The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-04
CASKETS NOW, NOT coFFINs.
FASHIONS HAVE CHANGED GREAT
LY IN RECENT YEARS.

creased Thirty FoId-DecoratiOns
ana observation-disclosures in the
Innings, Handles and Cnrving.
From the New York sun.
Collins have about gone out of fashion.
People needn't feel set up over this an
nounoemeat, for everybody has to be laid
out sooner or later, and when the time
comes The average person won't care
whether it is in coffin or not. II you've
got to be buried howeveN be buried in
casket. That's the proper thing to do.
Only very poor and unfortunate people
stick to the old-tlme coffin and nine out
of ten of them don't want co. The fash
ion-changes in collins just as it does in
hats, gowns boots, or anything else, and
the changes have been so whimsical rad
ical, and frequent of late years that the
six-sided wooden coffin Is a thing of the
past In fact, the swell coffin of to-day is
a very cheerful looking resting place. The
sight of il doesn't make cold chllls play
tag with the spine. and In certain moods
the thoughtful observer IS led bysits very
luxurlousness to conclude that he might
be in a worse box by long odds
The coffin business has increased in the
last twenty-five years amazingly. Some
persons will probably say. 'FThat cane be
so. because everybody had 70 have cof-
fin q quarter of century back, just as
everybody has to have one to-day
That's so, but there are more people live
ing to-day than ever before, and natur-
ally more people dying. SO the coffin bus
mess is really booming. Not only Is this
true in point OF numbers. but collins are
made far dner than ever before. Some of
them are made 10 cost thousands of dol
lars
The manager Of one Of the largest casket
concerns IN the country who has been In
the business twenty-five years In this city.
says he, well remembers when II caused
quite assepsation IN New York trade cir
Giles If an undertaken got an order for a
coffin costing as niachas $3.50. Now ne
doesn't turn O hair when somebody wants
a s., $50 casket.
''The building Of collins and Baskets by
the wholesale" said he As interesting.
Most persons really know very little about
collins, and the subject Is one they shrink
from. Funerals are getting more elabor-
ate every day, and they would be still
more ostenta tious if.speeple really knew
how fine they could have them Our con-
Germ have FIVE large factories located at
Rochester, Oneida, Allegheny, Hoboken
and Baltimore and eight large stores in
different cities. Some say that we are
casket trust, but that can't be- for we
have over $50 competitors 10 Nthe United
States. and / teittfis simply to show what
a big business this CONN business IL. Last
year our output was $4,000 caskets. COZ.
fins have almost gone entirely out of style,
you know These Baskets are made of
wood and metal ana are built by expert
cabinet makers. Most Of them are cover
ed with cloth, and that IS done by up
holsterers and Diapers who are the finest
artists to be found in their line. The cof-
fin business Is becoming more localized
than formerly Goods are NOT shipped so
far awaymas in past years, because there
are so many more factories. freight are
higher, and goods Bwvsa been reduced IN
prices and profits lowered.
How are collins distributed TO under
takers? Wholesale dealers get the bulk
of their orders through travelling salesmen
or coffin drummers, II you like. We en-
ploy from forty to fifty statesmen. who
cover the territory froih Maine to Califor-
MIA, and from the border Of Canada 10
Southern Texas. There are very few
places In the country that these men don t
get at Mogt Of them are sent away with
samples of undertaken $ hardware and dry
goods, and but few carry a line of cas-
kets. for they are too bulky. BY under
takers hardware / mean name plates,
handles, trimmings, screws and so on, and
the dry goods includes burial robes.
Coffin drummers do not make such
large sales as drummers IN other lines OF
business, but they work up trade, and un-
dertakers order from catalogues by mail
or telegraph. OF course. undertakers In
very out-of-the-wqy places have to keep a
stock Of baskets on hand, but when an
undertaken who is IN reach of city Is
called 10 care for a body ne asks the fam
lily what kind OF a coffin they wish. If
he hasn't what they vans IN stock. they
select from catalogue ard he orders
by telegraph. That's the way collins are
distributed.
woods for the manufacture Of collins
and caskets are brought Ia enormous
quantities, for wood is the fayorite mate
rial Nearly all cloth-covered baskets are
made OF wood, and the finest baskets in
the world are those OF wood hand carved.
The wood most used M making cheaper
cdSkGlS Is WNiicWOclg WHICH Is stained IN
limitations of oak, rosewood or walnut The
next grade of caskets Is made of chestnut
and covered with the cheaper cloths and
cotton pushes. Such very In price at re-
tail from $65 to 800. Then come the cas-
kets made of cedar and covered with cloth
of fine quality. They vary in price from
Sis 10 $1,000, or even more, depending en-
the trimmings and draping Then there
are the cedar caskets covered with silk
pushes, ranging IN price from 500 to $1,000.
Sometimes the handles alone on casket
cost 500 or $500. and the money that can be
put In a coffin Is practically unlimited. We
are perfecting a design now, magnificentlv
inlaid with mother of pearl which will not
sell for less than 5000.
Wouldn't you Ike 10 see the very new
est things In caskets% he asked. using
tone such as The average French mill
liner calls into play when showing spring
bonnets. 1--WE have only the newest and
most exclusive styles" he added. leading
the way 70 a big glass case showing four