Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-04-13
The oyster Question.

tention has been called to commu
nication in late issue OF your pape
from Mr.. Geo. w. Glenn. His refer
ences and suggestions as to oyste
legislation are so ill-advised, and III
idigested, as to apparently call TO
some notice. / am rather surprised
that he does not seem to know tina
it has been unlawful for several year
to carry seed oysters out OF the STATE
and that the new seed-law involves
no new departure In oyster legisla-
ton. The late Act merely provides
for the more direct and efficient car
rying out OF protective provision
long ago enacted in the interests o.
Virginia oystermen, and is not oni,
in line with the expressed recon
mendation OF the Board OF Fisheries
but with the demands Of the better
class OF oystermen directly interested
J in the seed beds of upper James river
and the ocean side of our Peninsula.
liz Mr.. Glenn will take the trouble to
consult the last report OF the New
Jersey Board of Fisheries he will
certainly be convinced-frst, that the
law as it previously stood had not
been enforced; second, that our seed-
beds have been simply supplying
Jersey oystermen with enough seed
TO control the oyster markets, and
thereby practically cut the throats
of our Virginia oystermen. This re-
port plainly admits that but for the
supply of seed oysters illegally run
out of Virginia waters to Jersey
planting grounds, the oyster industry
ia that State would necessarily soon
exhaust itself. 1t seems to me then
that any Virginia FISHERMAN, whether
planter, tonger, dredger or dealer,
will readily understand that as long
as we supply Jersey with seed we do
so to the plain and manifest Injury
of our home people; for Jersey, hav
ing no seed-beds OF her OVID, could
not control the markets as she now
does, in spite of her superior plant
ing bottoms, but for the unlawful
seed traffic that has kept her sup
piled.
But it occurs to me Mr.. Glenn is
even wider OF the mark when he
poses as the especial champion of the
ton err. 1t seems to be part of his
theory that no seed-oysters, (that il,
oysters under three inches) should be
taken from any of our rocks; in other
words, that the three inch outlaw
should apply to all the waters of the
State. Mr. Glenn must certainly be
aware that, while this law may be
suitable and necessary for his Sec
ton, it could not be applied to either
upper James river, or to the ocean
side of this Peninsula. If he is
familiar with the oyster-beds OF
James river above Days Point, he
must know that the three inch Gull
law applied to that section would
practically destroy the industry
there, because of the fact that oys-
tiers there rarely grow to exceed that
size. And on the ocean side of Acco.
mac and Northampton the natural
growth from the rocks are so bunch
ed as to make the three inch outlaw
practical impossibiity. He surely
does not mean to advocate law that
would practically destroy the indus
try in these two thriving oyster-sec-
tions, four-fifths of the oystermen in
North sections being "tong-men, "and
the class especially for whom he pro
lesses to speak. he forgets the State
has gone into the planting business
in obedience to an imperative de-
mand for State revenue; and that
with an increasing home demand,a and
u rapidly decreasing supply, our
seed beds should no longer be shared
with the outside world. Every
bushel Of seed caught from our
waters should be planted at home.
With all due Difference to Mr.. Glenn,
say this in the interest of the
tonger as we'll as the planter. The
seed planted in our own waters are
to be handled more than once, and
the planting, tending and shipping
cannot all be done by the planter.
For instance, l know of single
planter in my district, who employs
fifty men from November LIST
to the end of the season, and these
make from 81 to So per day. On the
other hand, bushel of seed sold out
of the State for the small sum Of
say, 90 cents, is gone from the Vir-
ginia oystermen forever. Worse
than that, it is to reappear again in
the shape of several bushels of oys-
tiers exposed in the markets to COM
pete with Virginia shipments, over
quicker lines of transportation, and
by far cheaper freight. And what
has the resident oystermen and the
revenues Of the State reaped by the
illegal and illogical transaction?
The fear apparently INDUCED in by
MIR. Glenn as to combinations among
planters against the tongmen need
hardly he discussed. The growing
scarcity of seed and the ever growing
demand at home will soon reassure
him on this point, even il it were not
for the important fact that the plant
err must always remain at the mercy
of the resident tongmen. The new
seed-law is now being rigidly enforced
in this county; and with home de-
mand alone, seed are selling for