Madison times., 1885-06-27
CAN YOU AFFORD TO DIE?
The Cost Of Coffins and How They are
Made.
Some Of the Inside History Of lugubrious
Business.-Cofins for Rich and Poor
The Reason Undertakers Charge so Much
Ready Made Graves.
St. Louis Sunday Sayings.


St. Louis Sunday Sayings.
.'Men have died, from time to time, ana
worms have eaten them"
"HOw many collins do you manufacture in
a yearg' was asked of an old employee OF
a large coffin mandatory i'm this city.
I'VE make about six hundred week on
an average at present, but our capacity is
at least twice that. We could easily turn
out 200 finished collins a day if we could
find market for them. Poplar is used
mostly for coffin making at least for those
for this country. 1t takes fine polish Is
easily worked and is light. Our trade is not
affected by the seasons at all. There are
more infants collins sold in the summer
time than at other seasons but adult trade
is the same the year around.
1--WE send a
GOOD BUNCH OF COFFINS
| to England every year. The English people
demand oak coffins entirely. We are the
only firm in the United States that manu-
facture white oak cOffinS and the demand
fol them is growing. They are made per
pectly air tight, tongued and grooved and
the lid fitted on with rubber tlange. They
are rapidly taking the place of the metallic
cases in this country.
'Yes, l think that a well made oak coffin
under proper conditions Of soil will outlast
any other kind of wooden coffin. Their life
would be, suppose, about 20 or 25 years on
an average although it would be hard to say
how long one would last under favorable
circumstances.
walnut is used a good deal for finely
finished coffins and sweet gum, wood found
in this section in immense quantities, is
largely used in the manufacture OF collins
and furniture. 1t is a soft easily worked
wood and looks and finishes much like
cherry. 1t takes new name after 1t is
finished and is then called satin walnut.
THE SIDES OF A COFFIN
are made of one piece and are shaped by
steam. II takes ten minutes to bend and
SET the sides by means Of steam plates when
a few wears back it was the work OF days.
There are about forty wood coffin manufac..
tories in the United States and the principal
ones are located this side of the Alleghanies.
Wood is cheaper out west and 1t costs less to
shin it manufactured than IN the rough.
1--WE ship cOffins to each of the South
| American countries, Cuba, California, Eng
land. Cape Town, South Africa and other
countries. Manufacturing knock down
coffin enables us to ship, long distances.
''How expensive could a coffin be made?
Well that would depend good deal on how
much the undertaken would charge for it.
Ii the customer was wealthy the charge
would be i'm proportion to his pile. We
could make coffin Of walnut fine finish,
panelled and all the accessories for SIS or
$50 That same coffin could be trimmed up
to almost any price desired. The cost lies
almost altogether with the trimmings and
they can be
PROCURED FOR ALL PRICES.
"Many people suppose that in times Of
great contagious like the cholera or yellow
fever, when large numbers OF people die
every day, that the coffin business gets a
boom, but that's all fallacy. People during
such times are buried in boxes or blankets
or rolled in sheets Time is not taken in
many instances TO procure cOffins at all, and
coffin manufactures never experience any
fluctuations from these causes. Our trade
is Just like all others, it is good when times
are good, and bad when times are bad.
Prices of different kinds? Oh, l couldn't
J give you those, you know, because our Gus
toners would kick. Undertakers are gen.
orally considered sharks of the most raw
enous kind, and, possibly, with some show
of reason. They justify the fact of their
exhOrbitant charges by claiming that their
: business. A funeral charge is the hardest
one in the world to collect. They usually,
, in the
FIRST FLUSH OF GRIEF,
order more expensive outfit than they are
justified i'm doing, and then, when the bill
comes i'm aud the sharp edge of grief has
worn off they don't like to pay it, and stave
il off as long as possible, and frequently re.
fuse to settle at all. An old undertaken told
| hot h.a hoe m tn xya Is
when the tears were i'm the eyes. Let the
body get cold and your bill is too DID, said
he, and guess it is about so.
"a poplar coffin costs from four to six
dollars, pine one eight to ten, and an OAK
, one from fifteen to twenty. Then these can
be finished. as l said, in any manner. The
cheapest affair we make is what we call a
4 hospit coffin. This is finished in imitation
of rosewood, and costs about $3.50 at retail
Morgue collins and those used at infirmaries
, and other public places are made by con
tract, and being only of bare pine, rudeTy
knocked together, cannot cost more than
r A DOLLAR APIECE.
= They don't use much ornamentatiOn fol
\ 'flOaters' or paupers:
, ''Rattle his bones over the stones,
He's only pauper whom nobody owns.
"The coffin makers of the United States
are all banded together under the name OF
3 the National Burial Association. and the
: prices are the same everywhere. The ASsO
/ citation meets four times year in the differ
t ent cities. The largest coffin manufactOry
in this country is located in Cincinnati, and
the second largest in st. Louis. We have
: $1,000 square feet of flooring, and employ
. about one hundred men. There is another
Z factory here of about half our capacity, sc
. that st. Louis is not likely to go short on
! coffins. We keep some women at work
+ making shrouds of different patterns all the
, time. The shrOud business grows every
year in popularity among the masses. They
are cheaper and neater looking than cloth
} ing of any kind, and people are gradually
: finding it out.
there is A QUEER THING.
e Territory. Those square looking arrang
e ments in the front are ready-made grave
: Graves at Tombstone must be blasted, an
: an undertaken keeps graves as well as c0f
fins i'm stock. Queer business, eh?
1--WE have very good customer at Trini
dad. Colorado He is nice, staid old fel
low, and being i'm st. Louis last summer he
dropped i'm to see us. Replying to question
y as to how trade was he said: Dull. Dull
the devil. But it'll be better long lit
later, when the cowboys come in off
T. ranges He was perfectly serious abe L
matter and meant what he said"
LincOln's Economy.
II A IL L.