the requirements of this new field in park 
management. 
In the large parks where the landscape 
gardener’s art is still the dominant feature 
I some changed conditions have been encoun- 
tered, due partly to the larger numbers of 
people using the parks, following the in- 
crease in population, and partly to the won- 
derful increase of public interest in outdoor 
sports. A quarter of a century ago tennis 
was not in vogue as it is at present, while 
golf in public parks was practically un- 
known. Efforts to provide tennis court sur- 
facing that will permit the use of the 
courts at all seasons of the year have led 
to different experiments. As stated under 
the subject of playground surfacing, the 
South Park Commissioners have had in use 
for several years two courts paved with 
cork asphalt, and more recently six courts 
have been paved with a mixture of quarter- 
inch crushed limestone (small enough to 
pass a half-inch mesh), torpedo sand and 
j asphalt. All of these have met with great 
approval from the tennis-playing public. 
As is well known, the advent of the au- 
| tomobile during the time under considera- 
tion has demonstrated the unsuitableness of 
macadam driveways for that means of traf- 
fic. This presented another problem of 
1 considerable importance — the construction 
i of a pavement that would not disintegrate 
j under the wear and tear of automobile traf- 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
fic and still would be as noiseless and 
springy as possible for horse traffic. After 
several years of trial the South Park Com- 
missioners believe such a pavement has 
been found in what is known as asphaltic 
concrete, a mixture of crushed limestone 
and torpedo sand, heated in a revolving 
cylinder and combined while hot with suf- 
ficient hot liquid asphalt to thoroughly ce- 
ment the particles of the mixture together. 
It is laid while hot in different thicknesses, 
depending upon the character and amount 
of traffic using the pavement. 
Another advance recently made is the 
use of a light distillate oil in place of 
heavy black oil or water for dust-laying 
purposes on macadam driveways, gravel 
walks, bridle paths, ball fields and play- 
grounds. It has been clearly shown that its 
use is much less nasty than that of 
heavy oils and cheaper than water, over 
which it possesses the advantage of keep- 
ing down the dust both day and night in- 
stead of only while the surfaces are wet, 
which is an advantage most beneficial to 
park lawns and shrubbery. Best results 
have been obtained by applying the oil in 
spray form. 
Even the policy of park administration in 
its relation to the people has undergone a 
change in the past quarter of a century. 
The watchword of the present is “Service” 
to the public and assistance to enjoy with 
233 
the least restraint possible, consistent with 
a proper care for life and public property, 
the facilities for recreation or social enjoy- 
ment provided by present day park equip- 
ment. Witness, for instance, the removal 
of the signs which some years ago pro- 
hibited the public from using the park 
lawns. The progress of this policy of pub- 
lic helpfulness is evident in numerous other 
ways. 
It must not be forgotten that the Ameri- 
can Association of Park Superintendents 
was founded during the period of greater 
expansion of park usefulness and activities, 
and as an organization has achieved a re- 
markable success in park and related work. 
The annual meetings of this association of 
park officials and landscape gardeners have 
offered excellent opportunities for the 
spread of useful information on park man- 
agement through the interchange of ideas, 
the presentation of new methods that have 
been found of value, and the discussion of 
problems encountered in different parts of 
the country. 
Our success in the past inspires us with 
the confidence that the problems of park 
administration now awaiting solution and 
others that may arise in the future will be 
met and conquered with the same interest 
for the public welfare which has in the past 
testified to our devotion to duty in our 
chosen life-work. 
THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE CEMETERY 
By Walter K. Towers, A. B., J. D., of the Michigan Bar. 
Not only do the courts apply the laws for 
our protection while we are living, but 
they often find it necessary to protect our 
remains after we are dead. The law rec- 
ognizes the sacredness of a grave and with- 
in certain limits will exercise its authority 
to protect it. 
The control of cemeteries is a matter 
within the province of the state legislature. 
The state lawmakers may, and frequently 
do, enact laws regulating places of burial 
providing for the establishment of new 
ones, or the abandonment of old ones. 
At the present time it is a common cus- 
tom for a cemetery association to secure 
title to a suitable tract of ground. What 
ground may be used for this purpose is 
within the control of the state or municipal- 
ity. Individuals secure the rights of burial 
in particular lots from the company. They 
do not take title to the lot, but only pur- 
chase a right to use, and the right to such 
care by the association as is specified in the 
contract. A written contract or deed is not 
necessary, an oral agreement being suf- 
ficient in law to confer rights in a cemetery 
lot. 
Public cemeteries may become estab- 
lished by general and long continued usage, 
in which case it is held that the land has 
been dedicated to use as a cemetery by the 
original owners. Thus it has been held a 
good dedication in law where the landowner 
stated to people living in the vicinity that 
land might be used as a place for burial 
and allowed it to be fenced, improved and 
exclusively used as a cemetery for a long 
period of time. 
Unless one can be very sure that a neigh- 
borhood burial place which has not been 
secured by purchase by a corporation or as- 
sociation has been legally dedicated, he can- 
not be assured that graves in it will be un- 
disturbed. In a recent case, the Missouri 
court very reluctantly declared it had no 
right to protect a burial ground which had 
never been dedicated to that purpose by the 
owners of the land. Later owners insisted 
on tearing down the old fence and allowing 
cattle to pasture in the old burial ground. 
Descendants of those buried in the ground 
objected and sought to secure by force of 
law the permission to fence the graves of 
their ancestors. The court informed them 
that their only rights were to remove the 
bodies. 
But once a cemetery has been properly 
established, the courts are inclined to con- 
sider only cases of the most obvious neces- 
sity. The growth of a city may sometimes 
make it necessary to move a burying ground 
or long continued neglect may result in its 
eventual abandonment. Many state laws 
have been passed to protect cemeteries from 
spoliation. 
The law is strongly inclined to protect 
the individual grave as well as the cemetery 
as a whole. This is shown by the state- 
ment of the court in a recent case where 
an effort was being made by the accused in 
a murder trial to have the dead body of 
the victim exhumed for examination. The 
court said in part: “Can it (the court), 
without the consent of the kindred of the 
dead, invade the sacred precincts of the 
cemetery, and tear open again and lacerate 
afresh the hearts of those that loved him, 
and to whom his memory is sacred and 
dear? With what reverence do we all re- 
gard the graves of our dead, and each re- 
turning spring cover them with beautiful 
flowers. There is an instinct planted by 
nature in the human breast to feel a strong 
aversion — almost horror — at the desecration 
of the grave. The maxim, ‘Requiescat in 
pace’ (Let him rest in peace), speaks this 
feeling. The great dramatist impressively 
tells his tender emotion in the prayerful 
epitaph written by his own hand for his 
tombstone : 
“ ‘Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear 
To dig the dust enclosed here; 
Blest be the man that spare these stones, 
And cursed be he that moves my bones.’ ” 
The conclusion is that a court will only 
exercise the power, if it has such power, 
to order the body of a deceased, in a mur- 
der prosecution, to be disinterred, when to 
do so is plainly necessary and essential to 
