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Show Residents of Chicago Refuse to Move at Order of Landlords 10,000 TENANTS TO STICK TO APARTMENTS Two Men in New York Take Lead in Curbing Rent Profiteers CHICAGO, May 1. Thousands of families in Chicago went on a "rent strike" today' and refused to vacate their apartments in accordance with May Day moving orders, II. S. Stanu-ish, Stanu-ish, president of the Chicago 'Pennants' Protective League, asserted. Mr. Standish predicted that 10,000 tenants would defy efforts of landlords land-lords to evict them. Some of the disputes would be settled by arbitration, Mr. Standl3h said, but others would be carried into court for jury trials. Battle landlords By JAMES HENLE, TC: E. A. Staff Correspondent. NEW YORK, May 1. Two men aro largely responsible for starting in this state the anti-rent profiteering Crusade Cru-sade which, unless the laws are finally thrown out by tho courts, has limited landlords td 125 per -cent increases, . q?ker. JTIs name TsJames F: Gannon, Gan-non, Jr., and he is city commissioner ! of Jersey City. The other no longer holds any official of-ficial post. His . name Is Nathan Hlrsch anfV he was formerly chairman chair-man of tfte Mayor's Committee on Ren Profiteering. Victims Aided It was Hlrsch's committee and largely Hirsch himself who first came to the aid of the victims or rent profiteers. Beforo this persons per-sons who objected to extortionate rent Increases woro called "Bolshevik!." Hirsch had little real authority, but he used what he had with good efrect. The result was that any number of cases were compromised last year by the landlords, and tenants were enable to stay on by paying only moderate mod-erate increases in rent. A strong public pub-lic sentiment was built up to oppose rent hog3. Hirsch was serving without pay and when tho appropriation ho asked to continue tho committee's work was refused ho resigned. Hugh Rent Strlko Then camo Gannon. Early this year he engineered the biggest rent strike ever conducted and won it. Thousands of tenants with tho city's backing, refused to pay unreasonable rent increases and won in the courts. This woko Now York up. If Jersey Jer-sey City can do it, why can't we?" was tho comment, Tho result was a wave of popular sentiment that swept everything before it and resulted in the enactment by tho Legislature of a dozon laws to protect the tenant, tho most important of which is the measure limiting rent Increases to 25 per cent. nn . |