The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-28
IT'S A BIC CRAFT.
State Report on the Conduct Of
Cemeteries.
Grief Stricken People Charged
Outrageous Prices.
THOUSANDS PER ACRE.
Topeka Cemetery Association
Gets Nearly $4,000.
Time to Call a Halt Says the
Report.
THOUSANDS PER ACRE.

SAeaAt says the secretary OF the state
horticultural society, in his report on
Kansas cemeteries authorized at the
last session of the legislature The re-
port given out today, goes on to say:
Cheap lands are obtained. a char
ter secured, and the ground laid out;
lots sold at the highest price the peo-
pie or individual will stand for. gener-
ally at a time when their dead is
awaiting sepulture. At such times
people will not bubble or dicker, and
the cemetery people profit by it."
1t is contended in the report that
cemetery lots Z by Il feet should be
sold at 81 apiece.
Topeka cemetery. used as an ex-
ample in the report, sells its 10 by 20
lots at 500 apiece. The report says:
Let US reason a little. Our statutes
say a township may own and plat
cemetery, the lots TO be not less than
7x14 (9S) feet, and must sell such a
lot to any citizen for one dollar. If We
take one acre of land, containing 4S,-
$50 square feet, and allow one-half OF
it for roads and paths, we have lett
81, 500 square feet; divide this into
lots containing 80 square feet and we
have 222 lots, which, at 81 each, bring
1922. But does any cemetery corpora
ton sell lots at this low price? A lot
7x14 is capable of holding, comfort
ably, six adult graves. In Greenwood
cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y, the price
would be $500 or 1892 zoo for half an
acre The Topeka cemetery charges
for an eligible lot 10x2O, 500. half
acre viii make 100 10X20 lots which
equals $40, 900. A single grave space,
2x6, equaling - square feet, costs,
with digging and closing, SIS. Digging
and closing, say SIS, leaves $40 FOR
twelve square feet of earth surface. In
this kind of ground not over one-thlrd
is used for travel, SO at least two-thirds
of the surface is available for these
single graves, as they are dug so the
caskets touch q am infOrmed). Thus
two-thirds of an acre, or 29,067 square
feet will contain 2, 422 such single adult
graves; which, at $40 each. equals
S2422O for the saIable ground on one
acre. Get the figures at your own
cemetery and solve a similar problem.
presume this is what is now called
honest graft. If man or a company
can sell cheaply purchased lana at the
rate of $1S3.200. or $4,000, per nan
acre. they might surely spend large
part of it in good roads and ornamental
ton on the other half acre; or. II they
can sell twO-thirds of an acre Tor wa
220, they might at least make me
roads on the other one-third passable.
/ have given you the cue; now do your
figuring at home.
every community should have
public or civic Improvement ciub or
society. They could also form a pro-
fective association to defend sufferers
from the rapacity of the funeral dlrec-
tor. the grave digger, and the tomb
stone merchant
What rabbits we are in the pres
ence of the cemetery official. the fu-
neral director. with his greedy mack
drivers. and the monument seller. Ihe
whole business draws too much blood
Why not call a. halt? There are trusts
H.
in these lines as well as otne[s-
The report gives a complete isl OF an
the cemeteries in the state, by couH-
ties It shows that the total nuhnoer
Of cemeteries in the state is 2,O2l, com
prising about $3.50 acres IN Sha s.l..ll.o
county there are % cemeteries. aggre-
eating 1901 acres. This is considerably
less than some Of the other less popu-
lous counties of the state, but the re-
port does not INCLUDE the tract recently
secured for cemetery purposes by A. T.
Whiting and others some miles west OF
Toneka at the old Methodist university
grounds.
The following is list OF the ceme-
teP Ns8e IN SHAWNEE Acres.
Valencia - - ---'-
Dover ......-.--.. -..--------.--
Prairie Home -...-....-- -.-..-..-----
Mount Calvary -..-----.--. .--..--
Mission Center ---..-.-.----..-
Catholic ...-..--.. --..-----. 10
ROSsViIIe ---.-.- ...-.- ---- -..------
Olive Branch -.-.-------- .-z..-.--
Bohemian --------..--- $500
Walnut Hill -...--....-.-.--...----
Silver Lake .----..-- -..-.-.-..-.- .
Rochester ..--...---- -...---s-....---' ~
Reform school Observation-Disclosures.
Zion ..--..-----
Bauer ..-.------.--- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -
Bethel ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --.----.-..--
Topeka -...--.---. --...---.-- $500 10
Foster ..---..--... ..--..- -.-.--.-
Richie ...----------- --.--.-.-..' o,
I.Vnn creek 49, = ia