453 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
RAISING FUNDS FOR CARE OF CEMETERY LOTS 
Replying to a query by a reader of 
Park and Cemetery regarding collec- 
tion of funds for care of lots: 
When I came here six years ago, 
I collected only a little less than $500 
from our lot owners for the care of 
lots, while the amount should have 
been $1,200 per year. During the 
winter months I called on the delin- 
quents and tried my best to persuade 
them to pay the pittance we charge 
for the care of lots, but all in vain. 
We have in this state a law on “tax- 
ation of lot owners by cemetery asso- 
ciations,” which gives such corpora- 
tions or associations the right to 
treat these assessments for the care 
of lots the same as school taxes are 
treated. If they remain unpaid for 
five years, these taxes or assessments, 
as we call them, with the accrued 
interest act as a lien against such lot, 
and further it gives the association 
the right to sell the unoccupied por- 
tion of such lot at public auction 
after giving due notice to the owner 
of such auction. 
This association was formed under 
the laws of this state in 1904 and care 
has been taken since that time of all 
lots, regardless of whether the as- 
sessments on them are paid or not. 
When last year the five-year limit 
had been reached, the board of direc- 
tors ordered me to serve a personal 
notice on all lot owners who were 
five years in arrears in the payment 
of the assessments on their lots and 
whose postoffice addresses were 
known, and in this state, that on a 
certain date the unoccupied portion 
of their lots would be sold at public 
auction. Notice of such auction was 
served on all others (whose postoffice 
addresses were unknown or who 
lived outside of this state) by publi- 
cation, on an order from our county 
judge. A few lots were sold at that 
auction but that year I collected over 
$1,000 of the annual assessments, be- 
sides an equal amount of back assess- 
ments. 
It is true it seems rather awful to 
sell for taxes a cemetery lot, but 
what are we going to do? When in 
1904 this village transferred the cem- 
etery to this association there was no 
available land for lots in it, and 45 
acres of land were bought at $50 per 
acre. Of this I graded and laid out 
into lots about 7 acres at an expense 
of nearly $4,000. Both of these 
amounts were raised by giving cer- 
tificates of indebtedness on which in- 
terest is payable semi-annually. You 
can readily see that we need every 
dollar that is owing us; and I think 
no one will blame us that we took 
advantage of a law that helps us to 
collect our assessments for the care 
of lots. I am trying very hard to 
convince our board of directors that 
the best way to solve this matter 
permanently is to put the whole cem- 
etery under perpetual care, and to 
that end sell no lot unless perpetual 
care goes with it. Lots will come 
higher, but our experience is that the 
present generation tries to avoid paying 
assessments on the resting places of a 
former one, the same as future genera- 
tions will not be willing to pay for our 
burial lots; the only thing then is for 
each one to pay for its own, either 
willingly or under pressure. 
I do not know whether the state 
of Kansas has a law governing the 
assessments on cemetery lots; if it 
has, it will be Supt. Schubert’s relief 
to take advantage of it. 
E. O. Schulz, 
Supt. Ilion Cemetery. 
Ilion, N. Y. 
ARTISTIC TYPES OF SMALL CEMETERY MONUMENTS 
We have before pointed out in these pages that Ameri- 
can monumental designers have much to learn from the 
Germans in the matter of designing simple, graceful and 
artistic types of the common cemetery monument. In 
the tablet form of monument especially they have pro- 
duced a variety of ingenious forms that embody the grace 
of real architecture and art with that simplicity of con- 
struction necessary for the cheaper monuments. The Ger- 
man artists, sculptors and architects take more interest 
in their cemetery art than we do in this country, and this 
interest is increasingly evident in the production of such 
fine monumental designs as those illustrated here. They 
hold exhibitions of cemetery art, with model cemeteries 
laid out and model monuments set in their natural en- 
vironment in the grounds. Some pictures from one of 
these expositions have been previously illustrated in these 
pages. Associations of artists, sculptors and arts-crafts- 
men have been formed to cater to the demands for more 
artistic cemetery monuments. Some specimens of the 
work of one of these artistic workshops are shown here. 
The decorative details, and the general proportions offer 
a wealth of suggestion to American designers who want 
to get away from the stereotyped repetition of the com- 
mon variety of two piece and three piece jobs with their 
bulging brows' and rock-faced bases. 
The designs here illustrated are from a collection issued 
by the “Werkstiitten fiir Friedhofskunst” or Workshops 
for Cemetery Art in Berlin — an association composed of 
noted sculptors and other designers under a common 
business management. 
No. 2, 7 ft. 3 ins. in height, is from the design of 
Regierungsbaumeisters Salinger and Schmohl. It is of 
Kirchheimer shell lime-stone from Unterfranken ; the 
sculptured work is smooth chiseled, the columns polished, 
and all other surfaces worked closely with a broad chisel. 
No. 10, from Landbauinspektor Sackur and Sculptor 
Engelhardt, is 5 ft. 114 ins. high, of Friedersdorf sand- 
stone from Heuschener and Glatz, and is finely scraped 
or “scratched.” 
No. 17 (design by Professor Franz Seeck) is 6 ft. ^ in. 
high, and of Kirchheimer marble. The ornamentation is 
worked smooth with the chisel and all flat surfaces are 
finely “scraped,” as the German workers say. 
No. 20, from the Same designer, is 6 ft. 10 ins. high, 
and of Dorla shell limestone from Thuringia. All flat 
surfaces are finely scraped. 
No. 31 was designed by Architect Hans Bernoulli. It 
is 6 ft. 11 ins. high, of the above-mentioned Friedersdorf 
sandstone, and finely scraped. 
No. 36, designed by Regierungsbaumeister Lahrs, is 5 
ft. 3 ins. high, of polished Kirchheimer marble. The 
festoon is worked smooth with the chisel. 
No. 40 is from the same designer, is 6 ft. 6)4 ins. high, 
of Dorla shell limestone from Thuringia. The surfaces 
are scraped and the wreath worked smooth with the 
chisel. q 
