The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-30
THOSE GRADE CROSSINGS.
THIRTY-TWO MAY BE ELIILNATED BROlL THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT.

ConnecticuPs Natural Oyster Beds-Inter-
 estlng Speech Made in the Senate by
 Senator w. II. Marigold of Bridgeport
 Is in Favor of the Oyster Bill.
 Hartford, April 28.-There is a proba-
 bility now that the city of Bridgeport
 and the Consolidated road will be able
 to agree upon the great Improvements
 contemplated there in the elimination
 of the thirty-two grade crossings This
 work, which has been looked forward
 to for years by the Consolidated road,
 will involve an expenditure estimated
 at $1,50O,O0O. The bill which has been
 agreed to between the parties in inter
 est is pending before the committee on
 railroads but 1t is believed they will re-
 fer 1t favorably in a few days. The
 Bridgeport matter concluded, one of the
 biggest blocks in the way of the four
 tracking Improvements of the Consoli-
 dated road will have been remedied.
 The plan proposed is looked upon as
 entirely fair. While it will be a bene-
 fit to the Consolidated road to secure
 its four tracks without the troublesome
 and dangerous grade crossings there
 Will also accrue a. great bene1st to the
 city of Bridgeport, and Hon.. William
 D. Bishop says that on account of the
 same, property near the railroad will
 soon increase in value twenty-five per
 cent. The Improvements will be for
 the benefit of the travellers on the Con-
 solidated road, as with an elimination
 of the grade crossings a much higher
 rate of speed for passenger trains can
 be maintained
 An interesting speech was made in
 the senate last week on the bill regard
 ing the natural oyster beds of the state
 by Senator w. H. Marigold of Bridge
 port The bill provides for the employ
 nlent of an inspector who shall look af-
 ter and prosecute violations of the law,
 at a salary of four hundred dollars per
 year. Boats working on the beds must
 be licensed. As there are a number of New Haven oystermen who fish on the
 natural beds, the legislation on this matter is matter of special interest to them. Senator Marigold favored the bill and in his speech said:
 We who live our lives at the edge of salt water find 1t somewhat difficult to understand the feelings which the word Oyster" seems to inspire in the hearts of our friends who come from the hill sides of our state. We who live at tide water have come to know the oyster as a friend, quiet and inoffensive, of retir- ing habits and usually undemonstra- tive. As civilization has progressed the presence of the oyster has come to be regarded as a necessity on all great occasions, while in raising debts from church properties the presence of sin gle oyster in unlimited quantities of water has added much treasure to the fund. But however important a part this friend of ours may have played in the past, it has remained for this ses- sion of the legislature to make the achievement of it's crowning glories possible and to demonstrate it's power Future historians will tell the tale of its tribulations in the House, and in my minds eye, in the distant future, 1 can see the genial senator from the 24th | gathering on winter nights his grand | children about his knee and with them l go over again the story of his battles | against the spectre-Class Legislation. |
 But to-day we are to study another | phase of the question. Not to-day the | cultured oyster-the aristocrat among | shell fish-but to-day the natural oys- 1 ter, nature unadorned. I trust that l my friend from the 24th has availed l himself of the opportunity to gain | which this bill has lain for week upon | the table, and has given the subject the | study which is so well worthy of his | brain. I do not for a moment credit | the assertion that his possible antago- nism grows out of a supposed rivalry between the oyster industry of Long Island Sound and the oyster industry which has had such marvellous growth upon the mountains of good old Tol- land, and the product of which I am told creates rather than fills ia long felt want" on the contrary my own opinion is that his unfavorable opinion of the oyster is gained from the obser- vation of it's habits at the annual church festival of the Holland Baptist church, and that he has gazed into the mysterious depths of the oyster stew, or has tried to masticate the petrified 1 oysters found therein, he has wondered the Creator really did intend them for food for man.
 My friend from the 24th voted against the oyster police bill because he feared it was class legislation His attitude on the present bill reminds me of the New Haven doctor who had a horse that was very much afraid of the steam roller, and would shy tre- So the doctor avoided driving on streets where the roller was at work, One day in answering a call not very far from his office, as the day was fine he concluded to walk As he walked along in deep thought he heard the steam roller at work ahead of him, and forgetting that he was walking, he turned down a side street and went six blocks out of his way so he wouldn't shy at the steam roller. It would seem to me that after the very clear state nent and explanation of the bill made oy the chairman of the committee on fisheries there should be no further 'hying at this bill; its merits seem ob- yiol1s. wish to say in passing that when my c eloquent friend, the senator from the \ Id, takes the floor realizs most keenly | he advantage that he possesses in hay ng natural gifts of oratory and not e ,nly fluent delivery, but also the fur her advantage of previous experience Q n the house and upon this floor. am $