Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-26
BURIED BY THE NATION
Congressman and Other People Who
Have Public Funerals.
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.
Presidents, Vice Presidents aud Cabinet
Officers Are Entitled to Burial at
Government Expense-Old Soldiers I'm
the District, Too.

MI ~ natlon.
INK ut seems TO be supposed" said q
q prominent undertaken TO a STAR
reporter yesterday, with some bitterness,
that the funeral director scoops in the entire
sum of from $4,000 to $1,000 paid for post
mortem attentions to a Representative or a
Senator, but such is very far from being the
case. My bill for the burial of Congressman
and bury nearly all of them who die in Wash
ington during their terms of services from
$500 to $500. This includes casket, carriages,
embalming, robe for the deceased and all other
professional ministrations and incidentals. The
balance OF the expense goes for things quite
outside of my province"
such as what pray?"
Wen, to begin with, you must understand
that when Representative dies here his NOR
tuary affairs are taken charge of by the SER
geant-atarms OF the House; or. if it is the of
q Senator, the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate
arranges everything about the funeral. The
sergeant-at-arms first consults with the be-
reaved family and finds ont Just what it
wants done-among other matters how many
carriages are likely TO be needed for the &C =
commodation of relatives and friends. This
last point depends largely upon the
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROMINENCE
OF the deceased. Sometimes ten carriages will
do, while in other instances as many as fifty
may be requisite. Anyway, the sergeant-at-
arms, having learned what is desired. gives an
order accordingly to the undertaken who per-
forms his part of the business precisely as in
the case OF any private citizen. The family
has Its option as to whether the funeral shall
take place from the Congressman's late resi-
dence or from the Capitol. IL the latter is
chosen the usual servicesare held in the House
or IN the Senate chamber at some hour ordi-
narlly In the forenoon, when the legislative bod
har y
tally peculiar about the manner of the funeral
AS rule sort of coffin known as the state
casket is used 1t is of polished red cedar
covered with black cloth. the handles, mount
lngs and plate of silver, and the top composed
OF single sheet of beveled plate glass; An
outer box of cedar is provided for it. At the
conclusion of the services the body is escorted
to the railway station and put aboard train
bound for the Congressman's former home.
Presumably one special car will be provided on
the same train for the family and another one
for the committee in charge"
THE COMMITTEES TASK.
"Where do the committees duties come in?'
''Its members, including so many Senator's
and SO many Representatives, duly appointed
for the purpose, have general authority as to
the management of the funeral. The commit
tee does not interfere with the sergeant-at-arms
In his arrangements, unless for some special
reason, but If anything of an extraordinary or
unusual nature were required, only the COM
mittee would have authority TO order it pro-
Vlded. The committee exercises a general
superintendent, but its most important duty
is to escort the body home and attend to its
burial. If the distance to be travelled is great,
the expense is in proportion, and that is the
reason why the cost of such a funeral varies so
much. Some difference is made also by the
extent OF the bereaved family's requirements,
as to carriages and SO on. Mr.. Randall's funeral
last week was simple and comparatively cheap;
the Randalls have always been simple and un-
ostentatious people. The sergeant-at-arms
pays all the bills for these last attentions to a
Congressman"
The nation pays for the funeral Of Presi-
dent?''
Certainly. In such case the Secretary of
State has general charge and the details of ar
engagements are attended to by the sergeant-at-
arms OF the Senate and the sergeant-at-arms of
the House, acting together. A Vice Presidents
funeral is governed by the same regulations as
If he were a member of the Senate. Likewise
it is with Speaker of the House. who has the
same gratuitous honors provided for him as
would be given any member of that body. A
cabinet officer is buried at the expense of his
department., which makes such arrangements
as are requisite for itself.
IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.
San officer Of the army who dies is entitled
to s75 for his funeral expenses, private gets
$40, and non-commissioned officer els, On
the death of naval officer at a foreign station
an amount not exceeding one months sea pay
Is granted for this purpose. If he dies in this
country he gets nothing. But these are by no
means all the people whose burial expenses the
nation pays. Any man who has been a soldier
In the late war, honorably discharged, who
dies within the limits of the District of Column
bia-whether or not he is in good standing
with the Grand Army-has right by law to
$50 for the liquidation of his undertaker's bill
The other day very interesting case arose in
relation to the payment of this $50 to an old
soldier who was SO unfortunate to fall down
dead close to the District line-so close indeed
that it could not be settled off-hand whether he
had died inside or outside. 1t was a question
OF $50, which nobody could legally pay for the
government unless proof was conclusive and
SO surveyors were sent out from the corps of
engineers to determine the point. They found
that the man had died fifty feet outside the
line-an expense of 81 foot to his surviving
relatives. Old soldiers residing in the District
will do well to find ont just where the bounda-
rles run, so as to avoid getting left in this I'M
comfortable manner.
QUEER FRENCH METHODS.
SIT is the law in France for the government
to bury all of its citizens. In that country
funerals are government monopoly and the
undertakers are military officers, ranking
usually as majors or captains. The finer the
IuItTdl inc HlgHer the rank OF the OTtlclQl In
charge. who is dressed, as a rule in black vel
vet. with much gold lace, a sword and a
cockade. The burial bureau in Paris occupies
one OF the largest buildings in the world II
you die there your relatives and friends are
not consulted at all as to your funeral The
bureau upon receiving report of your death
through the police takes its own steps to find
out the social position and means of your fam
lily. In accordance with its information on
these points the funeral is ordered. If the
bureau decides that you ought TO have first
class funeral you are compelled to have ii
whether or no, and if it is moi paid for promptly
the family goods will be confscated The sort
OF funeral chosen for you will be one of eleven
classes, as the bureau may direct, the expense
descending from $4,000 for first-class burial
to Sl2 for tenth-class interment. Paupers
come In the eleventh class and are put under
ground for nothing. After your demise your
late residence will be draped with black inside
and out by the authorities and your relatives
VIII be permitted to have no control of any,
thing, save only choice as to whether your
body shall be embalmed or not. For this
service $500 is charged. In this country the
cost OF embalming is from SIS to $50, but over
there they pretend to understand processes
approaching in effectiveness those of the an
Gent Egyptians. No private individual in
France Is permitted to engage in the under
taking business. 1t is the same way in Italy,
where burial is also government monopoly,
and in Russia all the embalming is done by the
government.
BURIAL PARAPHERNALIA.
fsThe manufacture of burial paranhernalio ;c