The Brotherhood of Painters, in the incorporation of its organization, has taken a step beyond the practices of unions of its type. On December 7, 1894, the Secretary of State of Indiana issued a certificate of incorporation to the Brotherhood under the state law entitled "An act to authorize the formation of voluntary associations;" and in order to conform more strictly to the state laws the corporate name was changed, in December, 1899, to the present name.[239] Incorporation, however, has not proved satisfactory. For many years the Brotherhood maintained one general fund from which local unions received assistance in time of strikes, or in other cases of need. As a chartered institution the funds were liable at legal action and all payments from them subject to injunction. This state of affairs led the officials to urge complete separation of protective and benevolent funds, thereby offering greater protection to the membership. Consequently in 1904 the Brotherhood adopted the recommendations of the national officials and apportioned the national receipts into separate funds to be used only as specified. [Footnote 239: Constitution of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America, 1899 (La Fayette, n.d.), pp. 2-5.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beneficiary Features of American Trade Unions, by James B. Kennedy