cemetery, and to insure prompt service 
and satisfaction to lot owners. 
An important and usually profitable 
source of income, deserving more than 
casual reference, is the building of 
foundations for mausoleums, monuments, 
index stones and other structures on 
lots. 
To facilitate this business, avoid con- 
fusion and possible complications, insure 
good workmanship, economy, and satis- 
faction to lot owners, and provide a 
reasonable profit to increase the income 
of the cemetery, it is advisable, where at 
all practicable, for cemetery authorities 
to assume the building of all foundations, 
in fact, insist that all such work shall be 
done by cemetery employes at the ex- 
pense of lot owners or their agents. In 
some small cemeteries, where perhaps 
few memorials are erected, it may be 
deemed inexpedient for the authorities 
to assume the duty of building founda- 
tions; but even in such circumstances it 
appears to me advisable and practicable 
to devise a system whereby it might be 
advantageous to dealers and lot owners 
and profitable to the management if 
foundations were built by employes of 
the cemetery. 
Setting markers or index stones and 
even corner posts in many cemeteries 
is left entirely to or optional with deal- 
ers. but all of this work when done ex- 
clusively by cemetery employes, is ad- 
vantageous and profitable to the ceme- 
tery, and much more satisfactory to lot 
owners and dealers. 
Erecting monuments is undertaken or 
assumed by the management of a few 
cemeteries, perhaps not primarily for the 
income the service affords, although that 
may be considerable, but for the accom- 
modation of lot owners or dealers, or to 
avoid trouble sometimes arising from 
damage to cemetery property through 
the carelessness of contractors’ employes. 
I am of the opinion, however, that this 
service involves more risk and liability 
than the average cemetery is warranted 
in assuming. Accidents, although per- 
haps remote, occasionally happen and 
are sometimes very costly, creating a 
loss, perhaps of comparatively little con- 
sequence to some cemeteries but pos- 
sibly disastrous to others of more re- 
stricted means. 
It is better and safer if the demand 
will warrant the outlay, to provide an 
outfit of derricks, block and tackle and 
all equipment necessary for the erection 
of monuments so as to be prepared to 
accommodate monument dealers, fur- 
nishing them, too, with men, if required, 
to assist the setter in charge of the 
work. In this way some revenue may 
be obtained on a relatively small invest- 
ment, without material risk to the ceme- 
tery. 
Among the miscellaneous sources of 
income available but not common to all 
F ARK AND CEMETERY. 
cemeteries, I will briefly mention the 
sale of plants, cut flowers, bouquets, 
emblems, floral designs, and various re- 
quisites associated with a greenhouse 
establishment. 
It is a mooted question, which I will 
not attempt to settle at this time, 
whether or not greenhouses in the ceme- 
tery are a profitable investment. I 
merely mention this as an opportunity 
for revenue, which I am assured is 
quite profitable in some cemeteries, par- 
ticularly where an outside business in a 
populous neighborhood is conducted, or 
where surplus stock may be disposed of 
to the wholesale trade. 
Cleaning monumental structures on 
lots, involving little risk, a negligible 
outlay for equipment, and requiring no 
more skill than may readily be acquired 
by any intelligent workman, is a serv- 
ice appreciated by many lot owners, and 
is productive of considerable revenue 
and profit. 
Carriage service, introduced in some 
cemeteries as a necessary convenience 
to lot owners may in some localities be 
profitable, but this, I fear, is a rare oc- 
currence. 
Cremation affords a profitable income 
in a few cemeteries, but as a business 
venture with a view to realizing a pay- 
ing percentage directly from the invest- 
ment, the establishment of a crematory 
in any but the leading cemeteries, in or 
near the larger cities, is likely to prove 
a disappointment. I am persuaded, how- 
ever, in view of the increasing sentiment 
favoring cremation, that many cemeter- 
ies may, if finances will permit, profit by 
the installation of a crematory. With 
this facility a cemetery will be better 
prepared to accommodate patrons in the 
disposition of their dead according to 
their wishes; and the very fact of being 
so equipped will lend a distinction and 
prestige almost certain to contribute in 
large measure through other channels to 
the general success of the cemetery. 
The so-called community mausoleum 
finds favor in a few cemeteries, likewise 
smaller structures for the same purpose 
but in size and style similar to the pri- 
vate vault or mausoleum. Whether or 
not the income usually derived from this 
source is sufficient to warrant the in- 
vestment, I am not competent to judge. 
I confess I am opposed to these struc- 
tures on general principles and possibly 
may be unduly influenced by prejudice 
and unable to appreciate their worth to 
the cemetery as a money maker. 
The columbarium, temporary though 
it be, as a place of interment in com- 
parison with underground burial, no mat- 
ter how well it may be constructed, is in 
this respect less objectionable than the 
mausoleum by reason of greater possi- 
bilities for permanency in construction; 
and since the object for which it is de- 
signed is also less objectionable than 
199 
the purpose of the mausoleum, cem- 
eteries may be justified and may find it 
profitable where the demand appears to 
warrant the outlay, in making provision 
to satisfy the sentiments of persons 
favoring this disposition of cremated 
ashes. 
A small amount of revenue is also de- 
rived in some cemeteries from charges 
made for services such as fees for dupli- 
cate or transfer deeds, copies of ceme- 
tery plats and diagrams of lots. These 
and sundry matters of a minor nature 
are regarded in cemeteries in general as 
courtesies to be extended gratuitously. 
All the sources of income I have al- 
luded to are in every sense legitimate 
and any effort made by consistent busi- 
ness methods to promote any and all of 
them is undoubtedly worthy of emula- 
tion. But with your permission I wish 
to express my opinion regarding a prac- 
tice which I regret to note is becoming 
more and more prevalent, a practice de- 
signed to effect an increase in revenue 
which in the ordinary lines of trade is 
regarded as progressive and commend- 
able, but in the conduct of cemetery busi- 
ness is, I believe, reprehensible and sub- 
ject to popular criticism and even con- 
demnation. I refer to the system of 
commissions offered, perhaps I had bet- 
ter say, exacted, in the transaction of 
business in the cemetery, particularly 
that associated with interments. 
To the average mind, deeply sensitive 
when stricken with grief, when sym- 
pathy and unselfish motives are espe- 
cially welcomed and appreciated, the 
thought or knowledge that the occasion 
has been utilized by those depended on 
for faithful service to satisfy their own 
mercenary impulses, is very repugnant. 
This system, which obviously must de- 
prive the cemetery of a part of its in- 
come or oblige lot owners and others to 
pay for services they have not received, 
is, I am persuaded, as regrettable as it is 
burdensome and objectionable to all self- 
respecting, honest cemetery authorities, 
to whom it would be humiliating were it 
known to lot owners that they are en- 
gaged in or a party to any such sordid 
commercial methods. No matter on 
what bhsis a cemetery is organized it is 
obviously good policy and may reason- 
ably be regarded as the duty of the 
management to be ever mindful of the 
best interests of lot owners and in so 
doing probably promote the welfare of 
the cemetery. If, then, a cemetery can 
afford commissions or discounts surely 
it were better that an equivalent be al- 
lowed to lot owners in the adoption of 
reasonable prices for all services ren- 
dered, abandoning or refusing to adopt a 
system which grows ever more avari- 
cious and burdensome and sure sooner or 
later to reflect discredit on any ceme- 
tery. 
