The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-14
Communicated.
"THE OYSTER TAX"

Win are nefeDy repealeQ.
Communicated
"THE OYSTER TAXI 81
Believing that the Legislature of Virginia
| has no desire to impose unjust or unequal
burdens upon any portion of the citizens
OF the State, the writer respectfully SUBJ
mits to that honorable body that the Senate
bill No. l2S requires of those engaged in
taking, planting, or trading in oysters an
amount of taxes which, when compared
with those required Of any other class of the
cltlzens OF this Commonwealth, are unjust,
arbitrary, and unequal in the Uery tcorst
sense Of those acordS. In SUPPORT of this
declaration I need only state that the bill
IN question requires of man who owns,
commands, hires, or borrows vessel under
one ton tne ordinary value of which is
about thirty dollars), the payment of three
dollars for the privilege of using said vessel
in any way whatever connected with the
oyster trade-a trade which every one
| who has any acquaintance with it knows
to be more laborious, more exposed, and
less remuneratiye than anEtrade or calling
followed by any other class Of people within
the States broad limits. A1nan may own
and cultivate thirty dollars worth of land,
and the State demands of him tax of only
fifteen cents Again, vessel Of one hundred
tons (the average value OF such vessels being
about $4,000 must pay to the State for the
privilege of being in any way connected
| with the oyster trade, for one year, the sum
Of $500; while the same amount Of capital
| invested or employed in any other business
pays into the State treasury only yttcenty dol
| lars. Many persons ask, how can these things
| be made to appearJu ,equal, ,or consistent !?
But no one has ever yet given to the ques-
tion satisfactory answer. The impression
that the oyster beds (Which many persons
rery enormously suppose so be equal in
value to the richest gold mines) are the
properly of the State, in the same sense in
which terra .f,mG owned by her is her
properly, seems to have taken fast hold of
many persons, and upon that ground they
justify her in any demand she may make as
condition upon which any one may take
oysters therefrom.
Ibis may be true but if it is, 1t seems
to follow as logical consequence that the
state has the right not only to rent, but to
sell them, and to give to the purchaser such
title as would enable him to enclose or wall
them in in such n manner az would prove
very dangerous distractions to navigation.
But admit that these oyster beds are the
property of the State in the sense which is
contended for, does it appearfrom that that
it is arise, or right, or just, or EQUAL, for her
to require Of those who work them twenty
times as much tax as she requires Of any
other class of her citizens?
The people who work the oyster beds are
among the poorest in the State. They can
Oh an average earn not more than is earned
by a farm hand or laborer, and not more
In catching oysters they fully earn all
they can gel for them. Why, then, should
they be required to pay, in addition to the
tax required Of others, that which is really
and practically tax on their labor? When
the Legislature of Virginia requires of every
mechanic, farm hand, and laborer to pay
into the State Treasury three dollars out OF
every four hundred OF their gross earnings
(which is about the average yearly amount
earned by an oysterman), then, and not hH
then, will this demand upon oystermen ap-
pear just and equal, when compared with
her demands upon the rest Of her citizens.
When the necessities of the State shall
require her to levy tax Of three hundred
dollars on every four thousand dollars worth
of property within her jurisdiction, then,
and not till then, can she be justified in de-
handing and receiving such q sum on four
thousand dollars invested in the oyster
business.
When the State Of Virginia ceases to
permit and encourage foreign capitalists to
invest their capital in lands, merchandise,
railroads, and other property and business
within her limits-then, and not till then,
can she consistently prohibit the use and
EMPLOYMENT Of such capital II the oyster
business. 90
The tonnage tax, together with the law
prohibiting the employment Of foreign cap
!tal I'm the oyster business, has driven most
of the oyster-buyers and planters from our
state to more friendly markets, thus building
mn rival interests, fostering monopoly, de-
stroying competition, driving from our State
aboiIt one million of dollars each year,
bringing MANY of our citizens, with their
families, to the verge of starvation; anu all
This is done IN order that the State may real,
ize q gross reuenne Of about seventy thousand
dollars, FoBTY-FIvB per cent. OF whlcn Is re-
0uired to pay the expense OF special ON,
cioIs steamers, and other machinery and
annliances necessary for its collection.
Three steamers are employed in the eXecu-
tion of the present oyster laws OF the state,
and thev are quite insufficient for the
amount of work to be done, as the distance
of the oyster beds from each other render
II uterIv impossible for so small fleet as Is
of nresent employed to prevent frequent
evasjons and violations OF the law.
Nav not the necessity for the employment
of special appliances ana machinery lof Tue
execution OF any law be used as an argn-
ment against its wisdom and justicef AS
general rule it is unwise to legislate IN
opposition to public sentiment, and wise
legislators will generally make haste to cor
rect the evils Of such legislation as soon as
they are made apparent; x,-,,,
II the General Assembly OF Virginia Will
amply this rule to the subject under consid-
eration there is but little doubt that the
evils complained of will at once be removed,
the tonnage tax repealed, also the law pro,
hibiting the employment of foreign capllai
in the oyster business, and all other laws
making any distinction between those who
catch, buy, sell, plant, or trade In oysters
and those engaged in the pursuit Of any my,
other calling, and saeh laws enacted rs Will
correct the evils of past legislation, encour.
age competition among buyers and planters
/ Of oysters, supersede The necessity for spe.
cial police for their execution, placing pro-
! perty- in oysters upon the some 6asis fos
4 tarGtioa arith other property, taxing st the
safae, ard not 0therscise.
Such laws would meet with universal ap
probation, command universal Rnpport.