Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-02-29

..,nst We have converted with the write,
,fIIer hmself-and were struck by the inteli.
--.,rs q spiayed by him ian uneducated man, In
,sa, rylaies to his calling, and particularly bv
a.. graphic and eloquent though entirely unpre-
1.rding recital of the varied experiences, priva-
,ious and hardships peculiar to those who follow
his p-scarious means of livelihood:
EJ,,o- Of ne SfCr: saw an article I'm your ma
w. som. DAYS ago. signed by a certain "A. n y
tcurcrning the regulating Of the fisheries on the
p,touac river ! take the liberty to reply to him,
hoping you will be pleased to give room In your
-C'rshle paper. "a. b " says: The seines are
f,,u three TO five miles in length, reaching from
s,ors to shore, and that the gill nets are spread
I'm tieorgetown down as low as Mount Vernon,
-, l,,ycr; and next, that he Legislatures of Mary
I'D and Virginia should pass laws reducing the
sines 10 five hundred Yards In length, and to
hcIish all gill nets forever. rather expect, IL
an not mistaken, il the seines were to be reduced
w that length, and the gill nets entirely abolish
81 il would be a great advantage to him, as the
..lne he hauls is, | suppose, about that length
MS; suitable for his haul-and that the gill nets
nth below him great many chad that be
,,,ond like TO catch. Now, | will agree with
MIN so far as the long seines concerned, but
mus, beg leave 10 differ with him in regard to
the gill nets.
md that the seines greatly heightened. 1t is
with great d thculty that a craftman can get up
aud down the river in the spring OF the year with
ont being in some seine or some seine hauier's
wa. For, anchor in the tideway or the stream.
ripht or day. you will, ninety-nine times in one
hundred have TO get out OF their way, because
when they lay out from one shore opposite the
ether their seines pretty nearly lay back to bac k
TINS taking all the of the navigation; for YOU
.annot 90 over them, and if you do you will in all
Vrobabii ty hang them, and then that gives YOU
T at deal of trouble and them also and generally
leads TO threats or curses or fights, and sometimes
.1pensive lawsuits but, on the other hand with
the gill-nets do not have this trouble
That is avoided by their being sunk sufficient
tnAa he yyatpP to oil
unless il be a centre boarded one, and then if she
will raise her board all is clear. The senes have
70 doubt, By their immense length, greatly de-
stroyed the breed of the fish, by hauling II n cart
load after cart load Of the spawn to be exposed
to the sun to die. Does the giil-net do this! l
answer no. the gill-net would not DESTROY one
spawn IN I'VE thousand, because there is no way
IA which it can do 1t. 1t floats along as the tide
.oes simply in the channel, and never on the flats
where the spawn is always laid; and if it did if
"ogld not affect it in the least it has no bottom
read, about rs hneas hair. What harm could
II do were 1t to go over them | say none
Vow word about the Ofdl fish, which are
bauled up Pungy load after .Pungy load, and left
on the shore to be destroyed Does the gill net
latch them | again say no. 1t NAV be said
such "sh as these are of use, but say they are
at gteat use In the winter season. and will readily
command twenty-five cents per bunch in our
snerkets If they could be had. If the gill nets
reduce the breed Of the sbad so fast how is il
that the breed of the herring is reduced so much
lister, Why In 1oi2-'3-i to my certain knewl-
edge the price of the herring out of the seines on
the river shores was from one dollar and seventy
five cents TO two dollars per thousand and shad
were about six dollars per hundred, and the aver
dge haulS OF herring were ON fifty to seventy
hve thousand every haul, and sometimes an hun
dred thousand. i used to be on the shores and if
they did not catch fifty thousand herring at any
one haul, it was called no haul at all Now let
rs compare those hauls with those made now-a-
dlys, and also compare the prices then with the
present prices, and what is the df ference he
twixt them. Now-a.days III they catch three to
five thousand herring at haul, they call it a verv
good haul, and YOU cannot buy them RIG bit ont Of
the seines for less than ten dollars Der Thousand
Thus, in fifteen tn sixteen years, the quantity of
herring has been reduced To about one.sfxth mart
OF what II was then, while their price has in
creased to double and treble the prices at that
ime.
Dld the gill net destroy them, | say no. For
the mesh that catches the shad Will let the her,
riag all through. Now. word about the sbad
In the years that | have mentioned the reUular
i!t'tls OF shad amounted to three Thousand per
maui, while at the present time 1T the same shores
FAey average about one Thousand to fifteen hun
tfeu, ana their price is about ten to twelve dol
lars per hundred Now We see that the ouantitv
cf saad has reduced about one half. while Tho
price has increased more than double far behind
'nal OF herring. And, again. If the gill net de-
s'-oy the shad as fast they are said to do. how
was IT in ISIS, that there were more sllad in the
Potomac river than | ever EXPECT TO see again
thtre, ana that the very next year the number was
nsts used in ~Jj than there Were in IS5i: vet The
increase Of them in $50 over 1911 was ahout
double, while the decrease of them in $50 To
l--j6 about twO-thirdS. know myself the OILERS
Hp IN this part of the river in $50 caught during
tEc season, about six Thousand; whereas i'm IS5I
IN" best OK them did not cate over two thousan nd
vow, there is only one way in which the gill net
IAN lnlure the breed OF the fish and that in a very
small way. ! suppose that probably one half of
Sbc shad that the net hes have not spawned
when caught; TINS. that might be d, destroying
them some but at least one half of them the seinfs
would catch II the gill net did not. So, where is
The difference IL appears that Mr.. BRYAN is try
Ing very hard to pass bill to prohibit the use of
xiii nets in the Potomac river; and also Mr. Jones'
another member of the Legislature Of MARYLAND
70 abolish the of gill nets and stake nets in tn,
Pdtuxent river / Will say to those gentlemen
'fcm Prince George county, that if they were to
N'rceed iii their undertaking. it wuid be against
he will OF ma jOrity Of their constituents who,
ny their votes elected the honorable gentlemen to
me seats they now occupy. 1t might be the will
of d portion of the rich people, who seek to take
away the rig hts of the poor laborng man.
30 far as tie Patuxent river fishing is concerned,
] am well acquainted with that river, and don {
know where 1t is that all these gill nets and stake
nets and all the shad is caught that such a
Inv Is necessary t. stop them. did not think
there were many shad caught in the Patuxent
river, though il aboundS in alewives Now |
come back To the old Potomac again. This Nh.
a b., whoever he may be, need not have troubled
himself with calling on the Leg isature of Viz
ginid TO pass such laws, for Vir9 nia has Ii w
already passed against gilers-that their COM
nencement shall be the first of March and end the
twenty-tft of May; but unfortunately for Vir-
GINA, sue does not own any of the channel The
channel belongs to Maryland from the mouth of
the river up. except at Alexandria. So the Mary
land Legislature IS expected to cut them off, but
think that majority Of any Legislative body will
never pass such law. 1t is hard enough for a
l4boring man to get living at the best, and it is
Lard that he should be dep lived of his only means
of livelihood. No rich man will follow gilling
for the reason that IL is too hard life for him.
Whoever follows 1T, if he expects to make day
wages at it, must stick to 1t night and day, wet or
dry, storm or calm. Their opponents in this mat
ter are a few individuals who have fishing shores
10 rent out, who think that il they can accomplish
their ends and stop all gllling that il will greatly
enhance the value Of their shores In point Of tue
price they might then charge for rent. While
they have perfect right TO the shores owned and
held by them, they have no more title in the
waters of the Potomac river than the gillcrs.
was born and raised I'm Maryland, and am well
acquainted with the people of the different csun-
ties Of the good old State, and would say TO bel
Legislators that when they justly consider the
rights they would be taking away from the poor
laboring man by passing such law as A. b. pro-
poses to have passed, | am confident that they
will never think Of doing it, large portion Of
the poor men employed in gill fishing, which
Lists generally about three months, never obtain
another three months Of regular employment