PARK AND CEMETERY 
and Landscape Gardening. 
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YOL. XIV CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER, 1904 No. 7 
Association of American Cemetery Superintendents. 
Eighteenth Annual Convention. 
The eighteenth annual convention of the Association 
of American Cemetery Superintendents held in Chicago 
August 23, 24, and 25, 1904, marked another year of 
substantial progress in cemetery advancement and set 
a new record for attendance and interest in discussions. 
Nearly 100 members registered the first day, and with 
those who brought their wives and other members of 
their families or friends, those who arrived late and 
members of the Illinois State Association, the total 
number was swelled to nearly 150. The program was 
varied from those of past comentions by having fewer 
and shorter papers, and devoting more time to the dis- 
cussions, and a large number of members took spirited 
part in all of the discussions. The sessions in the 
chapels of Graceland, Rose Hill, and Oakwoods were 
particularly appropriate and interesting, and the drives 
through those cemeteries and the parks and boulevards 
gave object lessons that were highly appreciated. 
First T>ay, August 23d . 
President Dix called the first day’s session to order 
shortly after 10 o’clock, and introduced Dr. James F. 
Todd, City Physician of Chicago, who delivered the ad- 
dress of welcome on behalf of the city, Mayor Harrison 
being detained by pressure of official duties. Dr. Todd 
paid an eloquent tribute to the work of the association, 
and Mr. Dix responded with a few fitting words of 
thanks and appreciation. 
The President’s annual address was next in order 
and was as follows : 
Ladies and Gentlemen and Members of the Association of 
American Cemetery Superintendents : 
I am glad to be with you this morning, at the opening of the 
Eighteenth Annual Convention of our Association. What 
little I may say in these few moments will hardly be worthy 
the name of an address, yet if it serves, as I trust it may, to 
augment the spirit of friendship and genuine helpfulness 
which has characteriztd all our conventions, or to induce you 
when you return to your respective homes to inform your 
trustees and lot-owners of what our Association is doing and 
the help it has been to you, the effort will not have been in 
vain. 
We have met annually for seventeen years, and the results, 
though not perfect, have been very encouraging to us all. 
Thirteen years ago next month we met in this beautiful 
city, and well do we who were then present remember the 
pleasant and very profitable occasion. The visits to Rosehill, 
Oakwoods and Graceland cemeteries and the rides through the 
beautiful parks and boulevards of the city, where we gathered 
lessons of incalculable value to us during these intervening 
years. And as we visit these same scenes this week we no 
doubt will see vast improvements which time and the trained 
hand has wrought. 
It has been my privilege to attend most of the conventions 
of our society, and I esteem it a great honor to preside at 
such a gathering of men, all imbued with the same noble 
purpose of advancing the interests and elevating the char- 
acter of the cemeteries of our great country. 
While I deplore the absence of some, it is a pleasure to 
see so many of the old and efficient members present who have 
done so much for our Association and I desire to avail myself 
of this opportunity to express to them and to the editor of our 
official organ, Park and Cemetery, my sincere appreciation 
of their wise and generous counsel and its many years of 
assistance to me. To the new members and others present, 
who contemplate joining our Association, I desire to extend 
a most hearty welcome, and I trust you will feel quite at home 
among men of your own calling. I assure you we will all 
be pleased to receive your suggestions and be informed of 
your methods concerning subjects which are continually before 
our meetings. The information contained in the many excel-' 
lent papers which have been read at our conventions and the 
interesting discussions attending them, have benefited every 
cemetery whose superintendent has been privileged to be pres- 
ent at these meetings or has had the printed reports thereof. 
As was once said by Brother Hobert, I, too, regret that there 
are still many able men engaged in cemetery management 
who, like the cemeteries in their charge, continue year after 
year to share in all the benefits and advantages of our Asso- 
ciation and its reports, without contributing one iota of their 
tinre, ability, or means toward its maintenance. May all 
such come soon from their hiding and become active members 
of our worthy Association, which would be greatly strength- 
ened thereby and those who join us learn that it is more 
blessed to give than to receive. In all parts of the country 
there is another class of cemetery officials who feel that they 
can not afford the expense incident to attending the conven- 
tions of our National Association. For the benefit particularly 
of such 1 am glad to see state associations increasing in 
number, and hope they are becoming earnest workers in them. 
I have been pleased several times during the year to learn of 
the encouraging progress which is being made in many parts 
of the country relative to provisions for the perpetual care 
of cemetery lots, the adoption of the lawn plan and the dis- 
continuance of Sunday funerals. Amidst our zeal to advance 
these and other interests of our respective cemeteries, let us 
in all our dealings with our patrons, exercise patience at 
any cost and be ever willing to cheerfully give reasons for 
our methods and rules which to many seem too arbitrary. 
To the public we must appear rather heartless to speak of 
success in our vocation which must of necessity come to us 
through others’ sorrow and bereavement. Nevertheless, as 
