1895-01 Sixty-Third Annual Report. Mount Auburn Cemetery. January 1, 1895.

SIXTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.

The sixty-third annual report of the Trustees, together with the reports of the Superintendent and Treasurer, are herewith submitted to the Proprietors.

The financial operations of the past year have been attended with success notwithstanding the general business depression. ‘The receipts from sales of lots and receiving tomb deposits have been much : larger than usual, showing a gain of $10,500 over the previous year. The expenses on the other hand have been smaller, owing partly to less outlay in the preparation of new lots, as we already have a sutficient supply on hand, and in part to economy practised in view of the uncertain financial future, and the necessity of caution in the undertaking of new enterprises. The result is shown in the following condition of the funds : —

The Repair Fund amounts to $812,216.82, and its increase for the year 1s $40,532.44. This fund, it is always to be remembered, is not to be regarded as an asset, as its full amount is estimated to be balanced by the obligations assumed for the perpetual care of monuments and lots. The income from this fund must be used for these purposes only, and is not deemed large in consideration of the obligations assumed. .

The Permanent Fund, which is to provide for the expenses of the cemetery after all the lots are sold, and which is accumulating under the provisions of the By-Laws, is-now $344,009.27. The gain of the year is $13,218.51.

The General Fund, from which are to be made all large improvements, such as renewals of fences, buildings, green-houses, and the

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ANNUAL REPORT.

like, now amounts to $119,456.63, and the gain of the past year is $19,074.63, not a large sum’to meet the requirements constantly pressing on the cemetery from its growth and the developments of the city around it.

During the past year, it will be seen by reference to the Treasurer’s report (pages 8 and 9), we have received from the city of Cambridge $506.80 for damages for land taken on Mt. Auburn Street, and paid them a curbstone assessment of $150. The land taken was a strip of about four feet in width by three hundred in length, on the Mt. Auburn Street side of our land occupied by the Superintendent’s house and our green-houses. This land, not being within the limits of the cemetery, we hold, like other Cambridge citizens, liable to taxes and assessments. Mt. Auburn Street itself 1s now widened to sixty-six feet with sidewalks eleven feet in width on each side. It has been regraded and is mainly occupied by a double-track trolley electric railway of the West End Company. Some questions remain as yet unsettled with the city, which has now brought one of its extended thoroughfares along the whole front of our cemetery on Mt. Auburn Street.

The heat and drought of the last summer were severe. Our water works, however, furnished us an ample supply of water, though our engines were not worked to their full capacity. Should an additional supply be required in the future, we can readily obtain this by sinking a few additional wells and working our pumps at their full power.

We have every reason to continue satisfied with our purchase of the Bird lot and our side-track connection with the Fitchburg Railroad. We have received from this source during the past year fifty-seven car-loads or ten to twelve hundred tons of the best crushed stone. By the use of this material we hope in time to have as firm and solid road-beds as can be found in other parts of our vicinity, where good stone is more abundant than with us and the roads more easily kept in order.

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MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY.

The difficulty of finding good and safe investments for the Repair Fund is on the increase. By-Law VIII., which regulates these investments, was amended at the annual meeting of Feb. 2, 1885, so as to allow of investments in mortgages of real estate In any city in Massachusetts. A still further amendment is deemed necessary, as there are towns in the Commonwealth, like the town of Brookline, for instance, whose investments are quite as desirable as those of the cities.

As our By-Law at present reads, our Finance Committee are prevented from making any mortgage loans in these towns, however favorable the terms and security. The Trustees, therefore, propose the amendment of this By-Law by the insertion in the investment clause after the word “city ” the words, “ 07 town.”

The investment clause now reads : —

All such sums shall collectively constitute a separate fund, called the Repair Fund, and shall be invested in the public debt of the United States, or in that of the State of Massachusetts, or in the debt of any of the counties, cities, or towns of this State, or in mortgages of real estate in any city of Massachusetts, or in first mortgage bonds, or debenture bonds of railroads not mortgaged, of any rail-

road incorporated under the authority of this Commonwealth which has earned and paid regular dividends for the two years next preceding such investment.

The amended By-Law to which your sanction is asked at this meeting will read : —

All such sums shall collectively constitute a separate fund, called the Repair Fund, and shall be invested in the public debt of the United States, or in that of the State of Massachusetts, or in the debt of any of the counties, cities, or towns of this State, or in mortgages of real estate in any city or town in Massachusetts, or in first mortgage bonds, or debenture bonds of railroads not,mortgaged, of any railroad incorporated under the authority of this Commonwealth which has earned and paid regular dividends for the two years next preceding such investment.

For the Trustees,

ISRAEL M. SPELMAN, President.