200 
For any accommodation and for the 
faithful performance of all services, lot 
owners, and others are generally will- 
ing to pay the prices deemed proper by 
cemetery authorities. In this connection 
I believe I am justified in asserting that 
in most cemeteries prices for the serv- 
ices I have named, are in many in- 
stances, without particularizing, too low. 
Judging by my own experience the pa- 
trons of cemeteries by reason of ex- 
ample, observation and the higher stand- 
ard to which they have been educated, 
are becoming more and more particular 
and fastidious, expecting and even in- 
sisting on a quality of service such as a 
few years ago would have been con- 
sidered by them superfluous and extrava- 
gant. In many instances, to my knowl- 
edge, prices so affected have not been 
advanced, or not to an extent com- 
mensurate with the cost of the services 
rendered. It is not uncommon to find 
the management of cemeteries unmindful 
of incidental expenses or at least not 
careful to include all overhead charges 
and a reasonable percentage of profit in 
estimating the cost of services. The re- 
sult is frequently a net loss on certain 
services, whereas it should be a sub- 
stantial gain. I contend that for every 
service performed for individuals in the 
cemetery, except acts of courtesy easily 
differentiated, there should be a corre- 
sponding charge and that each and every 
charge should be on an equitable but 
profitable basis. If this plan was care- 
fully systematized and adopted in every 
cemetery I venture to say that the in- 
crease in revenue in some of them would 
be surprising. Incomes of cemeteries 
may be much affected not alone by the 
charges made for services but by the 
restrictions adopted and privileges ac- 
corded to lot owners and others who 
desire work done in the cemetery. 
Conditions necessarily vary in different 
cemeteries. A certain source of revenue 
yielding a comfortable profit in one place 
may be neglible as to profit or even a 
losing proposition in another; consequently 
cemetery authorities are apt to discrimi- 
nate, reserving for themselves certain serv- 
ices and leaving the less profitable work to 
the option of lot owners. But it is surely 
the duty, and I believe it is the privilege, 
of the authorities of every cemetery to 
utilize' every legitimate source of income 
the cemetery offers to place it on a sound 
financial basis. 
The cemetery by reason of its peculiar 
purposes and the mutual interests of all 
concerned in its welfare is essentially dif- 
ferent from any other line of business and 
should not, where control is possible, be 
subjected to the ordinary hazards of 
trade, such as the open market, competi- 
tion and cutting of prices, which curtail 
opportunities, tend to hamper success, and 
operate against the best interests of lot 
owners. A dependable revenue is essential 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
to the success of the cemetery, and since 
little, if any, income is obtainable from 
outside sources, therefore every available 
opportunity of income the cemetery affords 
should be systematically conserved and ap- 
propriated by the management. 
Is it fair or reasonable that outside gar- 
deners and other workmen be permitted to 
operate in the cemetery and be accorded 
the privilege of conducting business in 
competition with the management in what 
may reasonably be considered exclusive 
territory developed at large expense by the 
trustees of the cemetery, to which these 
outsiders have contributed absolutely noth- 
ing? Or is it doing justice to lot owners 
in general w'ho are deeply interested in 
and liberally contribute to the beauty of 
the cemetery to allow a few of their num- 
ber to obtrude their individual, diversified 
and often crude notions and amateurish 
workmanship in the care of their lots, dis- 
turbing the unity of ideas and harmonv r 
purpose in the improvement and embellish- 
ment of the premises? Such freedom to 
individuals, which, to be consistent and 
equitable, must be permitted to all, is apt 
to be adverse to good management and 
prejudicial to the success of the cemetery. 
Observing and discriminating persons 
cannot fail to notice and must concede that 
work in the care of lots done by ex- 
perienced employees of the cemetery is 
usually distinguished by neatness, uniform- 
ity and conformity with the general plan 
of the grounds. 
The question may naturally arise in the 
minds of some cemetery officials who have 
been accustomed to lot owners exercising 
their own pleasure in doing work or hav- 
ing it done by outsiders on their own lots, 
whether it is proper and practicable to 
prohibit this practice and insist that all 
work shall be done by cemetery employees. 
Under legislative authority, slightly mod- 
ified in the different states, cemetery boards 
or corporations may sell lots on such terms 
and subject to such restrictions as they 
may prescribe for the improvement, em- 
bellishment and maintenance of the 
grounds and administration of the ceme- 
tery in general. Manifestly it is the pre- 
rogative of such boards or corporations to 
determine the plan and policy of the ceme- 
tery, the privileges of lot owners and the 
restrictions which must be imposed to prop- 
erly regulate all matters pertaining to the 
management of the institution. 
If it is advantageous and consistent for 
the management of a cemetery to control 
— in fact, monopolize — any work or busi- 
ness in the cemetery, might it not be equal- 
ly proper and on the whole more satis- 
factory to all concerned if all services were 
so controlled ? 
If lot owners and other patrons of a 
cemetery recognize and approve of a sys- 
tem of cemetery control or monopoly of 
certain services designed for the general 
welfare, is : it not logical to suppose that 
they would also approve of a more extend- 
ed application of the same meritorious sys- 
tem ? 
Irrespective, however, of the privileges 
which lot owners may enjoy in the care 
and embellishment of their lots or in the 
erection of monuments and other struc- 
tures permissible in the cemetery, and irre- 
spective of the legal rights which cemetery 
authorities may possess to prohibit lot 
owners from doing any work of whatever 
nature on their lots except by special per- 
mission ; in brief, no matter as to the legal 
status of either party, it would unquestion- 
ably in practically every instance contrib- 
ute in many respects immeasurably to the 
material benefit of both the lot owner and 
the cemetery if all services required were 
attended to* by skilled cemetery employes 
under the direct supervision of the man- 
agement. The lot owner would be spared 
anxiety respecting the condition and care 
of his lot and freed from the trouble and 
time required in doing any necessary work 
himself or in finding someone to do it for 
him, for whose conduct in the cemetery he 
must be held responsible, and the manage- 
ment would be given increased opportunity 
to augment the income of the cemetery. 
The introduction of restrictive measures in 
cemeteries where lot owners and their 
agents have had practically a free hand, 
usually requires the exercise of tact and 
diplomacy to amicably attain the end in 
view. It may be advantageous and expe- 
dient to adopt a differential plan, permit- 
ting lot owners to do certain kinds of 
work, as, for example, the embellishment 
of graves to give expression to their senti- 
ments and to satisfy a perfectly natural 
desire to do some little things on their lots 
with their own hands, but restraining them 
and all others from doing the more impor- 
tant kinds of work, which may only be ad- 
vantageously performed by employes of the 
cemetery. 
Regulations affecting the revenue of the 
cemetery should be comprehensive and ef- 
fective, so as to consistently conserve all 
available sources of income. They should 
be equitable and not arbitrary, firm, yet 
liberal, and subject to exception and modi- 
fication to meet varying conditions ; above 
all, they should be characterized by fair- 
ness and justice, evincing a disposition on 
the part of the management to consider 
primarily the best interests of lot owners, 
while endeavoring to establish the ceme- 
tery on a sound financial basis. Lot own- 
ers and other patrons of the cemetery, 
(quick to discern and approve the motive 
inspiring the management to attain suc- 
cess, and fully appreciating the benefits to 
be derived from the fair-minded and pro- 
gressive policy I have endeavored to out- 
line, may be confidently relied upon to co- 
operate in the development of a beautiful, 
well-organized, successful and firmly estab- 
lished cemetery. 
