PARK AND CEMETERY 
144 
and treasurer, showed the finances to be in prosperous 
condition. Twenty-four new members were added 
during the year and seven were numbered with the 
silent majority, viz., E. C. Abdill, Danville, 111 .; Wm. 
H. Barlow, Sing Sing, N. Y. ; A. Clabaugh, Altoona, 
Pa.; J. H. Doswell, Ft. Wayne, Ind.; J. T. Mellor, 
Hackensack, N. J.; J. J. Noyes, Newburyport, Mass.; 
Geo. H. Scott, Chicago. Present membership is 189, 
including eleven additions made at Pittsburgh. 
A telegram of greeting was sent to Mr. Charles 
Nichols, Newark, N. J., the fiist president of the as- 
sociation, who was unable to be present. Mr. 
Nichols’ portrait appears on the convention badge, il- 
lustrated on the preceding page. 
The entertainment for the afternoon included a 
carriage ride through beautiful Schenley Park, with 
its broad drives and picturescpie landscape, covering 
420 acres, a visit to the Phipps conservatories, and 
the Carnegie Library, Music Hall and Art Museum, 
whose donor’s generosity has made his name a house- 
hold word in two continents. This magnificent in- 
stitution, representing an outlay of one and a half 
million dollars, is to be enlarged to three and one- 
half times its present size, the plans having been ap- 
proved by Mr. Carnegie and the funds provided by 
him. 
The Phipps conservatories, representing an outlay 
of $140,000 for buildings alone, were presented to 
the city by Mr. Henry Phipps, Jr., a prosperous citi- 
zen of that city, who has “builded better than he 
knew” so great an attraction and so valuable an in- 
structor have these well filled houses of steel and 
glass become to the people of Pittsburg, .and now 
Mr. Phipps is still further adding to his gift by Infild- 
ing a School of Botany adjoining the conservatories, 
to cost $25,000, where the public and private schools 
of the city and, in fact, all persons so inclined may en- 
joy the privileges without money and without price. 
The conservatories are the largest of the kind in this 
country, the total area of floor space being' 72,915 
square feet. All parts of the world contribute to the 
interesting collection of ornamental and useful plants, 
arranged as nearly as possible as nature would have 
them and growing as thriftily as if in their native 
habitat. Mr. William Falconer, superintendent of 
Schenley Park, is also in full charge of these conser- 
vatories, and to his courtesy the visitors are indebted 
for a very enjoyable afternoon. 
At the evening session Mr. W. J. Howard, LL. D., 
of Pittsburg, read an interesting- 'address touching 
upon various phases of cemetery economy. He re- 
ferred to the menace to public health in crowded 
cemeteries, and considered “one of the great concern.s 
of those charged with the care of cemeteries should 
be to secure such a method of drainage as will make 
it impossible for the living to absorb the dead, even 
in diluted form.” Touching upon the subject of monu- 
ments and epitaphs, the Chancellor said: “While as 
a rule exceptionally good taste has characterized the 
general conduct of our cemeteries, it has not always 
proved that those who possess the privilege of erect- 
ing memorial stones have succeeded in manifesting 
as much taste, as is manifested by the general conduct. 
(.)ne of your objects must be to endeavor so far a.> 
possible to keep lot holdfrs from intruding into the 
beautiful spots which your art has adorned things 
that are incongruous, whether from an artistic stand- 
point or from a literary standpoint.” He cited a 
case where a cemetery corporation had failed to com- 
ply with the requirements of a certain trust fund, and 
urged that “trusts should be held most sacred and. 
particularly those made by a former generation,”. 
“New Cemeteries and Their Management” wa.s 
the subject of an interesting paper read by Mr. Bellett 
Lawson, Jr., of Buffalo, N. Y. Mr. Lawson, although 
one of the young members of the association, has had 
considerable experience in establishing new ceme- 
teries. Assuming that “under modern conditions the 
public has come to regard cemeteries as business 
organizations, they should surely be managed as 
such.” He advocated “advertising, just as other 
business organizations do,” making only such state- 
ments as could be substantiated. He urged careful 
attention to what are ordinarily considered as minor 
details in cemetery work, but which have to do very 
largely with gaining the favor or disapproval of lot- 
holders. 
Mr. M. Jensen, Oberlin, ()., told in a convincing- 
way “Why we should encourage the membership of 
this Association.” He related what he had accom- 
plished in the way of improvements at his cemetery. 
Westwood, and attributed much of the inspiration to 
membership in this association ; 
The great object is an interchange of ideas and the mu- 
tual benefit to be derived from their discussion. To be- 
come a good, practical cemetery superintendent a man 
cannot depend on himself entirely. He may be a man of 
artistic tendencies, practical as an engineer, thorough as 
a workman, conscientious in his dealings "with the public, 
and his particular cemetery may be kept up in a very or- 
derly manner, but he will be apt to become a one-idea 
man, and many things which would not only add to the 
beauty of his cemetery but which would greatly lessen 
his labor will be to him as a sealed book. It is to his 
interest that he hears matters about his particular calling 
thoroughly discussed by men "who are experts in handling 
a similar business to which he is giving his thought and 
time. 
Mr. Jolm E. Miller, Mattoon, 111 ., followed with a 
paper on “The Influence of Modern Well-Kept Ceme- 
teries in the Community.” He pictured the condi- 
tions that should exist in a well-kept modern ceme- 
tery, knd found in them influences that are “educa- 
tional, stimulating, uplifting and refining in their 
nature and character.’ ’ 
