The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-29
PROGRESS OF CREMATION.
Popular Wtth the Mere EnteIliEena
 Claasex ef Society.

Popular wtth the Mere EnteIliEens
 classes ef Society.
 New York Sun.
 The modern agitation in favor of ere- nation as a method of disposlng of the bodies of the dead began in 1874 with the founaation of-the Cremation society of England. That society has just held an extraordinary general meeting to adopt a new system of rules by which the cost of membership. entltling the member to cremation without further fee, was reduced from ten pounds sterling to the sum of i've pounds If paid at once. or six pounds if Said In annual tnstalimenta of one pound each year. The first cremation under the direction of the society took place in 1885, and only 100 bodies were cremated up to 1890. In 1907. however. the number of crematoFy furnaces in England had increased to thirteen and there were 706 cremations.
 The legal status of cremation in New York Is peculiar. Burial Is prescrib- cd by law as the ordinary method for the disposal of the dead Any one Is permitted. however, to direct what shall be done with his dead body. pro- vided that the direction is consistent with decency and propriety. Our ton except in regard to those who die at Quarantine in this port of some infectious ma.ady. Their bedies must be burned in the furnace on Swinburne island. in the lower bay, unless their relatives have religious scruples against this method of disposing Of their mortal remains.
 With this exception it may fairly be said that cremation is tolerated al though not expressly approved by the law of the state of New York. A res ident may direct that his body shell be cremated, and in that event hil relatives who would otherwise be charged with the duty of burial are authorized If not required to have hit body reduced to ashes The statute does not describe the manner in which the direction must be given. It most freauently is found in the will of the deceased. but it may be expressed in a less formal writing, and perhaps only orally It must be by virtue of the exer-
 .se of this power that most of the cremations in this state take place.
 Apart from religious considerations the most formi Alble objection to cTe- nation is the facility with which 1t af- lords for the coneealment of murder and other crimes. Its ablest advocates while they recognize the validity and serious nature of this objection. in- sist that 1t is exaggerated. The recent Druce case in England has been re- ferred to with great satisfaction by the opponents of cremation on this ground. and they say. and say truly that if the body had been burned the fraudulent claim therein asserted could not have been so readily falsined. On the other hand the late Sir Henry Thompson Insisted that adsauate safe guards could readily be established by law lf they did not already exist In every suspicious case the coroner
 an require an autopsy, and the re-
 ,oval of the stomach and a portion of the internal organ and their preserva- ton would protect the public against the destruction by cremation of the proofs Of poisoning.
 Notwithstanding the progress of ere nation. as evidenced by the statis-
 . of the Cremation society of Eng land presented at the recent meeting 1t remains true. as stated by Sir Charles Cameron. the president, that it finds favor chiefly with the profes- sional and well-to-do classes. and that the poer condemn 1t in spite of the fact that a cremation need cost them no more than they habitually spend on q decent burial.