American Sunday-School Union v. City of Philadelphia

Citation29 A. 26,161 Pa. 307
Decision Date30 April 1894
Docket Number316
PartiesAmerican Sunday School Union, Appellant, v. City of Philadelphia; Taylor, Receiver of Taxes; and William Laughlin et al., constituting the Board of Revision of Taxes
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Argued April 6, 1894

Appeal, No. 316, Jan. T., 1894, by plaintiff, from decree of C.P. No. 4, Phila. Co., March T., 1892, No. 503, dismissing bill in equity. Affirmed.

Bill to restrain collection of tax.

The case was referred to C.W. McKeehan, Esq., as master, who after reciting the incorporating acts of April 15, 1845, P.L 454; Feb. 8, 1847, P.L. 71, and March 29, 1855, P.L. 143 found the facts as follows:

"The American Sunday School Union was founded in 1824 by the merging of the Philadelphia Sunday and Adult School Union, founded in 1817, and other smaller organizations of a similar character in different parts of the country. It was chartered, as above set forth, by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1845. The object of the organization, as stated in the charter, is 'to establish and maintain Sunday-schools and to publish and circulate moral and religious publications.' Its affairs are under the direction of a board of officers and thirty-six managers, selected from various evangelical protestant denominations. It is not a stock corporation, issues no shares, declares no dividends to any of its members, and uses all its capital and income for the promotion of the objects stated above as a missionary and benevolent organization. For many years the society issued its publications and sold them to Sunday schools and to the public below the cost of production, in order to bring them within the reach of all. Subsequently, the contributions of the public being insufficient to continue this plan, the managers were compelled to place the publication operations of the society upon a basis that would be self-supporting. This is now the policy of the association, but it is not the aim of the society to make money, and if any profits are realized beyond what is absolutely necessary to maintain the publication operations, the surplus is used in promoting the missionary work and establishing Sunday schools in needy communities, and in the gratuitous distribution of its literature. Sums are often provided to aid in the support of missionaries. The literature which the society provides is of a high moral character, which it aims to place in the hands of the irreligious, and these publications cannot be made, as a rule, with any profit.

"The publications not issued by the society, but sold by it, are so sold in order to aid it in making its business self-supporting. All these publications must have a tendency to promote the moral and religious objects of the society. The society issues special editions of books which they believe to be of high moral value at the actual cost of making the same -- and sometimes below that cost -- so that they may be distributed widely. In 1890 it thus furnished several of its publications to each of the military and naval posts, and to all the life-saving stations of the United States, free of charge. These books were furnished to the benevolent friends who desired to make these contributions without charge for the plates, and at the actual cost of printing and binding.

"For two or three years last passed the committee on publication, upon the request of benevolent individuals who agreed to give the funds, has placed a number of its publications in every school organized by the society in a year, at the cost of printing and binding the same. The publication committee sunk the cost of copyright and cost of plates, and thousands of volumes have thus been furnished by the committee on publication to the committee on missions and its missionaries at these prices.

"Among the publications thus furnished are the People's Hymn Book, Index to the Bible, Words of Christian Teachers, Christ and the Scriptures, Our Sixty-six Sacred Books, and, in a previous year, Schaff's Dictionary of the Bible, People's Commentaries on the Gospels, and ten thousand copies of the Bible.

"The society further employs missionaries to establish Sunday schools in communities where none exist, to visit families for religious conversation, and to distribute religious literature, and especially to enlist them in the formation of Sunday schools. The missionaries also furnish each community and school with religious literature, and, in case they cannot pay for said publications, they are donated in whole or in part.

"To aid in sustaining this part of the work the society receives contributions from the benevolent public. The managers receive no compensation for their services, the time devoted by them to the interests of the society being a benevolent gift. Only such officers as are necessary to carry on the business of the society receive compensation for their services. Since the society has been compelled to make the publication operations self-supporting, it has furnished its publications for missionary work to its missionary committee at trade or whole lots of the publications at less than the same are furnished to the trade.

"The society employs over one hundred missionaries on salaries, whose duty it is to visit families, and get them interested in religion, and persuade them to go to church.

"The present building of the society, on Chestnut street above Eleventh, cost about the sum of $71,000. The funds for the purchase of this building were furnished from the sale of the old building, 146 Chestnut street, and from voluntary contributions. The old property at 146 Chestnut street was purchased and built from voluntary contributions given by benevolent persons for the benefit of this charity. The mortgage of $17,000, originally existing on the property 1122 Chestnut street, has been paid off by contributions and legacies.

"The main building on Chestnut street extends the depth of eighty feet, of the full width of said lot, and on the Sansom street end there is a warehouse one hundred feet deep, of the width of the lot, leaving an interval between the buildings of forty-nine feet, which is appropriated for the counting room and offices. This is the first floor of the entire building.

"In the basement there is a cellar, with furnaces for heating, storage room for stereotype plates and fuel. It is also used for the storage of packing boxes, etc.

"The first floor of said building extends from Chestnut street to Sansom street two hundred and twenty-nine feet. The Chestnut street end is devoted to retail and wholesale sales, and the south part towards Sansom street is used for stock in large quantities, kept there for filling orders, and where it is packed and shipped. The center is the counting room and agent's office and bookkeeper's desk, also the treasurer's office and fireproof for account books.

"On the second floor on Chestnut street the front room is occupied chiefly by the secretary of missions and by the board of officers and managers of the society for their meetings. There are also two offices on the second floor, and a large hall, which is now called the teachers' hall and parlor. These occupy the intermediate space between the Chestnut street and Sansom street buildings. The entire back building on the second floor is used for the storage of library books received from the binders and stored away there. The third floor back is used for the printed sheets as they come in from the printers. As to the third floor on the Chestnut street front, the two back rooms are used by the editors of the books and periodicals of the society. Thus the entire building is used for the purposes of the said corporation, and no part thereof is rented, or is in any sense a source of revenue."

The master recommended a decree in favor of plaintiff, on the authority of Episcopal Academy v. Phila., 150 Pa. 572. Exceptions to the master's report were sustained in an opinion by ARNOLD, J., 3 Dist. R. 139, and a decree entered dismissing the bill.

Error assigned was above decree.

The judgment is affirmed, and the appeal is dismissed at costs of appellant.

Rowland Evans and R. L. Ashhurst, for appellant. -- Gifts for religious purposes are charities; as for the advancement of Christianity among the infidels, for the dissemination of the gospel, for foreign missions, for distributing Bibles and religious tracts, for the benefit of ministers of the gospel, and for building, ornamenting, or repairing churches: Bisph. Eq. §§ 121, 122, 124; Perry on Trusts, § 700; Attorney-General v. State, 10 Va. 21; Bliss v. Bible Society, 2 Allen, 335; Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society's Appeal, 30 Pa. 425; Evangelical Association's Ap., 35 Pa. 316; Pickering v. Shotwell, 10 Pa. 26.

The essential features of a purely public charity are that it is not confined to privileged individuals, but is open to the indefinite public. It is this indefinite or unrestrained quality that gives it its public character: Donohugh's Ap., 86 Pa. 306.

A charitable institution does not lose its character as a charity, in the purview of the law relating to taxation, by dispensing a part of its charitable work for a pecuniary return sufficient to cover expenses, any occasional excess of receipts over disbursement being applied to the general purposes of the society, so that there is no element of private or corporate gain: Episcopal Academy v. Phila., 150 Pa. 572; Donohugh's Ap., 86 Pa. 306; Phila. v. Woman's Christian Association, 125 Pa. 582.

E. Spencer Miller, assistant city solicitor, Charles F. Warwick, city solicitor, with him, for appellee, cited: Donohugh v. Y.M.C.A., 7 W.N. 208; Phila. v. Barber, 160 Pa. 123.

Before STERRETT, C.J., GREEN, WILLIAMS, MITCHELL and DEAN, JJ.

OPINION

MR. JUSTICE DEAN:

The...

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