Msgr. Philip Richard McDevitt to James A. Burns with enclosures, 1912

At this time, McDevitt was serving as the superintendent of Catholic schools in Philadelphia and was active in the establishment of the NCEA. These letters have to do with a Bureau of Health request that the Catholic schools pay for the supplies necessary for their fumigation. McDevitt's reply shows that Catholics, one-third of the population, pay for one-half of the cost of maintaining public schools, and get no benefit from them; they should therefore not be required to pay for fumigation, which is done without expense to public schools.