Funeral Directors’ Combination
The California Funeral Directors' Association has just concluded in San Francisco its seventh convention. Each county in the State is supposed to have a local association amenable to this State body, and it in turn is auxiliary to the national association. Many interesting things were discussed, such as "Auto Hearses for Funeral Equipment," "Recent Court Decisions as to Undertaking Zones," "Women in the Profession," etc., etc. From the discussions, and a little talk with some of the delegates, one has no trouble in ascertaining that the undertakers' union is one of the very strongest and the most exacting. The local undertaker is told just where he shall buy his goods, and what he shall pay; and generally speaking, it is understood just what prices he shall charge. This is a combination, properly speaking, of capitalists; yet it is one in which the capital of the manufacturer controls the labor of the local undertaker, if indeed he would be classed as a laborer at all. He has come to be ranked more in the professional line. But no matter where you classify him, he is a part of the combine. There is scarcely anything you can touch in these days, but you have to pay toll to some kind of combination. It would seem that shame, even the sympathy should be wholly lacking, would lead men to refrain from combining to gather a tribute from the sorrowing and suffering friends of the dead. But greed, seeming to have its avaricious appetite whetted by the thought that "this is my last chance," sternly arises to make some of its most exacting and exorbitant demands before allowing your friends to pass your mortal remains through the doorway of the tomb.