PARK AND CEMETERY. 
182 
RELATIVE 
VALUES AND CEMETERY CHARGES 
Erom Paper by Thos. White, Fairliavcn, Mass., at 
Nczv York Convention of Cemetery Superintendents. 
The creation of the modern cemetery 
and the renovation and reorganization of 
ancient cemeteries, accompanied as they 
have been by a decided increase in the 
cost of burial lots and services connect- 
ed therewith, have given rise to the 
question : do we. receive value for the 
money paid, or do the cemetery authori- 
ties, taking advantage of the circum- ■ 
stances, tax us unduly in order to pro- 
vide the necessary means for the fur- 
therance of their pet schemes? 
The elaborate care bestowed upon all 
modern cemteries and the increased in- 
terest taken in the condition of older 
burial places, are matters of compara- 
tively recent times; the outgrowth of ad- 
vancing civilization, refinement and edu- 
cation. 
The prospective purchaser of a ceme- 
tery lot is sometimes surprised at what 
he calls the fancy prices he is called 
upon to pay, not only for a burial lot, 
but for services performed thereon. He 
has vague ideas of the cost of land at 
so much per acre, of labor at current 
rates as also of excavating and replac- 
ing a few yards of earth. He is apt to 
overlook the fact, that location, the na- 
ture of the ground and some other mat- 
ters, which in buying ground for 
cemetery purposes, are paramount. A 
fact which is most usually overlooked by 
the possessor or vendor of the same. In 
addition to this, high prices are some- 
times charged on account of deprecia- 
tion of surrounding property. 
In laying out the grounds, the best 
and most expensive talent the country 
can furnish, is secured. In order to pre- 
serve and enhance the beauty of the nat- 
ural features to be found in some of 
our park cemeteries, as also in the for- 
mation of avenues, plots reserved for or- 
namental planting and for parked en- 
trances, certain areas of ground must be 
sacrificed. 
When the land has been purchased 
and large amounts of money laid out 
and buried, since it is practically dead. 
in the erection of administration build- 
ings, boundary walls and drains, not- 
withstanding that the plots most readiljf 
available are being disposed of and 
ground purchased by the acre is being 
sold by the foot, the expenses and diffi- 
culties encountered in making a ceme- 
tery have only just begun. Equipment 
must be purchased ; the money expended 
for this purpose, however, is not dead 
but lively enough to call for constant re- 
inforcements for renewal and repairs. 
Swamps must be drained and filled : 
ledge rock removed and barren land 
made to grow greensward. Also, judg- 
ing from a few figures taken at random, 
enormous sums of money are lying un- 
productive in the way of unsold ground 
or stock in trade. One cemetery has 
lately purchased thirteen acres at a cost 
of $ 27 , 000 ; another has purchased one 
hundred and eight acres at a cost of 
$ 500 , 000 ; another two hundred and three 
acres at a cost of $200,000. While a 
cemetery we had the pleasure of visiting 
two years ago, has, according to its an- 
nual report, land valued at $ 300,000 upon 
which future generations will realize, but 
which for some time to come will be a 
source of expense rather than of income. 
It is true that cemeteries are free from 
taxation, but we must not forget that 
expenses involved in the maintenance of 
avenues, of public safet}’ and order are 
equivalent to the same expenses in towns 
and cities ; and also, that these expenses 
must be met without the aid of jjublic 
taxation. The value of real estate in- 
variably moves in one direction. One 
cannot anticipate the time when under 
proper management, it will cease to be a 
source of income. On the other hand, a 
cemetery lot once sold becomes a source 
of expense and the trustees holding the 
money paid for it are on that account 
responsible for a proportionate share of 
the expense of administration, repairs 
and deterioration for all time. 
For these reasons, in arranging the 
prices of cemetery lots a liberal policy 
must be pursued. The price to be ob- 
tained for the lot must cover the cost of 
purchase, construction and maintenance; 
and even then the ability to recuperate 
in case of losses which no amount of 
business sagacity could have prevented 
or foreseen must not be lost sight of. 
Since nature has decreed that every 
man shall once in .his life perform the 
office of dying, and since the law de- 
mands that the dead shall be interred 
in certain specified grounds and that the 
control of these grounds shall be placed 
in the hands of competent and author- 
ized persons, the use and patronage of 
the cemetery becomes compulsory. 
In view of this fact it may be asked : 
What justification can there be in erect- 
ing such expensive structures and mak- 
ing such elaborate layouts as we find in 
our modern cemeteries, in an institution 
of public necessity? 
The cemetery has simply moved with 
the times and must be placed in the 
same class with public buildings, parks, 
thoroughfares and places of worship. It 
is not generally considered a hardship 
that the poorest of us have to con- 
tribute, directly or indirectly, to the 
maintenance of these things. 
The expenses connected with our final 
departure vary with locations and con- 
ditions, and like all other expenses are 
largely influenced by the prevailing cus- 
tom of the times. The time when the 
dead were carried out and buried at the 
least possible expense consistent with 
decency has passed. Instead, the ques- 
tion invariably is : Is there anything 
more we can do? 
Among those whom mortuary ex- 
penses affect the most seriously, the ex- 
pense is lavished upon the funeral which 
tomorrow is but a memory; while the 
cemetery^ the last resting place of dear 
friends, which is visited by the family 
for time without limit, receives but 
scant attention ; and I think it safe to 
say, that in the majority of cases, the 
money paid for superfluities exceeds 
