PARK AND CEMETERY. 
279 
agers, and enforced without previous notice to 
stone-cutters. 
Following is a copy of the rules gov- 
erning foundations at Mount Auburn 
Cemetery, Berwyn, 111.: 
Every foundation must be at least as wide and 
as long as the base stone resting upon it, and 
must not project above the surface of the ground. 
Foundations for headstones must extend as low as 
the bottom of the grave. Foundations for mon- 
uments with a base four feet square, or less, 
must extend at least four feet below the surface, 
and for monuments with a base over four feet 
square, the depth of the foundation must not be 
less than five feet. All foundations are two 
inches below the surface. 
Problems of Cemetery Finance. 
Editor Asked and Answered : As a busi- 
ness man who is considering investment in 
a cemetery property. I should like to as- 
certain just what profit one may be entitled 
to expect from an investment in a ceme- 
tery which is well situated, properly laid 
out and carefully managed, and should be 
greatly obliged if you can give me approx- 
imate replies to the following questions : 
If each year we sell 100 lots of 144 square 
feet each for the gross sum of $10,000, 
how would you apportion that amount be- 
tween the following headings : What pro- 
portion for perpetual care? What propor- 
tion for general overhead expense? What 
proportion for maintenance and improve- 
ment? What proportion for cemetery ex- 
tension repayment fund if land cost $2,000 
per acre? 
Trusting that your prompt reply will en- 
able me to decide whether or not to enter 
the cemetery business. — W. O., Can. 
This inquiry is like a great many others 
coming from people who are trying to op- 
erate a cemetery without having any 
knowledge of the business, and it is im- 
possible to answer intelligently. For in- 
stance, the item of general overhead ex- 
pense is something that is fixed by con- 
ditions under which the cemetery is being 
operated, and there is no choice as to how 
much shall be set aside for covering that 
expense which has got to be paid, and a 
sufficient amount must necessarily be set 
aside to pay it. No person can advise as 
to what this amount shall he unless he 
knows what the overhead expense is. 
The amount to be set aside for main- 
tenance and improvement will depend en- 
tirely on the area of the cemetery, the ex- 
tent and type of improvement to be made, 
and the nature of the general care given. 
As to the item of cemetery extension re- 
payments, the writer frankly confesses that 
he does not know what that means. 
Apparently your correspondent is selling 
ground at an average price of 75 cents per 
square foot. The determining of the amount 
to be set aside for perpetual care will de- 
pend entirely on local conditions and what 
care is supposed to he given. In a general 
way I would say that an absolute mini- 
mum of 15 per cent of the gross receipts 
could be made with careful management 
to give some sort of care. Twenty per 
cent would be better, while many of the 
better type of cemeteries are setting aside 
an amount about equal to 60 per cent of 
the amount specified by your correspond- 
ent and in some cases 75 per cent. 
I strongly urge upon your correspond- 
ent to secure the services of some compe- 
tent and experienced cemetery expert who 
will visit the place, make a study of the 
local conditions and advise with the man- 
agement about the matters submitted and 
other things which may come up. What- 
ever may be paid for the services of such 
a man will undoubtedly be saved many 
times over in the future. W. N. Rudd, 
President, Mt. Greenwood Cemetery. 
Chicago, 111. 
The '“Interested Business Man” puts his 
questions in a very intelligent form. I 
confess, however, my utter inability to an- 
swer them. I believe that even approxi- 
mate answers depend so much upon local 
conditions that they should be attempted 
only after a very thorough and careful 
study. For this cemetery he who answers 
them must have a clear vision reaching at 
least one hundred years into the future. 
Frederick Green, 
Clerk, Treas. and Supt., Lake View Cem. 
Cleveland, O. 
The questions of a business man in re- 
gard to proportioning the funds of a cem- 
etery has been read and studied several 
times, but as yet we have not had time to 
compile a satisfactory answer. Some of 
these topics, especially perpetual care, were 
discussed in the last article of our se- 
ries. Perpetual care is a matter of square 
feet and acres, rather than proportion. 
Some of the questions are very difficult to 
answer without assuming a certain size 
cemetery, with a certain amount of land 
to be developed at first and the remainder 
to be improved from time to time, several 
years in advance of sale. 
We will try to give the subject more at- 
tention within the next few weeks and try 
to formulate an intelligent answer. 
Hare & LIare, 
Landscape Architects. 
Kansas City, Mo. 
I am afraid that I can’t give our friend, 
the business man, very much help. For 
perpetual care we set aside 20 cents a 
square foot from the sale price of the lot, 
or rather we add that much to it. Our 
overhead and maintenance of buildings, 
fences and roads just about equal the cost 
of labor and material. I do not know any- 
thing about cemetery extension repayments, 
as that was all righted and passed into 
history in our cemetery a great many years 
ago. It strikes me that the brother could 
get a lot of information out of Mr. Ho- 
bart’s address before the Buffalo conven- 
tion, on “Accounting for Cemeteries,” pub- 
lished in Park and Cemetery in Novem- 
ber, 1913. Leroy Christie, 
Supt., Ottumwa Cemetery. 
Ottumwa, la. 
Correspondence Instruction in Cemetery 
Planning. 
Editor Asked and Answered: If you 
have a small folder or cheap publication 
containing information upon the organiza- 
tion of cemetery associations in villages of 
150 to 250 population, I should like to get 
a copy. An acquaintance informs me you 
have such a publication, which he is under 
the impression you put out at 10 cents. — 
B. S„ N. Y. 
There is nothing in the nature of a 
booklet that would tell you how to lay out 
a cemetery ; in fact, there is nothing in 
print that would he of any assistance to 
you. You ought by all means have an ex- 
pert cemetery landscape architect make a 
report and a plan for your individual prop- 
osition, and the first money you spend 
should be spent for this purpose. Any of 
those advertising such service in Park 
and Cemetery could give you assistance. 
Cemeteries and Street Improvements. 
Editor Asked and Answered: Can a city 
compel a cemetery association to lay side- 
walks and build storm sewers on streets 
adjoining the cemetery? Every lot owner 
is a member of the association, as it is not 
run for pecuniary returns. — T. R., 111. 
This cemetery has paid for sidewalks 
and for street pavements, on streets abut- 
ting the cemetery property, being about 
1,500 feet. Our property was equally as- 
sessed, the same as other real estate, for 
public highways and sidewalks. 
The Waldheim Cemetery Co. 
By Jacob Schwab, Supt. 
Forest Park, 111. 
From my experience as a cemetery su- 
perintendent, I believe a city has the right 
providing the improvements are made by 
special assessment and a special benefit to 
the cemetery as well as to the other prop- 
erty owners, and if a petition signed by a 
majority of the property owners abutting 
on such street was presented to the city 
where such improvements are to be made. 
A public highway which is improved with 
a permanent improvement is a special 
benefit to all adjoining property, whether 
cemetery or otherwise. In my estimation, 
payment should be made by the cemetery 
whether the same is run for pecuniary 
benefit or not, and if all the lot owners 
are members of the cemetery association a 
pro rata assessment should be made by the 
cemetery trustees against every lot owner, 
if no money is on hand by said trustees 
for the payment of such improvements 
contemplated. George Schrade, 
Mount Auburn Cemetery. 
Berwyn, 111. 
Treating this question as inquiring 
whether cemetery property may be sub- 
jected to local assessment for the improve- 
ments named, it would seem that the ques- 
tion must be answered in the affirmative, 
so far as the laws of Illinois are con- 
cerned, in the absence of any express ex- 
emption in the charter of the association. 
