January 9, 1919. 



The Florists' Review 



13 



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BESTBICTIONS IN SEOULATIONS. 



Their Validity Tested. 



Florists -will be interested in a de- 

 cision handed down by the Pennsyl- 

 vania Superior court recently in the 

 case of Benson vs. the Laurel Hill 

 Cemetery Co., bearing on the right of 

 a cemetery to monopolize the work of 

 planting flowers, cutting grass, etc., on 

 private lots. The decision appears to 

 be in accord with the trend of judicial 

 authority to the effect that a cemetery 

 association may adopt reasonable regu- 

 lations to secure the carrying out of 

 a scheme for uniform adornment of the 

 burial grounds, where there is nothing 

 in the wording of the lot deeds to show 

 that the lot holders have acquired vested 

 rights in conflict with such regulations. 

 But where the deeds broadly reserve 

 to the lot holders power to care for 

 their own lots, they cannot, by any 

 subsequent regulation to whifth they 

 dissent, be deprived of the right to 

 entrust to their favorite florists the 

 work of decorating their graves. 



It is possible that the logical view 

 taken by the Pennsylvania court may 

 serve to suggest to florists, who have 

 been discriminated against by cemetery 

 authorities, that a little cooperation on 

 the part of lot owners may aid in re- 

 moving this discrimination. 



However, it is not to be overlooked 

 that where cemetery lot deeds are so 

 worded as to fail to confer clearly on 

 the grantees the right, and the deeds 

 are declared to be given subject to 

 existing and future regulations of the 

 association, the law seems to support 

 the right of the association to adopt 

 exclusive regulations having any legiti- 

 mate tendency to promote the interests 

 of the lot holders at large. 



Bights Conferred by Deeds. 



In the Pennsylvania case, it appeared 

 that the cemetery was established in 

 1837 and that, continuously down to 

 1915, the right of lot owners to attend 

 to their own flower planting, etc., per- 

 sonally or by their own employees, had 

 been recognized. The deeds recited that 

 they conferred "the full, free and abso- 

 lute right of sepulture and the exclusive 

 use, occupation and possession for that 

 purpose and for all objects and purposes 

 incident thereto," etc. 



Late in 1914, the cemetery company 

 claiming that disturbances had arisen 

 between the employees of the company 

 and those of lot owners, and that the 

 latter had violated regulations against 

 the burning of leaves in driveways, 

 etc., a regulation was adopted purport- 

 ing to forbid, after January 1, 1915, 

 any person to enter the cemetery for 

 hire for the purpose of planting flowers, 

 cutting grass, sodding and grading. 



Plaintiffs brought suit to enjoin en- 

 forcement of the rule and obtained a 

 decree in the trial court. The cemetery 

 company appealed to the Superior court, 

 which affirmed the decision, except as 

 to grading. It was decided that the 

 company was entitled to exclusively 

 control the matter of grading, in order 



that a uniform scheme might be car- 

 ried into execution. The salient parts 

 of the opinion on appeal read as fol- 

 lows: 



Subject of the Grant. 



"It is of the first importance that 

 attention be gi^en 1fO"the language of 

 the grant already quoted. As will be 

 seen, it conveyed not merely the right 

 of sepulture, and the exclusive occupa- 

 tion and possession of the lot for that 

 purpose, but such use and possession 

 applied as well to 'all objects and pur- 

 poses inci(Jent thereto.' The latter, 

 then, were just as much the subject of 

 the grant as the right of sepulture 

 itself, and, for the accomplishment of 

 those purposes and the exercise of those 

 incidental rights or privileges, the pos- 

 session of the grantee was exclusive. 

 For what objects and purposes, apart 

 from the right of sepulture itself, could 

 the grantee of such a lot desire to have 

 its exclusive possession! The univer- 

 sality and intensity of the feeling which 

 requires of the living some effort to 

 assuage the pangs caused by final sepa- 

 ration from loved ones by visiting their 

 last resting places and attempting to 

 keep them free from the ravages of 

 time, were beautifully portrayed by an 

 eminent jurist many years ago in the 

 following language: 'Among all tribes 

 and nations, savage and civilized, the 

 resting places of the dead are regarded 

 as sacred. There memory loves to linger 

 and plant the choicest flowers; there 

 the sorrowing heart renews the past, 

 rekindles into life the viewless forms of 

 the dead, revives the scenes where once 

 they moved and recalls the happy hours 

 of love and friendship. There parent 

 and child, husband and wife, relatives 

 and friends, with broken spirits and 

 crushed hopes, revisit often the spot 



where they deposited their dead. Who 

 does not feel the fountains of his heart 

 broken up and the warm gushings of 

 emotion when standing over the green 

 sod which covers the departed?' If it 

 was not in response to this universally 

 recognized sentiment that each lot owner 

 was given the exclusive possession of 

 his lot, we do not know to what we 

 can refer the absolute grant of the ex- 

 clusive possession of the lot 'for all 

 objects and purposes incident' to the 

 right of sepulture. 



Owners' Bights Sustained. 



"We concede it is well within the 

 power of the cemetery company, and 

 altogether in harmony with the nature 

 of the grant and the purposes of the 

 proviso we have quoted, to adopt such 

 reasonable by-laws as might regulate 

 the exercise of their rights by the lot 

 holders so as to promote the general 

 welfare of all concerned and to bring 

 about a proper and harmonious develop- 

 ment of the entire property for the 

 good of all. We doubt not such regula- 

 tion might reasonably embrace measures 

 to preserve peace and good order among 

 those working in the cemetery and to 

 forbid entrance thereafter to any in- 

 dividual who refused obedience to such 

 reasonable rule or regulation. But the 

 power to regulate is one thing, the 

 claim to deprive every lot holder of a 

 part of his grant is quite another. To 

 say that a lot owner, who, by reason 

 of age, sickness or other cause, is unable, 

 with his own hands, to cut the grass 

 on his cemetery lot and plant the graves 

 of his dead with the flowers he or she 

 may in lifetime have loved, may not 

 send a well-behaved representative to 

 act for him, goes, we think, far beyond 

 the right to regulate and is in deroga- 

 tion of the grant. ' ' S. 



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SUNDAY CLOSINQ. 



When, several months ago, Cleveland 

 wholesalers closed their places of busi- 

 ness on Sunday, they most emphatically 

 took a step in the direction of progress. 

 The retailer has not been inconveni- 

 enced, wholesalers have increased their 

 business and the morale of their sales 

 forces has been inestimably raised. It 

 is now up to the retail section to do its 

 bit toward elevating a dignified pro- 

 fession to its proper plane. A number 

 have long since discontinued their for- 

 mer practice of opening their places of 

 business on the allotted day of rest and 

 others are gradually falling into line. 

 Conspicuous among the latter is the J. 

 M. Gasser Co., which at the beginning 

 of the new year notified its patrons 

 that the store would not be open in the 

 future for the transaction of business 

 on Sunday. Undoubtedly many florists, 



by reason of their location near ceme- 

 teries, might find it difficult to put this 

 plan into effect, but if approached in a 

 tactful manner, it can be accomplished 

 without any perceptible diminutioji of 

 business. Much of the drudgery will 

 thereby be removed from the work, 

 time will be had for recreation — includ- 

 ing, of course, the thorough perusal of 

 the trade paper — and business life in 

 general will assume a brighter aspect. 

 Florists owe it to themselves, their fam- 

 ilies and assistants, to close their shops 

 on the Sabbath. Mac. 



PBOOBESS. 



The Cleveland Florists' Club now has 

 representation on the directorate of the 

 S. A. F. under aflfiliation. This means 

 that out of its 200 odd members, 100 or 

 more are enrolled upon the roster of 

 the national society. It also indicates 



