Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-08-09
THE COFFIN TRUST.
Tn Govrnment May Get After This Monopoly Next.

Washington, D. C., Aug. 9.-Tne department of justice, has not begun an investigation of the coffin trust, but 1t will do so when it has a chance to get through with the var ious other trusts it has been prepar- ing to go after for some time. It is so awfully busy, and has so many trust fights on hand, the coffin trust will probably have nothing to fear for year or so.
 Curiously enough, it is stated that no formal complaint against the cof- fin and casket trust has been made to the president, department of justice or to any other branch of the gov .ernment. Yet. 1t is notoriously known that practically every coffin manufactured in the country Is turn ed out at factories owned and oper- ated by trust almost as remuner- ative as the oil trust. It is declared that the men who head the coffin trust have made millions out of the business and that their dividends vir- tually equal that of the Standard oil company.
 It was the cry of the independent operators and manufacturers that brought the government into action against the Standard oil. the tobac- co trust, the powder trust. the watch trust and various other trusts, the These Independents have represented enough pressure to he able to get the governmeM busy, busy but there are so few independent plants making coffins that they. have not felt them selves strong enough to make a kick. They are said to be getting ready to do so before great while. They are gathering statistics now upon which to base their allegations.
 The coffin trust has been In cxis- tence eight or ten years, has kept iudiciously quiet and has been turning out money In barrel lots. Like all other trusts it has a parent company around which all the others were brought in. The process was the same Indenendent concerns were bought out if willing: If unwilling they were froze out by such cheap prices that they had to go out of business. Now everything is so arranged that the trust controls greater percentage of the business than the Standard Oil does of the oil industry. Whether a Washington undertaken buys caskets or coffins from Baltimore. Philadel- phia. New York. Cincinnati. St Louis or elsewhere he pays the same prices for the same goods. always the sarle It Is SO in every other city. Some time he can save money by reason of short hauls and cheaper railroad rates. hut the trust has things fixed with the railroad so that little is to he gained. no matter where the goods are bought.
 The prices of coffins and caskets, it is stated by undertakers, have grown higher and higher each year. The living are being literally robbed because of their sentiment and love for the dead. What the coffin trust does not do many undertakers com plete. and funerals have everywhere become exceedingly costly. ''To die is costlier than to live Is the way an undertaken some time ago put it, and it Is asserted among undertakers that the growth of incinavation Is due in large measure to the costly expenses of a regular funeral. If inclBeration should grow cheaper the eofiin trust would have it's worst rival The fact that there are few crematories has, 1t Is said. kept incineration down as a fashionable end to the mortal remains of man.