The State Moves to Regulate Morticians
Washington joins the national movement to license embalmers, citing public health risks on the railways.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The state board of health proposes to regulate more closely the embalming of bodies, and an examination of embalmers is to take place in Spokane August 31. The rules go into effect September 1, and after that date, the railroads will refuse transportation of bodies whose death has been caused by any communicable disease if the signature of a licensed embalmer is lacking. Washington is one of the last states in the West to adopt this precaution. It is intended to hold annual examinations for the license of embalmers. Dr. B. E. Heg, the secretary of the state board of health, noted that Washington has lagged behind other states in imposing these regulations, noting that the Great Northern railway for instance, already finds these regulations in force in every state through which it passes except Idaho and Washington.
“Washington is one of the last states in the west to adopt this precaution in the handling of the dead.”
This 1903 regulation marks the professionalization of the American funeral industry, shifting death care from a private, local affair to a state-regulated public health function. Today, the same concerns about disease containment and transportation ethics continue to shape modern mortuary science.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.