Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-21
ARON STREET BILL
PASSEDBY SENATE
Ware Move to Regain Hold on
Cleaning Contracts Faces
House Fight
FARMERS "WANT TO KNOW

Harrisburg, April 2l.-Thc Aron
bill, the opening wedge toward the
restoration Of the contract street clean
ing system, was passed finally in the
senate today. The proposal. character
lied BY Senator Aron, a Lane man. az
mere amendment to the city char
fer" will now go to the House.
There appears to be no question but
that the Ware interests will back the
bill to the limit.
independents, however, are mani
Testing lively interest in the plans
Of the Vnre combine and it is likely
that n strong fight against the bill will
be made in the House.
Rural members. who have read the
sign. as they approached Broad Street
station, "the largest street cleaning
contractor in the world" are asking
questions. They say it may be neces-
sary for Senator Pcnrose' to 'get on
the wire from Washington" and advise
thp members of the lower chamber to
vote against the bill.
The anthracite tax bill passed in the
House yesterday by q vote of 125 inI
favor and G3 against, and goes to the
Senate for final action.
Full Force Mustered
There was some opposition to the bill.
in fact. the largest opposition that has
vet been rolled up against any Sproul
Administration measure. That was
largely due to the fnct that there were
members from the hard coal counties
who voted against the bill, although |
they are usually found in the ranks of
Administration supporters. Leaders OF
the Grrindy faction, like Representatives
Flynn and Hess. voted against the
measure. The Oliver faction did not
ioin then, In any anti administration |
demonstration. for more Oliver men
voted for the measure than voted |
against it, The Leslie men of Ale
ghcny supported the bill. with one ex-
ception. Most of the soft coal region
men also supported 1t.
A surprise in the voting was that |
there were eleven Philadelphia mem
hers recorded in the negative. They were
Representatives Baldi, Bluett, Green,
Keene. Leeds. Mccarthy, McOwen.
Jeremiah J. Miller. Smink. Howard |
Smith and Trainer. OF these men, only |
the Trainer group are definitely out
side the ranks of the Combine. The
men friendly to Trainer, as the Moore
leader up here. are Smink. Hreen and.
perhaps, Buett. Representatives Ed
monds md Campbell, who also belong
to this group. voted in the affirmative.
Gibbons Attacks Bill
The remainder OF the lnl'adplphla
members voting in the negative are OF
both Ware and Penrose factions.
The principal address against the bill
was made BY Representative Gibbons, of
Wilkes. Barre. who objected to it on
thc ground that 1t was tax discrimi-
mating against the hard coal regions of
the State
In answering his objections. Repre-
sentative Williams, of Tioga. sponsor
of the bill. gave figures of coal mining
for many years back. and said that, for
decades, Pennsylvania natural re-
sources had been taken away, never to
be replaced. and that the State should
have some recompense for these depleted
resources.
He said that on the basis of the ton
mage mined inc 1920 the State would
have received n revenue last year Of
SS 600, ,067 il the present tax had been
in effect
representative Ogle. of Somerset,
asked why the original provision penal
izng the coal companies for adding more
than the amount Of the tax to the price
Of coal had been taken out. In reply
Mr.. Williams referred him to Repre-
sentative Dawson, of Scranton. chair
man of the Ways and Means Commit
tee, Mr.. Dawson said he had been re-
sponSible for the change and had done
It because the original bill required the
levying of thc tax on each individual
ton of coal. which would be unfair to
the coal industry.
Representative Fowler, OF Scranton,
the labor leader in tho House, also
spoke against the bill. He said the tas-
ing of the anthracite industry was un-
1sir. since no single industry should be
singled out He also said he die not
want the price of coat Increased, be-
cause it would be blamed on mine labor,
and the public would say their demands
Tor wages were keeping up the price of
coal.
Tells Of Benefits
representative Dewey, of Tioga,
ended the debate with r6lsing adjura-
ton to the members not 10 refuse to
support the bill, simply because it vas
opposed by big business interests, He
SAID pennsylvania needed better schoolS,
peter highways and better forestry
system, and this tax was needed to
supply these things.
Alter that, the vote was taken. and
resulted in victory for the Admins
tHrNIon. The bill now goes to the
IL is believed the anthracite coal tax
VIII Join the other revenue measures in
mat al will be brought out for final
disposition early next week.
All the tax bills are in Senate Com
mittec. The gasoline tax will probably
Dc amended so as to define gasoline,
And exempt from taxation all gasoline
not used for motor traffic on the high
ways. 1t is likely that the theatre tax
may be amended so as not to apply it to
the gross receipts of theatres, but to
each ticket sold, which will supply
method more to the liking of theatre
interests of assessing the INK. Ms cach