Rivalry Among Funeral Directors
ONE would naturally suppose that "Christian" men in the funeral-directing business would instinctively refrain from open display of rivalry. It would seem that of all secular duties of man to his fellow man, the interment of the dead should be done "decently and in order." One day recently there were so many funerals in this city that it was necessary to procure hacks from Alameda, Berkeley, and even from San Francisco. It is charged that one undertaker was the cause of having some of the outside hackmen arrested as soon as they came into the city by the order of his rival, because they had no city license. The licenses were promptly paid, but threatened vengeance is the result. This is an illustration of the doctrine that "business is business," regardless of Christian profession or true religious principle, or even just the commonest decent manliness.