Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-03

she had hitherto bafnea the police.
THE waNIyd OYSTERS.
Ss,Gs L.
The Chesapeake Beds in Dancer Of
determination.
.-
At an entertainments given to the Express
mems conventions. in Baltimore, q few DAYS
since, Mr. A. Booth said. among other things
that the oysters were decreasing In Chesapeake
bay very rapidly, and that though the oyster
business of his city had been and
is immense, yet he could not say how
long 1t would continue. He is engaged
| largely in Baltimore and In the west in the
oyster trade. and has one of the largest and
best equipped establishments for the prepara-
| ton and shipment Of oysters in this region.
His trade is immense, and has been for years,
and he has seen the industry at its best, and
has had occasion to note it's progress, advance
ment, or decline, as the symptoms of either
occurred. And he bears testimony to fact to
| which public attention has been more than
once called and for which remedy must be
found. In printing his remarks, the Evening
Nescs Of that city said:
Millions of bushels of oysters are annually
taken from the Chesapeake bay and eaten
transpanted to foreign wats:: 1S c...,ned and
sh ir.ss away Vessels and tools of every kind
and character have been employed to take oys-
the bivalves safe from the rapacity of man. The
tongmen pick them up-what is left Of them on
the bars-and the dredgers sweep mp and down,
day and night, year In and year out, while fish
and crabs destroy and devour the spawn andthe
refuse OF cities poison and kill Them until the
consumption is greater than their natural in
crease, and year by year finds the delicious she'll
fsh closer and closer to extinction.
1t Is true we have laws and an oyster police force
to enforce them, designed no doubt to protect
tors 70 h,,kr
tect only the tongmen. for it is only in their in
tefest, and to that extent are the laws enforced.
The time was, not many years ago, perhaps q
decade or two, when large portion Of the pop
ulation OF our state earned comfortable livings
by Clustering upon the bars with tongs. They were
an independent class, composed Of industrious
men, who owned or hired small boats or fished
for themselves
On many favorite points could frequently be
seen whole fleets of these little boats, canoes
and skiffs, each with It's crew Of two, man
handling the tongues and lifting up the oysters
while boy or partner "culled," that is knocked
on the small or young oysters attached to the
clumps brought up, and throwing such small
ones back into the water to grow for future
crop, while only the choicest ones were retained
for market. These were hardy men, and earned
comfortable livelihood for themselves aud
families
But they have almost disappeared. Despite
the war they waged with the dredgers. the Sc
shallow water, and the vigilance and vigor with
which the county authorities inflicted them, and
despite the diligence of an oyster police fleet
the dredgers have done their work until the
oyster helds are being fast depOpulated, and the
| favOrite bars. where the tOngmen worked have
been swept clean. Back and forth the dredges
| have been drawn. scraping the bars and leaving
them barren, dragging the deep water and tear
ing open with their ruthless teeth the feeding
oysters, buryfng Others in the mud to die and
aTn oil
moss-back to the young bulb with its shell
hardly formed. The t0ngmen are few to what
they once were, large and thrifty part of the
populations Of every town and village along our
bay shore. and the 'cuIlers" are scarcer still for
the hungry tOngman now sells the small oysters
for ''seed" for some distant bed because he
cannot afford to throw them back to their ma
tive elements
t. Thus it is as Mr. Booth SAYS. our oysters are
disappearing. and there is no telling how long
this great and valuable industry will continue
Its failure would be a calamity to this city as
well as to the thousands In other parts of the
state to whom it furnishes employment. Some
thing should be done to arrest the destruction
clearly going on. It would be. better that the
business be suspended. or restricted temporarily.
than that it should be permanently destroyed
The General Assembly must either forbid all
Oystering for few seasons and give the bivalve
chance to increase and grow, or positively pro-
hlblt, under the heaviest penalties all dredging
Will duS kiuO VI maCnlHc whatever. AT least.
the present system Of taking oysters must be
restrained if not entirely stopped Protected
from the dredger the prolific bivalve would soon
restock our waters and renew our splendid In
dustry. If something is not done in this direc-
ton, 1T Is only question of a few years whether
exhaustion will not permanently destroy one OF
our most valuable resources.
Sla"ghtering by Electricity.
"Death by electricity" is becoming favorte
subject for letters to the daily papers, and one
| such was published in contemporary yester-
day. Asa humane means Of inficting capital
punishment there Is much to be said in Its
favor, especially after the two recent cases of
bungling at the hands Of the hangman But
none of the humanitarians who advocate cleo
tricity as substitute for the butchers axe
seem alive to the disadvantages attend
ant thereon. That Large amount of
terror and suffering to the poor beasts