Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-08

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waters. The dredgers
GAEN VySN will be free to begin
hN NAN their fishing on the
lN 18th of October.
Dredging will con-
tinue until the LIST of April and longing
until the list of that month"; There is a
popular belief that oysters are unhealthy
during the months without an ~ The
restriction placed on the oyster fishers is
not due TO any such cause. 1t was made
necessary by the fact that during the sum-
mer months oyster fishermen used to catch
small oysters In large quantities and sell
them either to the canning houses or to
farmers. who used them for fertilizer The
Maryland and Virginia waters We're fast
being depopulated when the closed season
was established In addition to this pro-
lection. an attempt has been made to en-
force Gull law, which requires fisher
men to return oysters less than a certain
size to the reef from which they were
taken. But the 'cull law has not been
easy of enforcement, and it is estimated
that the number of oysters under an inch
In length taken from the beds and DESTROY
ed IL quite as great as the number OF oys-
ters gong to market Most OF these little
oysters would be ready for market in an
other season. AS the fishermen of Mary
worth $6.UOO.UoO. each year. the wanton de-
struction of the small oysters Is very
serious matter.
The fact that the young oysters are be-
ing slaughtered in such numbers in the
Maryland waters ard that certain oyster
fields are growing unproductive has given
rise several times to the report that the
oysters OF the Chesapeake bay and its trib-
utaries are being extSrminated In fact, it
has been stated gravely more than once
that tine oyster was becoming extinct In
Maryland very rapidly. In the face of the
fact that the product of the Maryland fish,
cries is increasing every year and that to-
day 1t is one-third of the total product of
the world, this statement appears rather
absurd.
Maryland Is favored by nature with a re-
markable coast line. SO full of indenta-
lions. so ragged, that II gives a much
larger coast area than the size Of the state
would warrant. New beds have been dis
covered year after year, and the prodigality
Of nature has made the oyster fishermen
careless Of her gifts. 1t was boast Of
the people of Maryland and the people of
Virginia within reach Of the oyster fish
cries not many years ago that they had one
harvest which required only reaping. They
are beginning to learn'that planting may be
Iecessary IL the crop Is to continue abun-
dant
-.. Private Oyster Industry.
Already the state has passed laws to en-
courage the cultivation of private beds Of
OySteTS. SOHHectiCut, view 1Ofk, new
Jersey and Delaware have restricted oyster
fishing until it Is now almost entirely in
private hands, One firm in that state not
long ago took $4,000 worth of oysters
from it's private grounds in six weeks. The
private oyster industry of Connecticut dis
tributes 81 ,OOO,OOO in wages every year. The
state receives 10 cents an acre tax on
60,O0O acres of pre-empted ground. In the
south no attempt is made to profit by a tax
on oyster fisheries. but they are encouraged
in every way. Texas gives sixty acres of
sea bottom to any one who will plant and
threw open 100000 acres to cultivation
without charge (of which only small
Fart has been taken up). and Georgia makes
|-cyster culture practically free. AS yet
Maryland grants only five acres of sea
bottom to any individual, and the induce
merits to go into oyster culture on large
scale are lacking. About 1000 acres have
been pre-empted for oyster culture in the
last forty years, but only a small percent
age of this is in use. The best oysters-the
famous "Chincoteagues'' and Parker
Bays"-come from these private beds.
Every movement toward permitting the
oyster industry to fail into private hands Is
resisted by the large population on the
Maryland coast, which is dependent on the
oyster fisheries for support. There are fully
$4,000 of these oyster fishers, and in the
eleven counties of Maryland, which are in
terested in the fisheries. there Is a popula-
ton of 2l9,307, which depends chiefly on the
oyster fishers for living. 1t Is true that
most, If not all, of the men now at work in
the oyster field would be needed to work the
private fisheries. In fact. ii Is very likely
that a greater number of fishermen would
be used. But the coast fishermen of Maryland
have been independent for so many years
that they would hardly be satisfied to work
for even the least eXacting master now.
Five years ago, when a rumor went abroad
that the legislature might lease the fisheries
the oyster handlers of Baltimore met and
protested against taking from the bay fish
ermen what had been theirs by common
right for 2Jj years. A far more serious
question than the rights of the Maryland
fishermen however, holds the state legisla-
ture in check. Most of these 10000 fisher
men-in fact, virtually all of them-vote the
democratic ticket. Their political influence
commands consideration for them.
TOngers and Dredgers.
There are two distinct classes of oyster
fishermen in Maryland-the "tongers'' and
the "dredgers.'' Between these. are the
"scrapers," who almost inconsiderable
in number, and who may be grouped with
either of the other two classes. They fish
in shallow water, like the tonSers, and they
use implements which are modified dredges
But almost all of the fishermen are either
Gredgers or tOHgerS. And these two are as
different as can be; not alone in their
method Of taking oysters, but in their social
position. For the longer is a citizen of
Maryland n free and Independent citizen,
ing them to market as the farmer brings
Ills wheat; while the dredgers are rough, ig-
norant aliens, picked up by agencies in Bal
timore and shipped in n manner that sug
Sesta the methods of the old English ''press
gang" The dredger does purely DIal
labor and he is an object of scorn am Con-
tempt to the independent longer. Hard la
Dor it is that he does-hard, i'll paid and
dangerous. The "cruel oyster captain of
whom read in the newspaper almost
every winter Is the captain of a dredging
boat. Perhaps he is not so cruel as his
men represent him to be- Perhaps 1t is the
service on the slippery decks of small boats
in midwnter which is cruel. But the ma
rne hospital at Baltimore treated in two
years 1T2 cases of injuries received by hands
on oyster dredgers, and in these were four
ty-one fractures, with seventytwo broken
bones This record is of hospital cases only.
1t does not include the cases treated in the
dispensary attached to the hospital.
the prejudice against dredging, which led
to prohibitory legislation in 1921, was due,
first, to the BELIEF that the dredges were
exha usting the supply of oysters, and then
to the conviction that the scraping of the
oyster beds was hurtful to them. Now
adays it is known that the scraping of the
beds makes il easier for the spat or spawn