Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-05-20

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n FL ~ uri1aea and ssnt
ny - - - III Ecnaion be1ore
Il sxspondcu1is attempt 70
So llruf. The big gun has gone
OF hing ~ nearly : month.
mi + eou1nined : equib- Il
v1e = E1ahly absent from horne,"
o. [pooe be vas On : visit TO Bal
tamo4- tke Eastern Shore TO CON-
suit = whose interest he acted to
tel = Ohat 10 ny.
HI ur correspondent no friend in
81 IL b might have gone TO! He
ret1t1 nth tnnlya veak and insig-
nilc1 Leply. His hngusgeisnot only
nnpoE nentaxy, but worse. tits the6rst
tise " He that I ever heard, and I
dcnbt = IL annals 81 the State such
: 60 - occurred, that, because apiece
ct Pr kty was IN dispute, il became
publ usperty.
Not ~, b says, on account Of the
comp d 176s the Legislature could
take - action in regard to protecting
TIE o. - Ids IN the Potomac River.
- 49, % the beds belong2 II to
VifgfA Wit night have We 70 license
boato i take oysters on those beds and
appln - funds b county and State
porp Xhio certainly has been
q (lcn ~ view Of the question
- - EOl1Y = q dishonest ct
ii - appfopeinkin9 the X5On1y.@ But
.sir. ~ have been in quiet and peacea-
be possession since l785 of all the oys-
Ger beds On the Maryland side Of the
Potouac. Virginia has never attempt
ed 70 collect the revenue or enforce her
laws in our waters. / ask then, in the
name Of equity and common sense, why,
sitter holding the beds and licensing
beats TO take oysters from these bars,
do We abandon them, as it were, and
let them be used SO detrimentally to the
interest Of those whose homes adorn
the banks of the St. Mary's part of the
river? The Legislature must have been
either In . state of somnambulism or
nos compos sseatis, and as the culprit is
entitled to the benefit of the doubt I
will grant it the former. / here allude
especially to the oyster committee, for
! believe our other delegate was, and
always viii be, with us in all things.
Your correspondent says, that the law
does not prohibit tongsmen from oys-
teFing. It is not 30 worded, but how
can they compete with the dredgers
whose boats can work at all times
through high winds and bad weather?
And I will here remind him Of another
fact tina. seems to have escaped his OBJ
servation. The iniquitous plot, styled
the oyster law Of 1874. has not only
driven men to the land, but has depriv-
ed many widows and orphans Whose
support depended upon hiring their
boats) of their daily raticns. If the
oyster committee had have exercised
any reasoning faculties, if they had any
to begin with, they certainly must have
known what the result would be when
they neglected to make a law for the
protection of the beds in the Potomac.
/ would rather have been spared the
disagreeable necessity Of disclosing the
injustice Of some Of it's sections. Let
us take Part Of the second section
That the Comptroller of the Treasury
shall upon application, &C.. issue IL
cense for catching oysters with scoop,
dredge or similar instrument within the
waters Of the Chesapeake Bay and Eas-
tern Bay, &C., provided that nothing
herein contained shall authorize the
catching of oysters, &C., on any bar
within one and half miles Of Talley's
Point, Sandy Point, Hackett' Point, &c.
Now, sir, since these points have been
excepted and no mention is made about
not dredging in the Potomac, Patuxent,
st. Mary's river and the Wicomico, it
is reasonable to conclude that dredgers
can work in any Of the rivers as well as
on those points not mentioned in the
Chesapeake Bay. And if they can do
it, as have no doubt they can, if left
to the courts of law to decide, what
an unjust law? With this unlimited
license to dredge wherever they desire,
excepting points already mentioned, 1
ask what is the use Of police force on
the Patuxent and Potomac 1t is GER
tainly q great and unnecessary expense.
I have been raised in st. Mary's coun-
ty, have lived on the Potomac since my
earliest recollection, and never knew any
vessels to dredge Except for few hours
at a time on Herring Island bar, Sleeps
head bar, Horseshoe bar, Higgins bar
in the mouth of Briton's Bay. In Bri-
toms Bay, st. Clements Bay, in the
Wicomicc, &C., &C., from Piney Point
to Cobb bar before the past Winter,
and on many of the said valuable and
highly productive oyster beds you could
zee almost at any time from twenty to
thirty dredge boats from other sections Of
the State. So much for our oyster COM
mittee. / must here mention that, in
an experience of twenty years, / never
knew but one Virginia vessel to be en-
gagged in the dredging business on this
side Of the Potomac.
Your correspondent tells you that
Baltimore and the Eastern Shore had
some forty members in the House of
Delegates and twelve or thirteen in the
Senate, therefore able to control both
bodies, &c. Mr.. Editor, was that any
reason why oar oysterman's candidate
from the Western Shore should have
80 ..rxo 18th his EpDor IN h;s month .