The sun., 1908-12-23
J - aLoaY "a RALTINoar.
A CITY % Rival UndertakeFs ana Close
Competition IN Funerals.

ToraR EpiToR or THE SUN-!sir, Iu..d
10 think Of Baltimore a. the abode OF terra.
pin and the Johns Hopkins University. but
noticed on q visit this week that she bss
developed q queer industry and one which
/ believe IL without its like iu the entir.
American Union. I mean the strenuon,
competition In the business OF oonductIno
funerals which prevails on the banks of
the Patapsco.
Take up any one of the leading neUs.
papers of Baltimore any morning and you
will find In close proximity 10 the column
OF marriage and death notices the fam.
boyant advertisements Of rival undertak.
ers. Their advertisements are not form,,.
lated In the simple language employed in
the advertis islng notices of undertakers' estab.
They appeal 10 mouFneFs in far different
fashion. The public Is warned not to bs
misled into going elsewhere. Fixed prices
for funerals are specified. "Baltmore's
best undertaken" charges "the one prica
for high bclass funeral" of SIS. Tha
funeral Ii asserted to be actually worth
$780, and the advertiser adds: Grave fres
Il desired"
A competing funeral corporation offers
even more attractive prices. Fifty dollars
will procure a funeral that Is Elegant, re-.
fined. complete in every way and better than
has ever been offered before or 10 offered
now for half as much again" Here Is what
goes with this $50 funeral:
A beautiful drop side couch casket. covered
with gray white or black, or any casket you wsb
to select listed elsewhere at $50 TO s75. together
with five carriages. splendid hearse outside cas-.
grave, embaIming. washing. dressing. shaving,
advertising. candles. gloves. toll and other items
not offered lsewhere-everythlng. In fact, that
properly belongs to a thoroughly compete, re.
nned funeral.
Other funerals are furnished by this con.
Germ ct lower figures. as 1 infer from the
statement: shipping funerals. $780, al.
though precisely what this may mean
fail to comprehend.
Another individual undertaken gives "his
complete funerals" for 500. although he
has others for SIS and some even az low a.
S49-being, as the advertiser points out,
one dollar less than the price charged for
the same funeral by what he calls -ths
Yelled Combination" fear this term i'm.
plies the existence OF funeral trust In
Baltimore.
1t is not alone through the agency OF ths
newspapers that this Baltimore oompeH-
ton in funerals is pressed upon the atten.
ton OF the public. A little printed circular
entitled the Trolley NeWs, issued by the
United Railways and Electric Company.
is distributed among the passengers upon
its lines. 1t appeals to travellers always
to use the front exit from the cars and con-
tains other valuable admonitions and sug-
gestions. On opening this document the
inauiring reader finds two pages taken up
with picture and description OF the
funeral car Dolores. with seating for
thirty-two. persons, 1t produces q painful
impression on rainy day and makes one
want to get out Of Baltimore just as soon
as he possibly can.
Competition may be the life Of trade. even
in the funeral business: but the indifference
to good taste which characterizes such COM
petition in baltimore and the extent 10 which
It obtrudes itself upon the attention OF the
public is really reproach to that beautiful
city. TRAVELLER.
NEW YORK, December 22 e.