Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-02-26
WHY ARE FiSH-TAkERS EXEMP T?
Oystermen and Farmers Heavily Taxed
Big Profit from Fish-Traps.
For tho Dignatch.l
rs of the General Assembly /:

To Members Of the General assembly:
The people Of the Eastern Shore Except
those who are directly or indirectly per-
sonally Interested are very glad to know
that an effort will be made IN your body 10
pass law imposing tax on pound-nets,
fykes, and other like traps. The proposed
tax of fifty dollars net for one year is
small and can be easily paid, as the bust
ness is q very lucrative one. The catch Of
one net IN a night will often pay the tax.
The catch is often in excess OF this amount.
Occasionally q trapper Will catch IN one
night over two hundred dollars worth.
This last may be an oyerestimate, but |
have the statement from reliable person,
and think must be correct.
The number OF traps on the Eastern
Shore is somewhere about eighty. on the
Western Shore three or four times az many.
A proper tax on this number would large
ly increase the revenue OF the State and
would help to tighten the heavy burden Of
taxation on other property. And why. let
me ask, should not fish.traps be taxed!
You tax persons even for the privilege OF
practicing their professions and callings.
You tax for the privilege of taking OYSTER,
the property Of the State. For the prlvi-
lege of taxing fish the property OF the
State YOU tax nothing. A trap in good
location will make more clear money than
a large vessel engaged in oystering. The
capital required to carry on the business
of the latter IL four or i've times
larger than that required to carry on the
business of the former. The taking OF
oysters requires hard and unpleasant work,
great exposure to the cold OF winter. and
often dangerous. The taking of fish is
comparatively an easy work. They (the
trappers) have little else to do than TO
FISH their traps In the morning, take their
catch to the shore put II on Ice, and send
10 the northern market. Both fish and
oysters are the property OF the State. II
il is constitutional TO impose tax Tor the
privilege of taking and selling oysters 1t Is
unconstitutional not 20 lay tax for the
privilege of taking and selling fish. In
other words, if you do not tax fish you
should not tax oysters. because the Con-
stitution declares that taxes shall be equal
and Uniform. Why should these trappers
be tdcOred class
There is a law for the Eastern Shore that
these men shall not set their traps during
the month of May and part of June. they
do not obey this law. Ii IS being constant
ly violated; they are law-breakers. They
have In Accomac been indicted and
brought into the courts. but by defect OF
the law in the matter of witnesses and the
sbrewdness OF their lawyers they have been
acquitted, when 1t was positively known
they were guilty. Besides. these traps are
owned for the most part by non-resldents;
they own the traps ard fixtures, and in the
eyes OF the law are not seen Ill the busi-
ness. OF course they get the hons snare
of the profits. Those engaged in thus
business have the entire monopoly
of the fish of our waters. The
State derives no revenue from them
and our citizens q speak for Accomac) are
almost altogether deprived Of this de-
lightful and healthy food. II is seldom
that citizen can buy a good fish for his
table from any of these nets. He may
ride some miles to one of them and ask
the owner if he can get o good fish for his
table. and the reply 10, our boats are
not yet IN or the fish are on ice, and en-
gagged 10 our northern customers. Before
the introduction and use OF pound-nets aud
fykes thousands of our poor people living
on the creeks could, with their hand
lines, catch large quantities of the best
fish. and would huckster them around IN
wagons carts, and often In baskets on
their backs, and sell them to our own peo-
pie, and could thereby get The necessarles
OF lite for their poor and almost
starving family. But now . good hsh 10
hardly ever caught with the hand line on
the hay side OF our county. A good-sized
fish is scarcely ever caught where thou
sands were caught before, and will say If
the law in relation to the close season is
not obeyed there will in u few years be no
fish for any one. Two species OF the very
best kind once very abundant are now
scarcely ever seen.
l think 1t will be acknowledged by all
that tax should be imposed on every kind