80 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
THE OBITUARY RECORD. 
Charles Wilson Ross, for nearly twenty- 
five years street commissioner and superin- 
tendent of streets of Newton, Mass., and 
superintendent of the Newton Cemetery, 
died April 11 at his home in the cemetery 
grounds. IMr. Ross was born at West 
Boylston, IMass., March 8, 1849, and edu- 
cated in the public schools of that town 
and at Worcester. At 20 years of age he 
came to Newton as assistant superintend- 
ent of the Newton Cemetery, and had 
made that city his home since then. In 
December, 1890, he was appointed superin- 
tendent of streets of the city, and street 
commissioner in 1898, and served until his 
resignation in the spring of 1914, at which 
time he was appointed superintendent of 
the Newton Cemetery. Mr. Ross had the 
reputation of being -one of the best road 
builders in the commonwealth, if not in 
the country, and he was appointed in 1893 
by Governor Wolcott as a member of the 
IMassachusetts Highway Commission and 
served for two years. He was a charter 
member and actively interested in the First 
Baptist Church, of Newton Centre. He 
A mausoleum containing many crypts to 
be sold to individual purchasers as per- 
petual resting places for their dead is not 
exempt from taxation as a "building for 
cemetery use," according to a decision of 
the Supreme Court of New Jersey, handed 
down in the case of Mausoleum Builders 
of New Jersey vs. State Board of Ta.xes 
and Assessments, 96 Atlantic Reporter, 494. 
Plaintiff, a corporation engaged in 
building mausoleums, constructed a mau- 
soleum in a cemetery, containing 400 crypts, 
which are to lie sold for the benefit of 
the company to such persons as may desire 
to buy them. The above mentioned suit 
was brought to cancel an assessment of 
the building at $35,000 for taxation, the 
company claiming the same to be exempt 
under the statute of New Jersey which 
exempts from taxation "graveyards not ex- 
ceeding ten acres of ground, cemeteries 
and hnildings for cemetery use erected 
thereon.” But in affirming the right of 
the tax authorities to make the assessment, 
the Supreme Court says : 
“In construing statutes exempting prop- 
erty from taxation it is settled beyond fur- 
ther discussion, by a long line of ad- 
judged cases, that such statutes granting 
immunity from taxation must be strictly 
construed. * * * This rule was applied 
by this court in construing the word ‘prop- 
erty’ in the act to incorporate rural ceme- 
teries, as not including personal property of 
cemetery associations. Rosedale Cemeter}' 
Association vs. Linden, 73 N. J. Law, 421, 
63 Atl. 904. 
“That this mausoleum is not exempt from 
taxation, it may be said, to use the lan- 
was past president of the Massachusetts 
Highway Association and served for many 
years as treasurer of the Newton Horti- 
cultural Society ; was a member of the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the 
American Park Association, the National 
and New England Associations of Ceme- 
tery Superintendents, the American and 
Boston Societies of Civil Engineers, Dal- 
housie Lodge of Masons, and Newton 
Royal Arch Chapter. He was a member 
of the Common Council of Newton from 
the Sixth Ward in 1885-86. He is sur- 
vived by his wife and five children. 
John B. Meisch, superintendent of Holy 
Sepulchre Cemetery, Rochester, N. Y., died 
March 16 at his home in Charlotte boule- 
vard, in the Slst year of his age. He is 
survived by his wife, Margaret; one son, 
Pierre; one brother, Nicholas, and three 
sisters, Mrs. Joseph Creegan, Mrs. Frank 
P. Farnan and Miss Barbara Meisch. Mr. 
Meisch was born February 22, 1865, and 
in 1898 succeeded his father, Pierre Meisch, 
as superintendent of Holy Sepulchre Cem- 
etery. 
guage contained in the State Tax Board's 
conclusion, when the Legislature exempted 
liuildings for 'cemetery use,’ it could hardly 
ha\ e had in mind such a structure as that 
The Minneapolis public schools cele- 
brated Loring Day, April 28, in honor of 
Charles M. Loring, the father of Minne- 
apolis parks. Loring elms were presented 
to the schools l)y the park board and 
planted by the children. In 1856, when he 
was twenty-three, i\Ir. Loring came from 
his native state — Alaine — to Chicago, and 
in 1860, with his wife and small son, 
moved to Minneapolis. In 1862, he planted 
his first trees at Fifth street and Fifth 
avenue south. He planted trees on Seventh 
street south, by Bradstreet's store, carry- 
ing water for them three blocks. The first 
street uniformly planted in Minneapolis 
was Second avenue south. It was planted 
from Fourth to Fourteenth street, from 
Mr. Loring’s offering a premium. Since 
then he has done considerable planting. 
With his own hands and the help of one 
man he planted “Murphy Square,” the first 
park in Minneapolis. 
John Dunbar, assistant superintendent 
of parks, Rochester, N. Y., recently fin- 
ished twenty-five years of service in con- 
nection with the Rochester park system. 
To his ability and work in a large measure 
involved in this appeal ; for such buildings 
were not then known or contemplated. It 
is true that from time immemorial mauso- 
leums have been used as a place of sepulture 
for individuals or for members of an en- 
tire family, but never before, in this state 
at least, has the erection and maintenance 
of mausoleums and the sale of space there- 
in been made a matter of commercial en- 
terprise conducted by a private business 
corporation. In construing an act of the 
Legislature the court may and ought to 
examine and take into consideration the 
history of the times when the statute was 
passed. * * * The State Board of Equal- 
ization of Taxes ruled that 'buildings for 
cemetery use' meant buildings essential and 
necessarily incidental to the use of the 
cemeter}'. This, we think, is the correct 
construction of the statute, and in its ap- 
plication to the mausoleum in this case, 
that it is not exempt from taxation.” 
PRINTING CONVENTION PAPERS. 
Editor Park and Cemetery : Regarding 
the letter in your April issue of Charles T. 
G. Flaherty about printing of convention 
papers by subscription, will say I believe 
this plan a good one and think you can 
help in this matter by encouraging the 
members by printing a list of names of 
those willing to contribute. Please add my 
name to the list. James Warren, Jr., 
Providence, R. 1. President, A. A. C. S. 
is due the wonderful collection of shrubs, 
trees and flowering plants at Highland 
Park and in other city parks, which is 
considered by Dr. Sargent, of the Arnold 
Arboretum, Boston, Mass., as the finest in 
the country. Mr. Dunbar is an unusually 
proficient botanist as well as expert grower 
of plants and flowers. He is the official 
botanist of the Society of American Flor- 
ists and Ornamental Horticulturists, and 
often is a speaker on horticultural topics 
before associations and societies of florists 
and horticulturists in this country and 
Canada. 
A tentative plan for an outer park belt 
in Cook county outside of Chicago was 
prepared at a meeting of the plan commis- 
sion of the fo-rest preserve commission 
recently. The plan provides for the ac- 
quiring of large tracts of wooded land in 
different parts of the county and the con- 
necting of these tracts with improved con- 
crete roads. 
Beautifying the banks of the Chicago 
river is included in the plans of the coun- 
cil committee on streets and alleys for the 
year. Reclamation of a strip of land five 
TAXABILITY OF PUBLIC MAUSOLEUM. 
PARK NEWS. 
