Rents Jump Twice in One Year on Hewitt Avenue
Mill hands in 1920 watched their rent climb faster than their wages — and the landlords' explanation will sound very familiar.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
For the second time within a twelvemonth, tenants of the flats along Hewitt Avenue have been served notice of an advance in rents, in some houses amounting to eight dollars the month.
The landlords, for their part, point to the cost of coal, of repairs, and of taxes, and declare the advance is compelled rather than chosen. The tenants point to wages at the mills, which have not moved since spring.
Several families interviewed by the Tribune stated they would give up their quarters and seek rooms across the river in Riverside, where rents remain within reach of a mill man's pay.
“The advance is compelled rather than chosen.”
Swap 'coal and repairs' for 'insurance and interest rates' and this is every conversation about Everett rents today. The flats are still there; so is the gap between wages and what the landlord needs.
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