The long arm of federal bureaucracy is reaching out again as the Federal Trade Commission proposes national regulations for the funeral industry. FTC cites corruption within the industry. We have no doubt there indeed is corruption – and believe the perpetrators should be sought out and punished. But in our view, applying new nation-wide regulations that will penalize the innocent as well as the guilty is not the way to get at the problem. Here in Utah, we have not been plagued with unethical practices to anywhere the degree reported in some other states. Operators in this state, on the whole, have tried to maintain high standards. Moreover Utah laws apprently are fairly stringent on requirements to practice embalming. The state maintains continuing jurisdiction through license renewals, and defines unprofessional conduct as it relates to embalming. The FTC last year accused the funeral industry of such practices as “baitand-switch” in which lowerpriced caskets and other merchandise are substituted and of paying a nurse or other informant on deaths as a means of promoting business. The Herald deplores these and any other unethical practices and certainly believes that funeral directors owe it to the people to maintain highest standards. But can’t regulation be handled on a state basis where laws can be geared to the particular problems rather than by blanket edict? Among other things the proposed FTC regulations would: Require funeral homes to give prices via telephone, prohibit practices which tend to cut competition, and require operators to provide customers with more information about specific costs such as those for caskets and burial vaults. For the most part the regulations probably are reasonable. But why do they , need to apply federally, opening the door to rule by’ bureacracy instead of on a local state basis? State control seems to work well in Utah. Why won’t it work elsewhere? The National Funeral Directors Association has done much to encourage high ethics within the industry. Maybe more “Inindustry” policing can be done in coordination with state laws and enforcement. But let’s not turn a job over to Washington. Already, business regulations in the country are over-extended. Adding more rules will only make the process more complicated and expensive. When this happens, it’s almost axiomatic that the higher costs wind up in the lap of the consumer.