PARK AND CEMETERY. 
307 
In considering the query of your cor- 
respondent, we will assume that he re- 
fers to private vaults or mausoleums; 
that he wishes to adopt some practical 
plan to provide for the cleaning of the 
interior for an indefinite time, or perhaps 
in perpetuity, and that it is the intention 
of the trustees or management of the 
cemetery to have the necessary work at- 
tended to on behalf of the owners. 
The common practice in most ceme- 
teries, I believe, is to give such care as 
may be requested by the owners of mau- 
soleums in cleaning, painting the ex- 
terior, or other work deemed necessary 
to keep the building in proper order and 
repair, doing the work at stated times 
or when necessary, and rendering a bill 
annually for the cost of the work per- 
formed. 
This plan may seem to accomplish all 
that is desired, and so far as cleaning 
the interior is concerned, is perhaps all 
that is necessary, since it provides for 
such care as may be desired and at a 
fair cost for the actual work performed 
during a fixed or indefinite period. 
To save the owner trouble and au- 
thorize the cemetery management to 
continue the work until the directions are 
modified or countermanded, a permanent 
order may be accepted. In lieu of the 
annual bill a further saving of trouble 
to the owner may be affected by the de- 
posit of a sum of money in open account 
estimated to cover the expenses of the 
work for a period of years. 
It seems unnecessary to comment fur- 
ther on this plan. In its efficiency an 
ordinary business proposition only is in- 
volved. Details adjust themselves to 
circumstances. The work is regularly 
attended to and the bills are paid an- 
nually or in advance as suggested. The 
cemetery authorities are attentive to the 
wishes of the owner of the vault or mau- 
soleum and he is entirely satisfied. But 
what of the future, when time will have 
worked its inevitable changes? I need 
not go into detail or endeavor to picture 
the consequences when the temporary 
order for care has expired and renewals 
have ceased to be made, as they surely 
will if we trust to future generations. 
There is but one safeguard that is prac- 
ticable and sure, namely, an endowment. 
An adequate amount deposited in trust 
provides unfailingly for the purposes in- 
tended. It may only be cleaning, as sug- 
gested by your correspondent, but how- 
ever trifling that may be compared with 
the infinitely more important problems 
of providing for the maintenance of the 
structure itself, it is the question now 
at issue and is important so far as it 
goes. We should willingly take even a 
temporary order to give such practicable 
attention to a mausoleum as the owner 
wishes, but we should urge him to pro- 
vide for its care in perpetuity. 
In estimating the amount presumably 
required, we must first determine the na- 
ture of the work and expectation of the 
owner of the structure. It may be his 
wish to have the interior opened at 
stated intervals, inspected, and if neces- 
sary, cleaned, say, for example, once a 
week during the months of April to Oc- 
tober, inclusive, and once a month for 
the remainder of the year, or he may be 
particular to have it kept in perfect or- 
der at all times, necessitating constant, 
almost daily attention. Simple dusting 
and occasional washing may be all he 
desires, or he may want the walls 
scrubbed or dry rubbed, according to the 
nature of the interior finish, brass work 
polished, or other work attended to to 
keep everything in first-class order. 
Having ascertained his wishes, an esti- 
mate of the cost of the work involved is 
made to determine the amount of the en- 
dowment required to yield a sufficient 
income on a basis of, we will say, 3 per 
cent to adequately cover all expense. 
It is evident that the proper charge to 
be made will depend on the aggregate 
cost of the labor or material the work 
will involve. 
The amount of the endowment so es- 
timated will, of course, be only approx- 
imate, but so far as experience goes, may 
be reasonably conservative. In entering 
into an agreement for the performance 
of any work in perpetuity I will suggest 
that the contract be made no more bind- 
ing on the trustees of the cemetery than 
obliging them to expend the income of 
the fund deposited in doing such work 
as may be necessary from time to time 
in the accomplishment of the purposes 
stipulated in the contract, but not re- 
quiring them to do more than the in- 
come of the fund will alow. 
James Currie, 
Supt., Forest Home Cemetery. 
Milwaukee, Wis. 
Salary of Cemetery Superintendent. 
Editor Asked and Answered: Please 
advise me what the customary salary for 
a superintendent of a small private cem- 
etery of about 126 acres is per month, 
or should be, in your opinion, in a city 
of about 25,000. What do you think 
about $100 per month and a new house, 
with water, light and heat furnished? 
Would this be high for the duties of a 
superintendent? — M. J. 
In the middle west, in a city of 25,000 
population, 100 to 150 acres of cemetery 
land should yield $100 to $125 per month. 
With a house furnished, a good man can 
make himself worth much more in a city 
of 25,000, and if the wealth of the city 
is above the average he can raise the 
standard of cemetery development, there- 
by increasing the land value as a ceme- 
tery, and also advancing the sales in his 
cemetery by keeping it up to a high 
standard. Hare & Hare, 
Landscape Architects. 
Kansas City, Mo. 
This is like a great many other queries 
that are sent in — practically impossible 
to answer. It simply demonstrates what 
is constantly coming to our minds, that 
the average man does not realize that 
the conducting of a cemetery is a tech- 
nical business which requires skill and 
experience. 
If, as is usual, the intention in this 
case is to pick up some local man who 
does not know any more about running 
a cemetery than a rabbit does about 
climbing a tree, it does not make any 
particular difference what they pay him 
because he will be an expensive propo- 
sition anyway. If the people running 
the cemetery are business men they 
should proceed as they would in any 
other business enterprise: try and find 
some man with experience, training and 
ability and pay him what his services 
would properly be considered worth, 
provided the extent of the business would 
justify the expenditure. 
The only way of figuring in the ques- 
tion of the house in connection with the 
salary is to fix on a salary without re- 
gard to the house rent and then let the 
superintendent pay from his salary what 
the actual rent of the house is worth, al- 
ways bearing in mind that it is a great 
advantage to the cemetery to have the 
superintendent live on the grounds and 
at the same time in many ways is a dis- 
advantage to the superintendent and to 
his family, that there are apt to be dis- 
agreeable things, especially for the 
woman and children of a family, con- 
nected with living in a cemetery, so that 
the rental of the house furnished the 
superintendent in the cemetery cannot 
properly be charged at the same rate 
that the same house would be worth in 
a good, desirable residence location. 
The amount to be paid the superin- 
tendent also would depend to a certain 
extent on whether he was not only com- 
pelled to fill the position of superintend- 
ent, but to do the bookkeeping, prac- 
tically act as secretary, and, in fact, be 
the only official, giving his time to the 
cemetery work. I would not expect a 
competent man to accept the charge of 
a 126-acre cemetery for a less salary 
than $2,500 per year, with reasonable 
prospects for an increase in salary as his 
ability to handle the business was dem- 
onstrated. W. N. Rudd, 
President, Mt. Greenwood Cem. 
Chicago, III. 
Wants Grave Brace. 
Could you refer us to a firm or several 
firms who manufacture a device for 
bracing graves while digging? We have 
some sandy soil in our cemetery and 
