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RENT DECONTROL
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PARTLY CLOUDY

Latest Deadline in the State

VOL. LJI, No. 14-S ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, JULY 15, 1951

FOUR PAGES

Dike Gives Way
In Kansas Flood
New-Destruction Record Established
As -Losses Exceed $500,000,000
KANSAS CITY-(W)-A Missouri River dike collapsed yesterday
pouring water into the $100,000,000 Fairfax industrial district of
Kansas City, Kas.-the fourth major Industrial district of this metro-
politan area of 900,000 to be inundated in the costliest flood in United
States history.
The new levee break was at the mouth of Jersey Creek, a normally
small stream flowing through Kansas City, Kas., and into the Missouri
a half mile north of the mouth of the Kansas River.
ARMY ENGINEERS said the water would rise at least five feet
in the district immediately.
Shortly after the break the torrent was pouring through a
government warehouse that contained $1,500,000 worth of goods.

UN
To

Envoys
Resume

Head for
Armistice

Kaesong
Meeting

r

House Finds
Injustice in
R eserve Call
WASHINGTON-(P)-A specialr
House Armed Services Subcommit-c
tee yesterday lambasted the armedn
forces for injustices it found in
the call-up of reserves since Korea.
It said even grandfathers were .
called to arms in a hasty rush thatc
resulted in broken homes, loste
business, resentment and bitter-t
ness. f
In a sharply worded report, the
Subcommittee said "partial recti-x
fication" can be made by as earlyc
release as possible of all reservists1
serving on actvie duty involun-e
This subcommittee, headed by
Rep. Brooks (D-La.), has been in-
veti'gating operation of the en-
tire reserve program preliminary
to hearings on a new proposed re-
serve law.
Brooks said a new reserve pro-r
gram must be so set up apd man-
aged that what he called the re-
cent errors and injustices will "not
again be viisted on American citi-
zens."
In the rush to build up strength
to meet the Communist aggression,
the committee said in its report,
grandfathers in the inactive re-
serve were called up while young-
sters in the organized reserve were
left, at home. .
"Enlisted men with multiple de-f
pendents-one with ten children-u
were involuntarily ordered to duty I
while single men remained be-e
hind because of their membership
in an organized unit. !1
"Reservists were picked out ofg
college and ordered to report for
active duty in a matter of dayso
while their draft-protected bon- P
veteran school mates continued to
safely lounge on the campus," the
report said.h
SWorld News
s
Roundup

Office furniture, crates, and
bales of government property
were swept out of the building.
The newest catastrophe came as
severe restrictions clamped on
Kansas City residents were eased
slightly to permit opening of thea
ters, providing no water was used
in air conditioning systems. Ear-
lier, all persons had been asked to
remain in their homes and all
non - essential business ordered
closed as officials struggled to
maintain essential services.
I * *
GOVERNOR Forrest Smith of
Missouri had proclaimed a state
of emergency for the entire state
and announced he planned to fly
to Washington to discuss flood aid
for the stricken areas.
President Truman, himself a
resident of suburban Indepen-
dence, Mo., asked Congressional
leaders yesterday to rush through
an emergency appropriation of
$15,000,000 for flood relief in Kan-
sas and Missouri. A House Appro-
priations Subcommittee quickly
approved the grant. It will be
submitted to the full committee
tomorrow.
Secretary of Agriculture Bran-
nan ordered unlimited supplies of
surplus food shipped Into the area.
Tobin Labels
U.S. Inflation
WorldThreat
WASHINGTON-(W-Secretary
of Labor Maurice Tobin returned
from Europe yesterday with a,
warning that unbridled inflation
in the U.S. will endanger "the
entire free world."
He thus seemed to spring quick-
ly into a free-for-all fight in Con-
gress over economi ccontrols. A
House vote is expected Thursday
on a bill to extend the Defense
Production Act.
* * *
TRUMAN administration forces
have taken a drubbing so far and
are fighting an all-out rear guard
action to salvage what they can
of the President's proposals for
trong wage, price, rent and other
ontrols.
Tobin said his three weeks
broad "brought home to me the
mportance of stopping inflation
-the importance not only to our-
elves but to the economies of our
k~lies.
The dangers of inflation have
been emphasized by Administra-
tion leaders in the controls fight.
They conceded, however, that a
tepublican - Southern Democrat
oalition has power to deny Tru-
nan most of the new economic
>owers he asked and to modify
ome of those he already has.
During last week's House de-
ate, the coalition won repeated
lctories in their efforts to tailor
he measure more to their liking.'

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-Daily-James Butt
RENTAL PROJECT-The Knob Hill project, located several blocks this side of the Stadium, is the
only large rental housing project built since the war in this area. It will be composed of 150 three-
room apartments with rents ranging from $80 - $90. By Aug. 1, 16 units should be completed with
the rest of the rooms scheduled for opening later this year, according to William F. Elder, contractor.
* * * * * * * * *

CROWDED FAMILY-These four members of an Ann Arbor fam-
ily pose with their dog on the porch of a rental dwelling near the
railroad tracks. Pro-rent control groups say the lifting of the
lids next Saturday will hit hard at many families like this one.
* * * * * *

City Rent Decontrol Controversy Aired

Against Rent Ceilings...

Advocates of the decontrol of rental housing in Ann Arbor were
busy restating their arguments for removing rent lids yesterday in
the wake of the news that Tighe Woods, Fedferal Housing Expediter,
would make decontrol effective Saturday, July 21.w
Alderman John S. Dobson asserted that rent control actually
creates housing shortages and works against the tenant.
* * * *
HE CITED the fact that many tenants have keen forced to buy
rental property because landlords refused to continue renting at pre-
war prices.
Many units have been withheld from the market altogether
because of insufficient return, Ald. Dobson said.
Families suffer particularly because they must now compete for
housing with single people whose war inflated incomes make it pos-'
sible for them to rent four and five room apartments at the frozen
price, Ald. Dobson contended.
** 1
ALDERMAN RUSSELL A. Smith, chairman of the Special City
Council Rent Committee, argued that rent controls discriminate
against the landlord. It is unfair that one part of the economy be
under controls while all the rest are uncontrolled, Ald. Smith said.f
With 75 billion dollars earmarked for defense it may be that we#
should have a strong control program, but it is unreasonable to singlet
out rents when everything else has been allowed to skyrocket, Ald.
Smith continued.
Most supporters of decontrol are convinced that it will not j
bring exorbitant rents. Stewart Butts, president of the Ann Arbor
Board of Realtors, said that rents might go up in some cases. 1
Butts pointed out that a Bureau of Labor Statistics report re-R
vealed that the average tenant only paid nine per cent of his income 1
for rent in 1950 while 18 per cent of his income went for that pur-
pose in 1940.
a *
WILSON H. WHITE, chairman of the Washtenaw County Rente
Advisory Board, said that many landlords have already agreed not toE
raise rents.1
Most landlords are fighting controls so that they will have
the freedom to get rid of undesirable tenants and have control 1
over their own property, White said.{
White pointed out that in many cases decontrol will directly
benefit the tenant. Competition will make better maintenance man-
datory, and give the tenant a greater choice of available accommoda-
tions, White claimed.
Most decontrol advocates claimed that the Woods' survey of Ann
Arbor was incomplete and proved nothing.
White summed up the general feeling by saying, that it was un-
fair to discriminate against landlords in Ann Arbor when every other
major city in Michigan except Detroit and Dearborn has decontrolled.r
"Control in Ann Arbor just don't make sense," White said.,

Editor's note: In the ad-
joining columns, The Daily pre-
sents some of the pro's and
con's on the Ann Arbor City
Council's move to end rent
controls in the city. Although
the decontrol action is expected
to go through, the issue is still
of a controversial nature. Ex-
cerpts from the text of a sur-
vey made by federal investiga-
tors of rent levels here are
printed on page 2.

Lift on' Rent
Controls Set
For July 21
Next Saturday, barring an un-
expected move by the City Coun-
cil, the lid on rents will be lifted
in Ann Arbor.
Federal Housing Expediter Tighe
Woods, in a letter to Mayor Wil-
liam E. Brown, Jr., which arrived
from Washington yesterday, ruled
that he would take action on the
Council's requirementithat con-
trols be removed.
THE RESOLUTION had asked
Woods to kill the ceilings on his
own initiative, reserving the pow-
er to reinstate them. Woods re-
plied in the letter that a recent
federal investigation of Ann Ar-
bor rent levels would not justify
decontrolling rents voluntarily.
However, another clause in
the Council's action had requir-
ed that Woods remove the rent
lids under the "local option"
section of the Rent Control Law.
This means that rent controls
cannot be reimposed in the fu-
ture.
The Council will meet tomor-
row night but a rescinding action
is not believed likely.

For Rent Ceilings.. .
Although by all indications the fight was lost, Ann Arbor citizens
backing extension of rent controls remained on the battleline yes-
terday.
The three minority members of the City Council, which voted
by a large majority June 19 to remove'the lids, emphasized their
continued opposition to the decontrol move.
* * * *
REPUBLICAN ALDERMAN Arthur W. Bromage, professor in the
political science department, and Democratic Aldermen Cornelius
Ulberg and James Green all decried the "lack of evidence" to justify
the removal of controls.
Ald. Bromage repeated that he was "still not convinced that
decontrol is a wI'se move at this juncture" while Ald. Ulberg
pointed to the shortage- of rental housing in Ann Arbor as justi-
fying controls.
"Removing rent controls at a time when inflation is a substantial
national danger is hardly an act of wise statesmanship," according
to Ald. Green. He added that he agreed "very strongly with the
Housing Expediter's action in refusing to decontrol rents voluntarily."
"The survey made by Woods' office, short as it was, only re-
enforces what common sense tells us about the rental housing situa-
tion in Ann Arbor," Ald. Green stated.
He said there was still a shortage of rental housing units avail-
able to those of low and middle-income groups.
* * * *
LABOR ATTORNEY Bernard Butler, active in the Council's open
hearing on rent controls last spring, attributed the Council's move
"largely to real estate interests."
"This is an inflationary action," Butler asserted. "Because
the Council has not been willing to look squarely at the facts, it
has passed a resolution which will tend to increase the velocity of
the inflationary spiral."
Butler said he was against decontrol primarily because he was
reliably informed that a large influx of industrial workers is slated for
the near future.
"In Ypsilanti, where they have removed the rent lids, they. are
feeling a serious housing shortage," Butler noted. He added that-the
situation would be "more serious in Ann Arbor because a shortage
has existed here for at least three decades."
Generally, the issue was split along party lines with leading
Democrats still upholding the ceilings in spite of the Council's
action.
Pro-rent control citizens pointed to the "standstill in rental
housing construction which has existed since the war years."
In City Hall, county and municipal officials estimated post-war
rental construction in the rural areas adjacent to Ann Arbor at one-
tenth of one percent. One spokesman said building of rental units
in the city was "practically nil."

Reds Accept
New Terms
of Ridgway
Cease Fire Talks
To StartToday
SEOUL, Korea-(P)-Two mem-
bers of the United Nations armis-
tice delegation left by jeep for
Kaesong at 12:30 p.m. today (9:30
p.m. EST, yesterday) to resume
cease-fire talks with the Reds.
Resumption of the talks, dis-
rupted Thursday when the Reds
barred Allied newsmen from going
to Kaesong, was made possible
when the Communists yielded to
new "good faith" terms demanded
by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, Su-
preme Allied Commander.
* * *
VICE ADM. C. Turner Joy, sen-
ior member of the Allied delega-
tion, and Maj. Gen. L. C. Craigie,
U. S. Air Force, crossed the Imjin
River by jeep and headed for Kae-
song early this afternoon for meet-
ings slated to start at 2 p.m.
The other three members of the
delegation were expected to fly
to Kaesong by helicopter.
Twenty Allied newsmen also
left for *aesong. The Allied
leaders had insisted on their
right to allow newsmen go to
Kaesong.
The Allies announced the 2 p.m.
meeting time was agieed on in an
exchange of messages between Ad-
miral Joy and Gen. Nam II, of the
Red Korean Army.
General Ridgway had demanded
the removal of armed guards from
Kaesong, establishment of a neu-
tral zone and the inclusion of
Allied correspondents in the per-
sonnel accompanying the United
Nations delegation.
AN OFFICIAL COPY of the
Communist reply to Ridgway's
message was delivered this morn-
ing by two North Korean officers
to an Allied liaison officer near
Parallel 38.
Admiral Joy sent a message to
the Reds at 10:20 a.m., proposing
the time for i-esumption of the
talks. An allied liaison officer
who delivered the message in a
helicopter reported it took the
Red commander only five min-
utes to write this reply:
"I will welcome your delegates
at 1400 (2 p.m.) Seoul time."
Earlier, delivery of the Red re-
ply to Ridgway's message had
cleared the way for a third meet-
ing between the United Nations
and Communist delegations.
The Allied liaison officer left
the peace camp at 6:40 a.m. by
helicopter today, received the mes-
sage from two Red Korean offi-
cers and returned, to the caip at
7:20 a.m.
Author's Bail
Withdrawn
By Secretary
NEW YORK -- (A) - Mystery
writer Dashiell Hammett's secre-
tary offered $10,000 in cash yes-
terday to bail him out of jail on
a contempt charge, then withdrew
the offer rather than tell where
she got the money.
"The Thin Man" author and
Dr. W. Alphaeus Hunton are trus-
tees of the Civil Rights Congress

bail fund which posted $80,000 bail
for four convicted -Communist
leaders' who jumped bail.
BOTH WERE sentenced to six
months each last Monday by Fed-
eral Judge Sylvester J. Ryan for
refusing to reveal who provided
the $80,000 to the fund. Appeals
Court Judge Learned Hand later
authorized their release in $10,000
bail pending appeal.

By The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - Ambassador
Henry F. Grady said yesterdy
that "perhaps the situation is ripe
for a break" during Averell Harri-
man's forthcoming discussions
here on the British-Iranian oil
deadlock. . *
k*
HUNINGDON, Eng. - Fire
aboard a speeding express train
sent a wall of flames roaring
over four crowded coaches yes-
terday, injuring 20 of the hun-
3 dreds of passengers trapped in-
side.
* * *
LONDON-Britain, prodded by
the United States, invoked war-
time powers yesterday and seized
two new oil tankers built here for
Red Poland.
WASHINGTON -- Food prices
rose again during the two week
period ended June 25, as the
Bureau of Labor statistics re-
ported an increase of one half
of one percent.
* * *
MADRID - General Francisco
Franco will appoint a new gov-
ernment within a week with or-
ders to tighten Spain's relations

'U' RESEARCH CENTER REPORTS:

Survey Shows Most Americans Favor Big Business'



Mr. and Mrs. America believe
that big business in the United
States is more beneficial than
harmful, the University's Survey
Research Center reported yester-
day after completing a nation-
wide survey-"Big Business from

Last October 1,200 persons
were selected at random from
100 million U.S. adults, and.
questioned on their views about
various aspects of big business.
Although the study was finan-
ced by a $50,000 grant from the

weighs the bad" in big Business'
overall performance, though many
find much to criticize in the big
business set-up. Only 10 percent
think the bad outweighs the good.
Two percent believe the balance
is equal and the remainder don't

SEVENTY-ONE percent of those
questioned also believe that big
business could sell its products for
less money and still make an
adequate profit, while 18 percent
feel that it could not.
On the other hand, 47 percent

The study also found that in
twenty years the public expects
both national and state govern-
ments to have increasing influ-
ence. Sixty-two percent think that
it is proper for the national gov-
ernment to have the dominant po-

public sees efficiency as one of
big business' top assets. The small
businessman, however, was prais-
ed for his personal interest in his
employees and customers, while
big business was criticized in gen-
eral for being "impersonal and