198 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SOURCES OF INCOME FOR CEMETERIES 
An address before the A. A. C. S. Convention at Minneapolis, 
by James Currie, Supt., Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee. 
Meditating on the subject assigned to 
me for this occasion, as indicated by the 
title of this address, and considering the 
primary purposes of an income for the 
cemetery, there came vividly to my mind 
many neglected or badly kept cemeteries, 
their condition being attributable in 
some instances perhaps to deficiency of 
knowledge and ability on the part of the 
management to properly conduct the 
business ; but more likely to insufficiency 
of funds to provide for the proper care 
of the premises according to the stand- 
ard established by progressive ideas and 
the usages of our times, which demand 
that the resting places of the dead shall 
be beautiful, or at least in a reasonable 
degree attractive and not offensive to 
our sense of propriety and feelings of 
respect and reverence for the departed. 
Success in cemetery management is 
based on the same fundamental prin- 
ciples which govern all lines of legitimate 
business, requiring an intimate knowl- 
edge of affairs, an appreciation of and 
strict attention to requirements and a 
careful study of economic conditions, in- 
volving the problem of providing a suffi- 
cient revenue for the operation, main- 
tenance and improvement of the ceme- 
tery in accordance with modern ideas, 
besides establishing a reserve fund for 
the proper care of the grounds in per- 
petuity, now regarded as a moral duty 
by the management of every well regu- 
lated cemetery. 
The fact should never be overlooked 
that a cemetery is not the possession of 
the present generation alone but a her- 
itage to posterity, which some future 
generation may find a grievous burden 
unless by wise forethought and prudent 
management their predecessors had in 
due time amply provided for future re- 
quirements. 
A sufficient income being of the ut- 
most importance, cemetery authorities 
or corporations, whether organized solely 
for burial of the dead and the mutual 
benefit of the cemetery and lot own- 
ers, or in part for the profits to 
individuals which may accrue from the 
business, may naturally and consistently 
be expected to derive all the revenue 
which may be necessary to successfully 
conduct the business from any and all 
legitimate sources of income the busi- 
ness may afford. 
Local conditions suggest and deter- 
mine the several sources from which an 
income may be anticipated and the rela- 
tive proportion which each source may 
reasonably be expected to yield to ag- 
gregate the amount required. 
Incomes for cemeteries are in general 
obtainable from three principal sources, 
the sale of lots and graves; services to 
lot owners, monumental dealers, and un- 
dertakers; interest and perhaps profits 
on investments. Besides these there are 
miscellaneous sources, some of them 
quite important as revenue producers, 
although not available in all cemeteries 
alike. 
Land available for lots, most valuable 
of all sources of income of the cemetery, 
should be wisely conserved and its price 
in all its relations carefully computed 
befoi'e offering it for sale. On this source 
and on the original investment the ceme- 
tery may almost wholly depend for its 
development and maintenance for per- 
haps many years. On this source, too, 
cemeteries in general rely for a reserve 
fund for the care and maintenance of the 
grounds in perpetuity when perhaps all 
other sources of revenue are exhausted; 
and from this source cemeteries estab- 
lished by individuals or corporations as 
a business venture, are expected to pro- 
duce a substantial share of anticipated 
dividends. 
In cemeteries established in accord- 
ance with modern philanthropic ideas 
with no thought of personal profit, it is 
obvious that the prices of lots need be 
no higher than is necessary to produce 
a due proportion of the revenue esti- 
mated to be sufficient to amply provide 
for the present and future needs of the 
cemetery. 
Individual or stock companies looking- 
for dividends, where sanctioned by legis- 
lative authority, usually fix prices ac- 
cording to the demand and the maxi- 
mum they find or anticipate their patrons 
will pay, which is quite legitimate and 
businesslike even if it savors too much 
of commercialism, as many high-minded 
persons hold who contend that a ceme- 
tery should not be conducted for indi- 
vidual gain. This, however, is a matter 
of opinion and foreign to the purpose of 
my address. In general it will be found 
that prospective purchasers of lots are 
usually willing to pay any price within 
their means which is reasonable and 
consistent with the character and policy 
of the cemetery. 
It is rare to find in any cemetery the 
price of lots too high. Demand, and to 
some extent, competition, regulate that; 
but in many cemeteries the mistake has 
been made and in many more is still 
being made, of selling lots so low that 
there is not sufficient income derived 
therefrom to do more, in many instances, 
than keep the grounds in a fairly present- 
able condition, but making no provision 
for the future. Such short-sighted policy 
is a reflection on the trustees of these 
cemeteries, who if true to their obliga- 
tions to lot owners cannot ignore the 
sacred duty of establishing the cemetery 
on a sound and permanent financial basis 
by providing an adequate endowment. 
Money received in trust for the per- 
petual care of individual lots embodying 
special features not included in the gen- 
eral care, is not in itself income but is 
productive of income, which when ap- 
plied to the purposes for which it is in- 
tended, affords opportunity for profit; 
hence the larger these trust funds are 
individually or collectively the greater 
the revenue accruing to the cemetery. 
The endowment of lots may therefore be 
encouraged with consistency for two im- 
portant reasons; first, to insure the good 
care of those lots in perpetuity, a 
source of satisfaction to lot owners and 
a lightening of the burden which unen- 
dowed lots will impose on the trustees 
in future generations; and second, to 
help increase the revenue available for 
general expenses. 
Referring specifically to the various 
services lot owners may desire in the 
improvement, embellishment and main- 
tenance of their lots, including labor and 
material required, which if attended to 
by the management of the cemetery 
may be productive of considerable 
revenue, I may briefly mention such 
work as grading, sodding, seeding, fertil- 
izing and other necessary work to keep 
the lawn in good order, planting and 
care of trees, shrubs and ornamental 
plants; watering lots, graves, flower beds 
and vases; sodding, planting on graves 
and covering them in fall; planting and 
care of flower beds; filling and care of 
flower vases; cut flower decorations; 
painting vases, chairs and settees; in fine, 
anything on the lot requiring attention. 
Services usually rendered to under- 
takers, either for themselves personally 
or through them for the benefit of their 
clients, include such important matters 
as opening, closing and trimming or 
decorating graves for interments, fur- 
nishing boxes for caskets, cement, slate, 
stone or brick vaults, the use of lower- 
ing devices and shelter tents at graves, 
the chapel for services, and the use of 
the receiving vault for temporary im- 
murement. 
Trimming graves is not infrequently 
the privilege of undertakers, but is in 
general attended to exclusively by the 
cemetery management. Undertakers are 
likewise privileged in some cemeteries 
to supply burial vaults of any and all 
styles, but in other cemeteries this busi- 
ness is controlled by the management, 
not alone for the profit accruing there- 
from, but also for the convenience of the 
