Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-25
Washington. ID. c., Sept. %.

Washington, D. -, sept. 20.
A LETTER from Attorney General Francis
AShunk Brown to Banking Commissioner
Dan L.afean concerning the right OF bullu'"e
associations to put their surplus funds w
Liberty Bonds stirred up a hornets nest
the echoes of which finally landed IN 'he
Treasury Department. Pennsylvania mas re-
ceived credit for putting the building assocl-
alton upon the map and Philadelphia derives
its title The city of Homes very iatsels
from the fact that the building ASSOCIATIONS
have given unusual encouragement TO men
of small means to save and become NOME
owners. The Building Association League OF
Pennsylvania was organized September 1870
Its present president Is Joseph h. falst, "no
vas formerly chief clerk of Select Council.
and its secretary Is Michael j. Brown, VINO
was at one time president OF the na'iomai
organization of building associations. lhe
league has always had its friends in Coun-
ellis and in the Legislature, and especially
when James Clarency, of the Nineteenth
Ward, and Robert r.. Corson, of FRANKFORT
were members of one body or the other.
What the building association men no" COM
plain of is the Attorney Generals ruing
which. from their point of view, interteres
with their right TO invest association :unds
in Liberty Bonds. This is the matter that
has been brought up to the Secretary or the
Treasury. Questions of this kind, afecting
as they do the rights of States and of State
officials. however. are always viewed with
| caution by the national authorities. They DO
not, as a rule. deem 1t wise to interfere IN
what are commonly denominated states
Rights" In the revenue bill building asso-
Citations generally have been treated as non
profit making organizations, except Tor mu-
tual benefit. They are put upon substantially
the same basis as agricultural associations
orpa nized for mutual benefit, but not for
proft. 1t is. therefore. unlikely that WASH
| ington will enter into the dispute between
the Attorney General and the building asso-
Citations. 1t is a battle that will have to be
fought out at home.
NY one who has heard Edward Brooks
"A Jr. address the court will appreciate
the force of his reasoning. but when it comes
IN an argument before the Ways and Means
mmit of Congress, bent upon raising
So 600. 900 900 of revenue, that Is another
matter. Mr.. Brooks, on behalf OF the orpheus
Club, joins Mr.. Van Rensselaer,, OF the SYM
phony Orchestra, and others In the appeal
for what Is regarded as the very existence
of kindred organizations, If the tax on dues
and admissions is raised as the bill provides.
The Orpheus Club, like other Phiiadeiphia
musical organizations, has within It's mem
bership some of the most prominent Phlla-
delphians-Doctor Van Lennep, of the Union
League Jack Holton, of the Maritime EN-
change, and Billy Haupt, included. There are
many others in professional and business lte
who pine for the Tyre when they tire or the
muses.. When the plight of the Philadelphia
Symphony was laid before the taxing COM
mittee, Cleveland and one or two other cities
having similar organizations Joined In the
appeal, but the majority on the committed
feared that to make exceptions would widen
the door so that professional Organization
might be permitted to pass through without
bearing their fair share of the tax burden
TINE Secretary of War. Mr.. Baker. Is In
i Europe, and rumor has it that he may
remain over, there for some time. As the
Secretary of War, having under his direc'
ton the millions of men that have entered
the country's military service and the bill
lions of dollars that the country Is spending
to sustain the war, Secretary Baker ha.
necessarily been the subject of many in
quiries, some of which pertain to his abilit,
and antecedents. Sometimes we can get
better understanding of a man or a situation
by local comparisons. When the late Judg'
Clayton. of Delaware County, toured Europe
which he did at every opportunity. he sen
home letters that found their way into tn
local newspapers and subsequently into
book of "reminiscences. in which he woult
compare the Appian Way with some loca
boulevard, or the River Scheldt with tn
Delaware, or still better. the Moselle witt
the schuylkill. II made the thing more un
d~sratandahls 70 4ha folks who . not hsaI