives one dollar of salary. I was unable to meet the total sum at once. Mrs. Butts, through Attorney Friedburg, a relative of Maurice Baskin and Joseph Low, then brought suit against me for the balance of the note. I immediately borrowed the money to pay the note in full. After collecting the data printed in Senate Report No. 530, I became convinced that many tenants in Washington needed special help, both in advice on points not covered by the Rent Commission and in securing facts on rental and other property. I talked this over on several occasions with Mrs. Margaret Butts and Dr. Shannon Butts, her son. It seemed to me that such an office could be maintained on a business basis, but I was unable to finance such an undertaking. Mrs. Butts agreed to loan $500, taking a one-third interest in such a business. The contract did not contain one word in regard to large revenues, organization in other cities, or that many persons in the city of Washington would become members of such an organization.

I deeply resent, gentlemen, this attempt on the part of Robert McKeever to discredit the present Tenants' League by this unwarranted attack upon it.

I will now call upon Mrs. Brown to state the exact status of the Tenants' League.

The CHAIRMAN. I think Mr. McKeever stated in his testimony and he was purporting to be reading the contract, that either by letter or by contract it was provided that it would be a moneymaking proposition. Was there anything in the letter?

Mr. SCHIRMER. No, sir; and I have the contract here, which I desire to introduce in evidence.

(The contract referred to reads as follows:)

This contract made and entered into this 4th day of September, Edward H. Schirmer party of the first part, and Frances M. Butts, party of the second part, witnesseth that:

For and in consideration of $150 cash in hand paid by the party of the second part to the party of the first part, Edward H. Schirmer agrees and promises to meet the note given by him this day to the party of the second part for $150 in 30 days if by that time the party of the second part is not fully satisfied to become a partner with him in the Tenants' League of Washington, which he is now forming and for the expenses of which he is to use the money. If Frances M. Butts, party of the second part, is within 30 days fully satisfied to become a partner in the Tenants' League she is to pay Edward H. Schirmer the sum of $500, for which she is said to have one-third interest in said Tenants' League with all the rights pertaining thereto.

The CHAIRMAN. You deny that there was any statement of that kind made? Mr. SCHIRMER. Yes, and I call upon Mrs. Brown to supplement my statement in this regard.

Mr. GORE. Mr. Chairman, he is not leaving the stand now?
The CHAIRMAN. No.

FURTHER TESTIMONY OF MRS. HENRY C. BROWN

The CHAIRMAN. Mrs. Brown, you have already been sworn?
Mrs. BROWN. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And, of course, that covers any testimony you may give now.

Mrs. BROWN. I would like to state that on the 14th of last September I sent for Mr. Schirmer to come to my apartment, because I had read Senate Report No. 530, and he had been mentioned to me as a man conversant with the situation here in Washington. I never had seen Mr. Schirmer before and knew nothing about him; I was interested in the status of the tenants of this city.

Mr. Schirmer came over three times at my request to talk over the whole situation with me, and on the 17th of September it was decided to call together a little group of people in my apartment who were interested in this subject to discuss what should be done to help the tenants of Washington.

That evening we organized a tenants' league, and in the meanwhile I had talked over the advisability of such an organization with Mr. Schirmer and I had made it very clear and plain to him and he had thoroughly agreed with me that any organization of tenants must necessarily be not a money-making scheme in any way, shape, or manner, that it should be solely and entirely an altruistic proposition, to which he heartily agreed.

On the 17th of September we organized in my apartment the Tenants' League, and I would like to introduce in evidence the only printed matter we have in regard to the reasons why the Tenants' League was organized.

The CHAIRMAN. That will go into the record at this place. (The document referred to reads as follows:)

SIX REASONS WHY WE NEED YOU IN THE TENANTS' LEAGUE

1. To bring the membership up to an efficient organization. 2. To be able to select a large committee for the purpose of electing officers and an executive committee to properly conduct the affairs of the league.

3. To compete with other organizations, such as the real estate boards, builders'-owners' associations, and the bankers' associations in presenting the tenants' side at congressional hearings.

4. To help us investigate and put before Congress and the proper court officials illegal and fictitious real estate deals and stock and bond flotations involving the loss of other people's money, more especially the small investors.

5. To assist us in forming and maintaining an organization long needed by tenants.

6. And to stand with us in maintaining our rights, not only as tenants but as human beings and citizens.

Mrs. BROWN. That evening we decided to organize and we elected Mr. Schirmer as president of the Tenants' League, because we felt he knew more about the situation than any of us.

The CHAIRMAN. There was no understanding that evening, when you elected Mr. Schirmer, that there was to be any salary or any possible remuneration for any work he should do?

Mrs. BROWN. It was very distinctly understood that nobody connected with the Tenants' League should have any advantage from it whatsoever in any respect, financial or in any way. It was to be purely and entirely an altruistic organization, and it is to-day.

I want to present in evidence a financial statement of the Tenants' League from the 17th of September, on which it was organized, to the 26th of January-to-day. This statement is sworn to before a notary public, and has been examined by an auditor.

The total contributions received in cash by the Tenants' League amount to $400.95. There are two classes of members in the Tenants' League-those who pay a membership fee of $1 and a much larger number who pay nothing at all. They simply wished to join the Tenants' League and were not able to pay even a dollar membership fee.

The CHAIRMAN. What was the purpose for which the dollar fee was levied?

Mrs. BROWN. That is a dollar a year. We knew that we could not carry on an organization without some expenditure. We needed some money to run with.

The CHAIRMAN. But not for salaries?

Mrs. BROWN. Not for salaries.

I am going to read to you gentlemen the itemized account of every cent which has been expended by the Tenants' League. It is very brief.

The CHAIRMAN. Put it in the record.

Mrs. BROWN. I will.

(The statement is question is as follows:)