Landlords Have Rights

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Tuesday's editorial on Rent Control is most commendable --from the point of view of the majority of the people who are renters and who, like all normal humans, want something for nothing. However I am tired of seeing the landlord used as a scapegoat. What justice is there in holding his rents down to pre-inflation levels when he must pay every laborer twice as much for the ever-needed repairs on his property? And what about coal costs--while the administration mollycoddles the miners? Isn't building material higher? Oh, yes, all landlords were given a chance to receive a 15 percent increase by tendering their tenants a lease--very decent of a labor-catering administration that has removed other cellings long ago.

The point is this: the landlord has a right to a fair return on his investment regardless of the fact that he is a member of a minority group and hence not interesting to the so-called "Fair Deal." What about the dire predictions that accompanied the removal of the O.P.A.? Has there been a continuing spiral? No, the law of supply and demand is quickly re-asserting itself.

I suggest that landlords be allowed to increase their rents freely up to an additional 30 percent, with all boosts over that level being reported to the office of the Housing Expeditor. Would that cause added inflation? Far from it; the additional money would be much better off in the hands of the landlord who would use it to renovate his property or to put up new housing . . . Claude G. Richie, Jr. '49