The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-04-20
1T is SHAMEFUL.

1t seems shameful that the oyster bust
ness does not pay more than n few cents
per acre, but will the Times kindly show
us why it is, and will it also show us
how the natural rocks and planting
grounds can be made to pay more. Does
the Times know how much it costs to
plant one acre with oysters, to keep guard
on the ground, to gather the product, t.
open it. and to place it on the market.
and will it also tell us how many enc.
mics, besides thieves, the oyster has; and
to conclude, about how much profit there
is to the oyster planter as sure thing?-.
Montgomery Messenger.
The solution of this matter is not SO
perpleXing rs the Messenger seems to
think and the oyster politician would
study and Investigation to arrive at n
clear understanding of the conditions as
they now exist. The State owns 200, 900
acres of natural oyster grounds and 400,-
O00 acres OF planting ground or grounds
capableof producing oysters under proper
cultivation. There are three classes en-.
gagged in the oyster business, the planter,
the dredger and the tongueman There
are less than five Thousand planters and
dredgers and abont thirty thousand
tonguemen. The planters operations are
coniined to the grounds he leases from
the State; the dredger is confined to the
waters too deep for successful tongueing,
while the tongueM an is sort of free
lance whose operations are unlimited by
law within the--200,000 acres of natural
oyster grounds. For the privilege of
tongueng for oysters in the natural oys-
ter territory Of the State (as much the
property OF the editor of the Messenger as
any one man in VirGinia) the tongueman
is taxed the insignificant license of two
dollars a'year. If this license were col
lected it would turn into the public treas.
ury sixty thousand dollars annually For
the year 1896 the actual amount turned in
was less than $4,000. Ask IA tidewater
politician to explain this discrepancy and
he will look over your shoulder and tell
you the tonguemen are the poorest men
in the world that they all vote one way,
that they hold the balance of power i'm the
tidewater districts and that they had bet
ter not be disturbed. The State recei, es
but little revenue from the planter for
the reason that the high rental, one dol
lar per acre for the barren ground, acts
as sort of prohibition tariff and cper-
ates against the business of oyster plant
ing-the very object aimed at by the
tongueman's attorney, the tidewater pol
itician. The object of the tonguemen is
tO ILL -.
planter and dredger and, holding the bal
ance of power, they pull the strings and
the tidewater members of the legislature
dance to their music.
The planting grounds can he made to
pay by putting the rental at fifty or sixty
cents an acre and Offering ample protec-
tion to those who engage in the business
of planting. The natural oyster rocks
can he made to produce more, perhaps
$500, 900, net annual revenue by system
conditions as to care of beds If the editor
of the Messenger owned 200, 300 acres of
natural oyster grounds producing an an.
nual gross income of $4,000, 00C, with no
other expense attached than that of gath
ering and marketing the oysters and still
returning to him II net profit of only ST.
Occ, he would not long remain a casual
observer" of such Il condition of his bust
ness affairs.
The Times holds that by careful and
intelligent handling of the oyster property
of the State and ny proper Legislation in
the levy of license taxes and personal
property and per capita taxation the State
could within Il few years raise funds to
meet the necessary demands on the pub.
lie treasury without laying n tax on real
Stat