TTbe Conservative * 11
CREMATION.
EDITOR THE CONSERVATIVE :
As you are getting up a cremation
company in your city , you will probably
be interested in the enclosed translation
of the report of the Hamburg ( Ger
many ) cremation society.
Respectfully ,
WALTER BUEEN.
Omaha , Neb. , June 7 , 1901.
The death record of the Hamburg
crematory from 1892 to 1899.
[ TRANSLATION. ]
Under the above heading has recently
appeared a carefully tabulated state
ment , prepared by the president of the
cremation society , D. Edward Braoken-
hoeft , covering the record of the first
500 cremations which took place at that
crematory during that period.
The ages of those who were cremated
were as follows :
In ages of 0 to 10 years 0
" 10 to 20 years 8
" 20 to 80 years 18
" 80 to 40 years 80
" 40 to 50 years 70
" , 50 to 60 years 92
" 00 to 70 years 180
112
27
8
Total 500
It is to be remarked that more than
four-fifths of the ages of above individ
uals ranged from 40 to 80 years.
As it is most unlikely that a single
one of these was sent to the crematory
without the consent ( in life ) of the de
ceased , and as people , in these mature
years are not apt to specify a wish for
cremation without having duly weighed
and considered this method of disposing
of their bodies , it follows that the fre
quent assertion which one hears , "that
incineration is a passing fad" is not in
consonance with facts. The sex of those
cremated is as follows :
Number of men cremated 331 , num
ber of women cremated 169. A proportion
tion of two-thirds to one-third
- men - wo
men. Of the latter sex the following
information is given :
65 were married women , 46 were un
married , 56 were widows , 2 were di
vorced.
The religious beliefs of the 500 show :
891 Evangelical Lutheran ( state church ) ,
13 Reformed church , 14 Catholics , 1 Old
Catholic , 1 Church of England , 2 Mennonites -
nonites , 62 Jews , 16 Freethinkers.
POLITICAL.
"Protection , so called , has become a
means through which high prices are
maintained at home while goods are sold
at lower prices abroad , " says the Port
land Oregoniau ( Rep. ) It has always
been an abuse ; it is the mother of
trusts and plutocracy ; and now in its
logical development puts a tax on homo
consumers , that foreign consumers may
get low prices. This last phase will be
the death of the system. "
"If wo expect the economic suprem
acy we are claiming , we must be a lib
eral nation , " argues the Philadelphia
Times ( Ind. ) "When our own tariff
tricks are turned against us , we shall
have not only our manufacturers but our
farmers also to reckon with. If we ex
pect to trade with other nations , we
must at least show our willingness to
let them trade with us. "
"If we add to the army of nearly one
million pensioners the soldiers in the
field , the sailors in the navy , and the
great array of names borne on the civil
list , it will be found that about one
person in ten of the adult male popula
tion of the country has a direct pecuni
ary relation to our paternal federal gov
ernment , " notes the Philadelphia Rec
ord ( Ind. Dem ) . "The proportion of
taxeaters to taxpayers cannot be much
further enlarged without grave dan
ger. "
Judging from what the president said
on his recent tour , the Boston Evening
Transcript ( Rep. ) is inclined to believe
M. Jules Siegfried's report of his talk
with the president , wherein the latter
said that he was not now the extreme pro
tectionist he once was. It cannot under
stand why Mr. Hanna should contradict
it. "Many people , " it adds , "regard
Mr. Hanna as if he were all the govern
ment , and sometimes Mr. Hanna'
acts and talks as if he were
himself laboring under this delusion. "
"Thirty-five years ago the Northern
states turned the government of eleven
Southern states over to ex-slaves and
outsiders , when 95 per cent , of the ne
groes were illiterate and unable to take
care of themselves , much less to control
a state intelligently , " premises the De
troit Tribune ( Ind. ) "This dangerous
error did not cause half the alarm in
the country that is now exhibited over
granting the limited rights of a terri
tory to Porto Rico and the Philip
pines. "
"The supreme court has said that
everything in the settlement of the colonial
nial relations of the country depends
upon congress , and he must be an unin
telligent student of affairs who fails to
appreciate what this means , " the Boston
Herald ( Ind. ) says : ' 'It means that the
attention of the people must be ab
sorbed in the policy which congress is
to create and establish. It is to be set
tled as to whether that policy shall con
form to our character as a republic , or
shall be that of a monarchy towards
subject peoples. "
"It indicates a great advance in pub
lic sentiment , " says the Kansas City
Star ( Ind. ) , with reference to the ad
dress in Detroit of President Search , of
the national association of manufac
turers , "when the president of a manu
facturers' association publicly refers to
the tariff policy as selfishness for which
the country may bo punished , and de
clares that that as a result of the sen
ate's failure to approve of reciprocity
the beginning of free trade the posi
tion of the people is 'humiliating. '
Fifteen years ago manufacturers did
not look on the tariff in this light. "
"To belittle the tariff issue is out of
the power of the MoLaurins and other
more or less disguised protectionists in
the democratic camp who are seeking ,
with the Hanna steamship - subsidy
scheme , to put a new cornice on the edi
fice of spoliation , " says the Philadelphia
Record ( Ind. Dem. ) "The democratic
party is the party of tariff reform , and
the issue is ready -at hand for the next
congressional campaign. There can be
no averting the conflict unless the re
publicans in the next congress shall an
ticipate it by substantially revising the
tariff on the plan of Representative
Babcock. "
"It thus appears that everybody inter
ested in the case the republican lead
ers in the house and senate , the demo
cratic leaders in the house and senate ,
the eminent" counsel for the importers
and against the administration , the emi
nent counsel for the administration and
against the importers all of these ap
parently differing gentlemen seem to bo
pleased with the decision , and unani
mously in its favor , " comments the San
Francisco Argonaut ( Ind. ) "In short ,
the only persons who seem to bo
dissatisfied with the decision of the su
preme court , and inclined to question
its soundness , are the justices of the
supreme court. "
GROWTH OF FORESTRY IN THE
UNITED STATES.
The merging of the Indiana Forestry
Association into the new and enlarged
organization of the International So
ciety of Arboriculture , which took place
at Connersville , Saturday , afforded an
opportunity to the secretary of the old
association to review the work that it
has done. There is abundant encourage
ment in the report , for further effort.
With the renewed attention which va
rious states and the general government
are giving to the subject , the efforts of
such associations as this , will be made
easier , and we may hope for an exten
sion of knowledge on the subject to
awaken popular interest. One practical
extension of tree planting , it seems to
us , could be made by providing that
trees should be planted along the high
ways and by-ways of the stateas part of
the road work. Thus millions of trees
could be planted , and yet no land needed
for farming encroached on. And wo
should in time get the advantage that
comes from the great growth of trees ,
besides having roads that in' summer
time would be shaded.