Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-03-05
THE OYSTER HILL.

tablishment of foreign commerce commensurate
with the extent of territory and the requirements
of our population. The insepsrable interests of in.
terna and external commerce involve the fate of our
agricultural, manufacturing and mining interests
indeed, the welfare Of our whole material develop.
ment, not lees than the extension of our political i'm.
portance, demands with increasing urgency that our
producers shall no longer want roads to home and
foreign markets. All the constituencies In the State
are equally nterested-most OF them are beginning
to be impor,unste in their demands for a liberal
scheme Of appropriation, which will convert into un
told millions OF available capital the unemployed
sources of territory, and transform into the pow
er of efficient energy all the passive faculties Of our
people,
Incidence and tiuidity have conjured up thou
sand imaginary obstacles to such consummation
and hitherto the people have been partially appeased
into unwilling acquiescence in Mr.. Micawbers policy
OF waiting for something to "turn up
Sectional Jealousy has been appealed to with no
small effect In clogging advancement. But sectional
jealousy has been more the preteIt among politicians,
than spontaneous cause existing in the sentiments
OF the people. The grea. popular instincts seldom
en- There are no deep-seated sectional preudices
recprocsted among the geographical divisions Of
Virginia, simply because thsre is just foundation
for such prejudces. The people of Tide. Water are
beginning to receive grano sa,s the oft repeated
assurances of Of their Legislators to the effect
that great lines of internal improvements will result
in partial benefit to the West and Middle sections
They fast learning the lesson that interior develop
ment must precede external commerce. And West
ern members can no longer employ the prete1t of ex
cuse that their labors for internal improv
thwarted by "dog in the manger'' opposition from
the East. Not only the people OF the East, in
many instances cooperating for the extension of our
great works, but the equalization of power effected
by the adoption Of the present State Constitution,
Western representatives may control decision the
subject. Thus they are unavoidably responsible to
their constituents.
No. Sectional jealousy constitutes no obstacle.
And still ess does that transcendenta style of eco
nomical discussion which assumes the ine1pediency
of constructing roads and canals, because unfinished
work. will not yield dvdend-or which dives still
deeper in complexities discover that the advantage
Of road to carry produce to msrke. ard the conse.
quent increased value o. lands are merely " fact.
tious."
But there does exis, one serious and tangible obsta
ole TO rapid advancement, which consists in the diff.
Guilty of raising SUFFICIENT revenue from a people
uaaccnstouaed TO, and impatient Of heary taraLor.
This obstacle is apparent TO ALL and greatly magnifed
by many Of the people, as well by of the poll.
ticans. So general indeed, and 30 strong this con-
; vclion, that TouI not venture, without more
thorough investigation than We can at present bestow
to advocate either the wisdom or the prsclcabry OF
an immediate increase in the rates of taxation
| Approaching these considerations, the Governor
hss been induced to ;ecanmend to the attention of
the Genera! assembly :wo means of increasing re-
venue which promise, NOT only to add nothing to the
burden OF taxation, but to exempt our citizens from
an immense tribute unnecessarily paid to commuDi-
lies and capitalists without our borders The first,
| and, we are inclined &c believe the most important
of these cuGgestions-thst of system Of State nsu
rance for life aud property-hss yet attracted lit.
lie of the attention and occupied still less the lahors
of the present Leeisi-.-..
The other Proposition HAS met with better fate.-
Early in the seseon, It was referred to select COM
mtee to consider the feasibility Of scheme for the
protection Of oysters which should insure nett
venue 10 the State. Fortunately very abie and eff.
cent member Mr.. James G. Paxton, of Rockbridge,
placed at the head Of the committee, and it in
wolves 40 dsparagement to the gentlemen associated
with him TO assert that we are mainly indebted to his
eIertions for the bill which has just been laid before
the House of Delegates, and the lucid report which
accompanies it.
We cannot too heartily commend the indeatigable
labor which Mr. Paxton has applied to the invesiiga-
ton Of this subject. 1t entirely to him, and
he has spared neither time labor until his exer.
tions seem to be crowned with complete mastery Of
it's general features as we'll as an intelligent appreca-
| tian of it's details.
We have carefully examined this report, which We
find entirely satisfactory that call the parou.
lar attention Of our readers to the comprehensive re-
view which /. embodies.
Only small portion OF the document ID devoted tc
generalization oi the materials supplied by nearly
EeghtY pages of evidence discovered by the nvesti.
eating committee. From this compact sketch We ex
tract The following group OF fscts which, Of them
selves. concusively recommend the adoption of the
accompanying bill.
The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries ilrnisf
much the greater part of the oYu:sro consumed in thu
United States. The oJster beds north of the Chesa
pea:e have bean nearly destroyed, and are who'll,
Inadequate to supply the markets even of their imme
diate voinities The annual value of the oyster rad
of the United States is not lees than sl5 100000,
may even exceed $1,000 900, the proceeds Of th
same number of bushels OF oysters packed transported
and sold. apart from the immense consumption of oya
ters In the immediate vicinity oit their natural beds
The Chesapeake aud ;ts tributaries supply not lea
than l200O 900 bushels annually And this is evident
ly an under estimate-beng derived chiefly from in
formation received from the oyster merchants and
packere of Baltimore and the Northern citiee whose
interest II is and WHO have seduously endeavosed tc
place low estimate on the enormous profits OF which
they are depriving tho citizens Of V:grnia and Mary
land Indeed It 10 estimated by intelligent Witnessed
that the smount cannot be less than ls 100000 bush
OILS. Witnesses svowedy hostile to a tax on oysters
have indeed given in much smaller estimates-some
as low as 100 00O bushels. But the gross ipaocara
cy of such estimates is Immediately demonstrated by
areerence to the admissions mace by persons engaged
In the trade, from which 1t appears thai upwards o.
1000 600 bushels of Chesapeake oysters annually
received at New York alone, and more than twice
that amount at other cities Thus the class of people
most interested to prevent the tax, admit that more
than IL 600 600 buehes are annually exported from
the Chesapeake Bay.
From these data, tine Committee make the follow
ing very moderate estimate. ut would follow, then
that the oyster beds Of Virginia furnish not less thar
5000, ,OOO bushels per annum. The quantity may be
much larger, but we think it cannot be less" The
quantity is undoubtedly much larger, as appears from
the evidence here referred to by the Committee
Two of the witnesses, who are opposed 10 tax on
oysters, admit that Virginia supplies to cousdera
BILE extent the Baltimore market. One Of them est
mates that Baltimore receives oneseventh of her sup
ii, ,bora fhafR
third of her supply from Virginia. The cities and
towns in Virginia Of course receive their entire supply
from the waters of this State.'
at s also shown in the testimony that some two
years since large numbers of Philadelphia vessel,
were constantly, during the "season." engaged in
dredging for oysters In the waters of Virgnia. The
pbiIsdaInhia yessels generally come and return by