Date:    11/21/97  2:11 PM

Subject: s7-26-97 / PPG Industries

November 12, 1997
     
     
     
     
        (412) 434-2439
     
Jonathan G. Katz
Secretary
U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission 
450 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC  20549
     
Re:     H.R. 944; SEC File No. S7-26-97
     
Dear Secretary Katz:
     
        Thank you for your invitation to comment on the proposed legislation
introduced by Congressman Paul Gillmore (H.R. 944) to amend the Securities 
Exchange Act of 1934.
     
        PPG Industries, Inc. conducts its charitable giving mainly through the
PPG Industries Foundation, a private foundation organized as a Pennsylvania 
non-profit corporation.  Since it was established in 1951, the Foundation has 
sought to articulate the values of PPG by enhancing the quality of life in 
communities where it has a presence.  Each year the PPG Industries Foundation 
gives about $4 million to charitable organizations. 
     
        The PPG Industries Foundation, like many private foundations, prints an
Annual Report summarizing its activities, which it distributes to interested 
parties.  H.R. 944 would require additional disclosure of corporate charitable 
contributions in the annual proxy materials mailed to shareholders.  This 
additional burden is proposed at a time when companies have been trying to 
eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy to become more time and cost effective in 
running their operations.  H.R. 944 would require additional oversight, massive 
mailings to stockholders and general administrative burdens and costs that could
cause a reduction in funding for charitable purposes.  Specific programs that 
generate many grants, such as employee matching gift programs, might even be 
eliminated.
     
        In their responsibility to shareholders, corporations must routinely
make decisions on how best to utilize company resources.  A company's charitable
giving practices are best left to management.  Compiling and printing a multiple
page listing of the PPG Industries Foundation's grants and distributing it to 
about 110,000 PPG shareholders would be burdensome and costly and not be of real
value to the company and its shareholders.
     
                        Sincerely,
     
                     /Michael C. Hanzel/
     
                Michael C. Hanzel
                Senior Counsel
     
MCH:d
     
cc:  Roslyn Rosenblatt