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CAN YOU AFFORD TO DIE?The Cost of Coffins and How They are Made.Some «t the Inside History of a Lugubrious Busiress. Cctfins for Rich and Poor.— The Reason Undertakers Charge so Much.-Ready Made Graves.Sht. I .on is Sunday Saying-••Men have died, from time to time.worm* have eaten thorn.'•How many coffins do you manufacture in a year?” was asked of an old employee of n large eotlm manufactory in this city.“We make about six hundred a week on an average, at present, but our capacity is at least twice that. We could easily turu out 0JU finished coffins a day if we could find a market for them. Poplar is used mostly for coffin making at least for those for tills country. It takes a fine polish is easily worked and is light. Our trade is not affected by the seasons “at all. There t more infants' coffins sold in the summer time than at other seasons but adult trade is the same the year around.We send a(inoii hunch or corrtNS In Eneland every year. The English people demand oak coffins entirely. We are the only firm in the United Slates that manufacture white oak coffins and the demand (01 them is grow ing. They are made per-peetlyair tight, tnngued and grooved and the lid titled 01) witli a rubber flange. They are rapidly taking the place of the metalie eases in this country.Yes, 1 think that a well made oak coffin under proper conditions of soil will outlast any other kind of wooden coffin. Their life would !*•. 1 suppose, about 20 or 25 ye an average although It would be hard to say how long one would last tinier favorable circumstances.“Walnut is used a good deal for finely finished coffins and sweet gum, a wood found in this section 111 immense quantities, largely used in the manufacture of coffins and furniture. It is a soft easily worked wood and looks ami finishes much like berry. It takes ithe sides or A corn* are made of one piece ami are shaped by steam. It takes ten minutes to bend and set the sides by means of steam plates when a few years track it w as the work of days. There are about forty wood coffin manufactories in the United ‘dates and the principal ones are located this side of the Allrghanles. Wood is cheaper out w est ami it costs less to ship it manufactured than 111 the rough.We ship coffins to each of the South American countries, Cuba, California. England. Cape Town. South Africa and oilier countries. Manufacturing a 'knock down’ coffin enables us to ship long distances.“Ilow expensive could a coffin b© made? Well that would depend a good deal on how-much the undertaker would charge for it. It tiie customer was wealthy the charge wuulii be in proportion to Ins pile. We could make a coffin of walnut fine finish, panelled and all the accessories for 375 or 3S0. That same coffin could Is1 trimmed up to almost any price desired. Ttie cost lie-almost altogether with the trimmings aud they can bePROCURED FOR ALL PRICES.Many people suppose that in times of great contagions like the cholera or yellow fever, when large numbers of people die every day, that the eoffin business gets a boom, but ttiat's all fallacy. People during such times are burled in boxes or blankets or rolled in sheets. Time is not taken in many instances to procure coffins at all. and coffin manufactories never experience any fluctuations from these causes. Our trade Is just like all others, it is goal when limes good, and bad w hen times are bad. Prices of different kinds? (Hi, 1 couldn't give you those, you know, because our customers would kick. Undertakers are generally considered sharks of the most ravenous kind. and. possibly, with some show ol reason. They justify the fact of their cxhurhitaiit charges by claiming that their losses are greater than those of any other business. A funeral charge is the hardest one in the world to collect. They usually, in thefirst FLI'SII of grief.order a more expensive outfit than they are justified in doing, and then, when the bill comes in and the sharp edge of grief has worn off they don't like 10 pay it, and -lave it off as long as possible, and frequently refuse to settle at all. An old undertaker told me onee that the best time to collect waswhen the tears were in the eyes. *l,et the tssiy get cold and your hill is too old,’ said lie, ami I guess it is about so.A poplar coffin costs from four to six dollars, a pine one eight to ten, aud an oak-one from fifteen to twenty. Then these ean he finished, as 1 said, in any manner. The cheapest affair we make is vliat we call a Imspit 1 coffin. Tliisis finished in imitation of rosewood, and costs about 34.53 at retail. Morguecotlin, ami those II,rt at infirmaries and ether public places are made by contract. and being only of I sir., pine, rudelyknocked together, cannot cost more thanA DOLLAR APIECE.They don't use much ornamentation for 'floaters’ or paupers:• Halllo fits bones over the stones,He's only a pauper whom nobody owns.'“The coffin makers of the United .Stales are a’l bamh*d together under tile name of Hie National Burial Association, ami the prices are the same everywhere. The Asso-eiati, 11 meets four times a year in the different cities. The largest coffin manufactory in tits connin'is located in Cincinnati, and the second largest in St. Louis. We have **.000 square feet of flooring, and employ about one hundred men. There is another factory here of about half our capacity, so that St. Louis is not likely to go short on coffins. We keep some women at work niakng shrouds of different patterns ail the time. The shroud business grows every year n popularity among the masses. They are ehpaper and neater looking than clothing of any kind, and people arc gradually fiudiiig it out,HERE ts A QUEER THING.Territory. Those square looking arranc meids in tlie front are ready-made grave Graves at Tombstone must be blasted, an an nnderiakcr keeps graves as well as cof fins ill slock. Queer business, eh?“We have a very good customer at Trinidad. Colorado. lie is a nice, staid old fellow. and being in St. Louis Isst summer he dropped in to see us. Reply lug to a question as to how trade w as he said: Dull. Dull the devil. But it'll be better'long a lit later, when the cowboys come in off t ranges.’ lie was perfectly seriousabe r matter and meant what he said.”
Newspaper Details
Madison Times
Tallulah, Louisiana, US
Sat, Jun 27, 1885
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
DC, USA 21 Nov 2023
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