Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1902-06-21
DISCUSSING OYSTER LAW
w. r. johnson Calls Mr.. Howard
Hannah Down.


day last before the Deer Greek Farmers
Club, of Hartford County, on Roads
and Oyster planting" subject which
received so much attention at the hands
of our Legislature but which failed of
passage, that gentlemen took occasion
to belabor Worcester County in partic-
ular. assembling to her the defeat of the
measure and incidentally imparting in.
formation which cannot be a greater
surprise to any than the people of Wor-
cester County themselves, namely that
the oyster business of this county is in
the hands of a syndicate, and that a
great harvest of wealth is being reaped
words on the subject as reported by the
Baltimore SIM:
Worcester county has an oyster
planting law, which is far more radical
than the one embodied i'm what is known
as the Hannah bill The Sinepuxent
bay syndicate is making a great deal of
money out of oyster planting in Worces.
ter county. Naturally, this syndicate
was opposed to- a system which would
bring into cultivation body of land
many times larger. and infinitely more
valuable. than that of the Sinepuxeut
bay. 1t was small thing 20 block so
great a cause. | think | can promise
you that it will not block the cause an
other session. A bill will be offered
early in the next session 10 wipe out the
Sinepuxent bay syndicate, by repeating
the Worcester county law. We will
see whether few men in one county
can interfere with the welfare and pros
perity of the entire State. If oyster
planting is wrong in the Chesapeake. it
is wrong in the Sinepuxent. and must
be stopped.
Just who compose the Sinepuxent bay
syndicate referred to above Mr.. Hannah
does not state; and the suggestion that
such exists here strikes the average
Worcester Countian as being ludicrous
i'll the extreme. Article "a, Section Us,
of the Local Code for Worcester County
provides, that ut shall be lawful for
any citizen of said county to stake off
not exceeding five acres i'll any one place
in the waters of Sinepuxent bay and its
tributaries, except upon the natural
rocks of said bay and its tributaries.
and to plant and lay down oysters in
said waters so staked off; and no person
except the owner of said planted or laid
down oysters, or his employee, shall
work upon or among said oysters. OF in
the waters SO staked off The section
further provides that portions of water
so appropriated shall be plainly marked
as indicated therein, reserving to the
exclusive use of the owners of land any
creek, cave or inlet within their said
lands, not exceeding one hundred yards
in width at its mouth. All remaining
waters not so taken up, and all natural
rocks III particular. are for the use of
any citizen of the county, to take or
catch such oysters with rakes or tongs
for one season. which is from the first
day of September to the first day of
May following. 1t is made unlawful to
catch, take or remove any shells or
oysters from the natural beds in the
waters of said bay or its tributaries with
scrapes, scoops, dredges or drags or
with any instrument in the working of
which any other than hand power is
used
Much has been said and written in
praise of the Worcester county oyster
law by the press and advocates of the
Hannah bill. and il is believed to be sat
isfactory to the people whom it directly
effects. The fortunes, however. made
from the oyster business i'll Sinepuxent
bay so glowingly pictured of late are
rather fanciful 1t is true that there
are number engaged i'll this enterprise
who are now doing well, but their sue
cess has. mot been uninterrupted nor with
out bold effort on their part. Through
perseverance,. good judgement. and in.
dustry they have succeeded while others
have failed by reason of succession of
failures i'll the growth of the oyster. and
it is never known in advance just what
the condition of the oysters i'm this bay
will be during any season, often, in fact,
differing in different portions of the
bay. AS has been often stated. the oys
ter does not grow in the Sinepuxent
bay with the spontaneity that it does in
the Chesapeake. The successful Sine
puxent oysterman must be a planter.
These plants were formerly obtained
from ueighboring waters at cost of
about ten cents per bushel Now it is
difficult to get them short of North
Carolina and the cost is not less than
thirty cents per bushel.
1t can be seen therefore that the law
and the conditions controlling the oyster
industry in the Sinepuxent bay are not
provocativ of rich syndicates, and per-
haps if Mr.. Hannah should succeed in
his dire threat to wipe cut the Worcester
County oyster law from the statute book
it might not seriously effect the matter
after all Just why Mr. Hannah should
pour out the walls of his wrath upon
Worcester County i'll the defeat of his
oyster bill and exhibit such dog in the
manger spirit seems inconsistent and
strange. Perhaps in no other portion
of the State was there stronger con-