PARK AND CEMETERY 
63 
Improvement,’’ “Village Improvement,” “City Im- 
provement,” and “National Improvement.” At the 
evening sessions illustrated lectures on prominent 
phases of civic betterment will be attractive features, 
and Governor LaFollette, of Wisconsin, is on the pro- 
gram for a lecture on "Representative Government.’’ 
The institute will be brought to a close on Saturday 
evening, July 18, by a lecture on “The Model City.” 
by Mr. Albert Kelsey, who is in charge of the pro- 
posed exhibit at the St. Louis exposition. Another 
very promising feature of the program is the joint 
meeting of the .American League for Civic Improve- 
ment with the American Park and Outdoor Art Asso- 
ciation, which is to take place on the evening of Mon- 
day, July 13th. The annual convention of the latter 
organization occurs the previous week in Buffalo. 
^ ^ ^ 
Cemetery Legislation in Minnesota. 
The recent legislature of Minnesota enacted a num- 
ber of laws designed for the improvement and regula- 
tion of cemeteries. A bill was enacted relating to the 
investment of cemetery funds in savings banks, as 
also the permanent care funds of some cemete- 
ries. A law was passed giving village councils au- 
thority to appoint a cemetery board of not less than 
three members ; a previous law was amended relating 
to trustees of permanent care and improvement funds 
enabling cemetery associations to appoint trust com- 
panies as trustees, and a curative enactment was car- 
ried legalizing the sale of one cemetery to another, after 
such sale had already taken place. Minnesota has al- 
ways shown herself a progressive state and keeps well 
to the front in legislation tending to promote local 
welfare and progress. 
^ ^ ^ 
Exhibits at Annual Conventions. 
An important matter in connection with the annual 
conventions of our various associations is that per- 
taining to the display of implements, devices and other 
requisites used in the practical operations of their mem- 
bers. In the majority of instances, perhaps, such dis- 
plays are discouraged and in many organizations pro- 
hibited. A careful consideration of the question will 
incline one to the belief that, under proper regulations 
and restrictions, such a display by manufacturers and 
qualified agents, could be made a very strong edu- 
cational feature of such conventions. In some lines of 
work it would necessarily be impracticable, but within 
the natural limits of the cemetery superintendent and 
official, an opportunity to examine and understand the 
properties and capabilities of the best of the imple- 
ments and accessories designed for the use of ceme- 
teries might be especially serviceable and would ma- 
terially add to the value of the annual convention. Of 
course, the intrusion of such a feature upon the discus- 
sions and deliberations of the body in session must be 
rigidly guarded against, and it would seem that such a 
display, its management and control, so far as the as- 
sociation is concerned, should be placed in charge of 
a committee specially appointed for the purpose. In 
this way, under proper rules and regulations, the sen- 
sitiveness of interested superintendents and the busi- 
ness aggressiveness of wide-awake manufacturers or 
their agents, could be so controlled that the greatest 
good might be secured without any of the questionable 
reflections so often indulged in in the past, to the det- 
riment of what should he a serviceable adjunct of the 
convention. There is ample time for the arrangement 
of such a department for the coming annual conven- 
tion of the Association of American Cemetery Super- 
intendents, and an additional attraction provided for 
the superintendents of outlying cemeteries. 
^ ^ ^ 
Sunday Funerals. 
The Sunday funeral is still a problem awaiting solu- 
tion in the majority of our cemeteries. While it has 
been reduced to a practical usage by many of the lead- 
ing associations, it is a matter of extreme difficulty in 
general, due to the customs and habits of preceding 
generations and the established prejudice against 
change to modern ideas in questions pertaining to the 
last rites and ceremonies attendant upon the burying of 
the dead. Although the movement to do away with 
the Sunday funeral is making favorable progress, hav- 
ing in many localities secured the co-operation of both 
the clergy, the undertakers and the livery men, a pow- 
erful opposition has to be overcome at all points. 
Apart from the serious objections from the social 
standpoint to this old custom, in the interests of the 
modem cemetery itself there are features inseparable 
from the custom that demand reform. So long as the 
cemetery is open to visitors on the Sabbath, and so 
long as a lack of consideration for the personal priv- 
ileges of others ma,rk the conduct of so many of such 
visitors, the Sunday funeral is an outrage on the pro- 
prieties, and whereas, in the vast majority of instances, 
it is not absolutely necessary, the cemetery officials and 
workmen are entitled to the day of rest. We much 
regret to note the action of a number of fraternal asso- 
ciations in Springfield, O., because of the prohibition 
of Sunday funerals by the Ferncliff Cemetery Associa- 
tion, the officials of which are to be commended for 
their attitude. The aforesaid secret societies propose 
to establish a cemetery 7 of their own, in order that they 
may conduct their Sunday funerals without restric- 
tions. The promoters of such an enterprise and for 
such reasons, are evidently blind to the trend of the 
times, and a discussion of their motives would onlv 
serve to expose inherent defects in the educational 
features of their fraternal organization. Pomp and 
ceremony and a crowd about the grave are incompat- 
ible with the higher ideas and ideals to which all born 
to see the twentieth century should aspire. 
