Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-05-12
Eortion.p Reason no cause for e. But now

But we hope our friends will remember that
sTo the generous mind .s---...-----,-...
The heaviest debt is that of gratitude,
When tbs not in our power to repay it,
and if our people now manifest an unwilling
ness TO- discharge their obligations to these
gentlemen for their manifold kndnesses, as
herenbefore set forth, we hope that, in char
ity, their shortcomings will be put down to
the score Of inability, rather than Of want Of
gratitude. Apart, however, from all this, it
seems to us, to state the case as mildly as pos
sible, requiring rather too much of the good
nature of our people, that the gentlemen
should "sare" themselves at the expense of
the community. AS to what Satisfaction"
our people would feel, were they to adopt
"vacillatipg" policy in the sale of fish, we
cannot say. Such a "course" might, we
grant, prove unsatisfactory in some instances,
but, we think, scarcely more SO than that we
alluded to last week. Alexandria and Wash
lington are confessedly the fish markets of the
Potomac That they should regulate prices
here. is but reasonable. But we know such
is not the case. We do not expect Messrs.
Chapman or any other fishermen to sell their
fish to county people" at less than mar ket
rates. In the earlier part of the season the
whole catch is sent to the cities. Then FISH
are high and the shore demand limited. That,
generally, does not commence until about the
\ l. A. - - Al
when, the city markets are glutted and prices
low. But do our people get their supplies at
the then city rates? Let Messrs. Chapman
answer. Read their communication, they will
post the inquirer and save the expense Of
trip to Alexandria for that purpose. Now,
herein, to our mind, consists the "barefaced
extortion"-the unjust discrimination against
bur people-we have reprobated. We grant
the "prime condition" of the gentlerden's fish,
but we object to the "prime' price, far above
the market value of the article. Now, in ex
posing and denouncing the extortionate prac-
tices Of fishermen, how can it be said that we
were making Messrs. Chapmans' "private bu
siness," or their "mode of conducting" the
same, "a subject of criticism in the public
prints? The gentlemen's excessive sensi-
[tiveness, like .'immoderate valor, swells into
4 fault" Again, in venturing the remark,
that this discrimination, (reprehensible as all
must admit it to BEL if persisted 10, would
ultimately produce 10 the public mind feel
ing Of indifference for the protection of fish,
ing interests, we thought we were stating
merely q harmless, self-evident truth
But it seems that even 10 this the "optics
sharp" Of the gentlemen detected the presence
of lurking dsvil' in the shape Of "covert
threat" of the repeal of "the law protecting
riparian fishermen" The threat we confess
is too "covert" for US. Our Imagination ut
terly refuses to fathom ''such points as these
as also the "woes unnumbered," which, if the
gentlemen are to be credited, will spring from
complete stoppage of all 'seines laid out
from and hauled to the Shore
In conclusion, we have endeavored to give
this matter the. publicity the gentlemen asked
for. Our judgment has been pronounced and
finds approval throughout tie length and
breadth Of the county With the people, as
we before said, rests the remedy. Herring
at $40" may be "a cheap article Of food" but
that is no reason why we should submit to
extostion or imposition. In what we have
done, we intended no unkindness towards
IN, Ect,; Far hot
class we include many Of our friends. But
10 all candor we must say to Messrs. Chap
man that they have put themselves in no en-
viable position. Their allusion to Shylocks
we consider singuarly infelicitous to them
selves and at the same time peculiarly sug-
gestive to the inquiring mind. The name
involuntarily recalls the creation of the great
Bard Of Avon in the person of the hardheart-
ed and relentless Jew, and the mind recurs to
the scene in which the fair and youthful Judge
exhorts the Jew to refrain from exacting the
to show mercy to the poor bankrupt. We
quote:
"PoRr1A.-Then must the Jew be merciful.
SHYLocK.-Under what eompulsion must p
tell me that.
80 =.
|. crave the law
The penalty and forfeit Of my bond"
In imagination, we hear the same cry to-day,
and from the same Sbylock, when arraigned
at the bar of public opinion, "under what
compulsion must l." why should reduce nay
prices-why release my foothold upon the
necks of wellnigh bankrupt and impover-
ished people? Is lit so nominated in the bond
I6ETha Virginia State steamer Tredegar