Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1913-09-04
ASHES TO ASHES

ASHES IO AShEo
 One important factor in the high cost of living is the high cost of dy- ing. There is nothing in all the list of necessaries of an ordinary family that commonly costs SO much in ak cess of its fair and honest worth, as a funeral.
 With death in the house, nobody likes to haggle over the price of collins and shrouds, the rent of hacks or the services of an undertaken. Most peo- ple pay the undertaker's bill with 8 gasp and a deep feeling of resentment against exhortion, but with sort Of shamed sense of dishonoring the dead by even thinking of dollars at such a moment. Resistance, or refusal is al most unheard of, and most people would consider themselves to be eter- nally disgraced if sued in the courts for an outrageous bill from an under taker for the funeral of some loved one.
 The first charge on even the most meager estate, under the laws of near ly all the states, is the funeral bill. The undertaker's bill must be met even if nobody else gets what is due. If a man died leaving $50 of savings and no other means, that money would go to the undertaken in most states; in a few states it would be divided with the administrator" of the estate if the court appointed one: but only one state out of the AS (Georgia) would the mans family have any claim on the $50. Louisiana even puts legal eX- penses" second, next to funeral eXpen- ses, under the law of preference of claims, so that what the undertaken doesn't get out of the small estate the lawyers may seize. Some of the states put taxes near the top of the list. Only four states Qllinois, Maine, Ohio and Texas) give the family the second place, after funeral expenses.
 It is the practice of many undertak- CTS to charge all they think the family will pay under the conditions of grief, distress, and nervous upset generally attending a death in the family. The law protects them in this to the fullest extent. Few if any states set any limit to the charge of an undertaken. In too many cases every advantage, l. taken of the stress under which the family is laboring, and the charge is made very much higher than the 1anl- lily has a. right to Gpend.
 And undertaker's charges as a gener- al thing bear little relation to the real value or cost of the articles supplied. or to the real value of professional service. Prices quoted on funeral sup plies are often fictitious, carrying wholly unreasonable profits; some things that are rented for few hours use are charged for at more than their total actual value; even the rates for hacks and hearses are often far in ad vance of ordinary commercial rates for livery service. Many men in -he business proceed on the principle thai people will not dare to face criticism by resisting funeral bills and they charge accordingly.
 But while many a poor family is crippled financially from this cause, it is also true that there is no time in life when foolish pride asserts itself as 1t does in connection with a funeral. People who were content in life to sit on empty crates and sleep on cheap cots are buried in mahogany, silver, satin, and plush, because of the pride of those that are left behind. Some folks measure the social importance of the family of the dead by the length of the funeral parade, the number oi carriages. There must be every ac cessory of a swell funeral, no matter if the money for the next three meals is not in sight.
 The undertaking business is one that demands public regulation a good dea more than lot of things the legisla lures are taking a whack at. There should be some such scale of maximum prices as municipal governments es tablish for hack and auto livery ser vice, to protect the public against ex tortion. Public administrators should see that families do not spend so muct