Morning journal and courier., 1885-09-08
Yew a@aren @ailg g9lorning gonraal and Gunrier.
rHE oYsTER INTEREsT.


 Letter From Baltimore = Maryland
 Oystermen'S DissatfsfactIon - The
 Tonnage Tax-Fair Haven Enterprise
 A Brief Glance At The Origin And
 Growth of The Oyster Interest At
 Baltimore - The Immense Propor-
 ttOns of The Business = The Oyster
 Trade of The Chesapeake.
 BALTIMORE, Sept 7.-The law being off the oyster season has opened here September 1st) and all the packers and dealers of fresh oysters will make their first shipments to the West this afternoon. The restaurant men also have their raw boxes put in order as well as their cooking apparatus, and some of the most popular have sent to New York for their first oysters and had them shipped so as to be here September 1st as it was not SUD- posed the boats would be able to get SUD- ply here for at least two or three days, al though some of the commission men prom ised to have Maryland oysters for to-day's
 use and they have kept their promise. Although the tongers were not allowed by law to begin work before 12 o'clock the night before the 1st, a large force went to work in Herring Bay and various other points near by and by the help of steam tugs which have been called into use the oysters were at the pack ing houses by o'clock that morning and the orders that have come in more freely than usual on account of the recent cool weather are now being filled, while one large com mission house had quantity in bar midnight so as to have them in the morning sales.
 There are all kinds of predictions in regard to the supply this season. Some claim there will be the usual quantity, while others claim that the supply will be far below the aver ,1, a+aIk k1,aA4 46a, 1-aI aIrvsy, grounds will be nearly exhausted before the season is oyer if the boats have favorable weather to work. The dredging season begins September 1st.
 The boatmen say that the resting spell which the law has given to the oysters will be very beneficial and that it will be best for the interests of the business to force the dredging season to even closer limits than the present. There is great dissatisfaction among Maryland oyster men on account of the tonnage tax imposed on Maryland vessels for carrying oysters, and case is now in court in order to test the legality of the same. They claim the various laws passed to meet the issues of the question have resulted in an unfair or unjust discrimination against the people of this State. Our vessels are com pelled to pay tonnage tax of hundreds of dollars to carry oysters in our own waters, while northern vessels come here and take our oysters to be planted in other waters
 
 the oysters are fit for market bring or ship them back here for. sale or ship them West for us to compete with. They also claim that the State has never given aid to the oyster interests in measures lending to recuperate the industry. The dredgers claim that it would be no more than just for the State to use some of the money which they have paid into the treasury for the repletion of the tarren oyster beds, and they will endeavor to get bill to that effect passed by the legislature next winter.
 The oyster packing industry is one of the prominent features of Baltimore's trade and they are shipped all over this country as well as to Europe.
 The first packing house in Baltimore was started in 1884, but it soon passed out of ex- istence. The first important enterprise in this line was the establishment of a packing house here in 1886 by your well known citizen, c. s. Maltby, who was afterwards joined by Mir. Holt, of East Haven. Following him was D. D. Mallory, Willard Mallory, H. s. Lanfair, William L. Ellis Frederick Ketch- l um, James Mallory Henry Smith, J. F. .Augur, H. M. Rowe, William Rowe, Jesse and John 1 Ludington, L. B. and H. s. Platt, John and | William Farren, Willis and Eliada B. Nal l lory, Willett and William Hemingway, o. w. Miller, all the above and afterwards 1 others from your own city; but 1 these above gentlemen can be safely | called the pioneers of this great industry l which has now increased to such tremen- ! dous proportions and this city is now the | greatest oyster market of the United States, l if not of the world, according to the census | report of 1880, since which time according to | rough calculations the trade has increased l nearly one quarter, which shows that there | were 45 firms with capital of -$2, ,338, 300, l buildings and grounds valued at ! S1, BOG, ,906, employing 4, ,167 males and {, ,460 | females, making total of 6,627 to whom | were paid in wages during the year $602, ,427, to say nothing of the help connected indirectly l with the business. 1
 The total number of bushels of oysters packed was {, 6,450, ,292, which required 25,- l $40, 750 tin cans and 9,614 wooden cases ] The value of the oysters packed, including | shucking, tin cans, 8cc., was 8, ,517, ,994. For tin cans $794, 919 and for cases $302, ,622.
 In the same season Crisfeld had ten firms | in the business with a capital of $39, $50; eight firms with 20,300; Annap- olis eight with 500; Oxford seven with s7, 900; St. Michaels four with $4, 800, and | a capital of $23, ,00O making total of fifty nine firms outside of Baltimore with an az gregate capital of $154, ,000. These firms em- ployed 2,012 persons.
 The grand total of the trade of the Chesa- peake when the census was taken was as fol- lows: In Maryland capital invested in pack ing was s, ,928, ,376; in Virginia $286, $50 was $2, ,942, 500; in Virginia $1, ,914 ,250. The capital invested in tin can manufacturing etc., for the oyster trade was s250, in Virginia $50, 900 making the grand total for the whole $7,606, ,976, to which can De added $43, 100 invested in Seaford, Della ware, on the Pocomoke river, one of the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, making & good showing for business that was mostly | started by men and money from your good 1ld city, New Haven.