Gift to Princeton Starts Test Case

Princeton has become the center of a test law case involving the validity of unrestricted private corporation gifts to educational institutions. The case, begun in Newark last week, involves a gift by the A.P. Smith Manufacturing Co. of East Orange, N.J., which gave $1500 to Princeton in 1951.

New Jersey passed a law legalizing such gifts two years ago, but the case before presiding Judge Alfred V. Stein will determine if corporations chartered previous to the law are also covered by it. If a ruling is handed down favorable to the gift, other states are expected to pass similar laws to aid the present difficulty of private educational institution financing.