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

tN LINN their fishing on the
M 10th of October.
Dredging will con-
tinue until the 1st of April and longing
uhtIi the list of that month. There is a
popular belief that oysters are unhealthy
during the months without an r." The
! restriction placed on the oyster fishers is
not due TO any such cause Ii 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 were fast
being depopulated when the closed season
Was established. In addition to this pro-
lection. an attempt has been made to en-
force a 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 - quite as great as the number of oys-
tiers going to market. Most OF these httie
oysters would be ready for market in an
other season. AS the fishermen of Mary
land take 12,OOO,OOO bushels of oysters
worth $6,OOO.UJU each year, the wanton de-
struction of the Email oysters is very
serious matter.
The fact that the young oysters are be-
ing slaughtered in such numbers in the
Maryland waters ar d 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 extcrminated In fact, 1t
has been stated graveiy more than once
that the 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 it gives q much
larger coast area than the size Of the state
would war; ant New beds have been dis
covered year after year; and the probability
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 rot many years ago that they had one
harvest which required only reaping. They
are beginning to learn that planting may be
ecessary 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
oysters. Connecticut. New York, New
Jersey and Delaware have restricted oyster
fishing until it Is now almost entirely in
long ago took $4,000 worth of oysters
from it's private grounds in six weeks. The
private oyster industry Of Connecticut dis
tributes $1.OOO.OOO in wages every year. The
state receives 10 cents an acre tax on
6eOo0 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 acre7 Of
sea bottom to any one who will plant and
cultivate 4. North Carolina five years ago
threw open 100000 acres to cultivation
without charge (of which only small
Fart has been taken up). and Georgia makes
l.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 a large
scale are lacking About 1900 acres have
been pre-empted for oyster culture in the
last forty years, but only small percent
age of this is in use. The best oysters-the
famous "Chipcoteagues" 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 2l9,3O1 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. 1t Is very likely
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 Dredscrs.
There are two distinct classes of oyster
fishermen in Maryland-the "tongers'' and
the ''dredgers." Between these. are the
"scrapers," who are almost inconsiderable
in number, and who may be grouped with
either of the other two classes. They fish
in shallow water like the tongers, and they
use implements which are modified dredges
But almost all of the fishermen are either
Gredgers or torIgers. 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. q free and Independent citizen,
gathering his harvest of oysters and bring
ing them to market the farmer brings
his wheat; while the dredgers are rough, ig-
norant aliens, picked up by agencies in Bal
tmore and shipped in n manner that sug-
gests the methods of the old English press
gang" The dredger does purely M Iai
labor. and he is an object of scorn aIfV con-
tempt to the Independent longer. Hard la
Dor it is that he does-hard, Ill paid and
dangerous The "cruel oyster captain" of
whom we 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 it is the
service on the slippery decks of small boats
in midwinter which is cruel. But the ma
rine hospital at Baltimore treated in two
years III cases of injuries received by hands
on oyster dredgers, and in these were four
ty-one fractures, with seventy-two 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 ustng 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 rakes it easier for the spat or spawn
to adhere to them. and is, therefore. of ad-
vantage to the next sea sons crop of oys
ters But though dredging is now legalized
and cor stitutes the chief business in oyster
gathering. there Is stIl strong prejudice
against Ii among tie independent oyster
men Of the Maryla IL shore: and many have
been the battles between tongers and
dradUer3 in which not only property hut