Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-04
THE OYSTER INDUSTRY
Chesapeake Bay Beds Threat
ened With Extinction.
REMEDIES SUGGESTED
QUESTION TO COME BEFORE THE
MARYLAND LEGISLATURE.
Proposed Control by the State-The
Hannah Bill Defeated Last Year by
Narrow Margin.
REMEDIES SUGGESTED


land politics. is evidently destined to oc-
cupy much of the time and attention of
the general assembly, at Annapolis next win
ter. Scientists and observers of the in
dustry are united in declaring that the
oyster beds of the Chesapeake bay and its
tributaries are doomed to practical ex-
tinction unless steps are taken in the near
future to guard and replenish the supply.
A few years ago the suggestion was made
that the state assume propretorship of the
bay bottoms and lease them for planting
purposes. This was met by howl of
opposition from the oystermen, and the
political influence of this class Of voters
was so strong that neither party cared to
favor d departure from the old system.
Some progress was made. however. along
the line of planting legislation in some of
the counties, notably Somerset and Dor
chester. Under these laws permission was
granted for the taking up of certain
number or acres of river or bay shore bot
tom by bona fde citizens who thereby
acquired property rights therein, but 1t was
found necessary to placate the oyStermen
by exempting what are called natural bars.
Prospective oyster planters were made to
give lengthy notice of their intention to
take up oyster grounds, and in case a
given number of oystermen made affidavit
in court that they had caught oysters
within a specified number of years on the
bottoms thus advertised the application OF
the planter was set aside, the bottoms in
question being regarded natural oyster
beds. 1t is claimed that in this way the
planting laws have been in many instances
rendered of no avail.
The Hannah Bill.
In 1902 the legislature had before it the
Hannah oyster BILL" which was bitterly
fought over and amended in divers ways.
The original purpose of this measure was
to lease the barren bottoms of the CheSa-
peake and it was argued that the revenue
from such leases would amount in short
time to an enormous sum, which turned into
the state treasury would go far toward the
improvement of the public schools or the
construction of good roads all over the
state. Eventually the bill was so shaped
as to allow an experiment to be made by
leasing the barren bottoms off the shore of
Calvert county, its advocates proclaiming
confidence that the result would be so emf
nently satisfactory as to convince future
legislatures of the wisdom and justice of
| renting out all the bay barren bottoms. 1t
was by a very narrow vote that this propo-
siUon failed and the advocates of a leas-
ing system will go into the fight next win
ter with strong hopes of success.
The counties having frontage on oyster
waters-kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Dor
chester Somerset, Wicomco, Worcester,
Anne Arundel, Calvert ST. Mary's and
Charles-have a voting strength in the as
sembly of forty-one. and can count, per-
haps, upon a half dozen votes from con-
tiguous counties, enabling them to muster
against any leasing proposition a little over
third of the total membership Of the
legislature. 1t is the argument of the oys-
termen that the oyster bottoms of the
Chesapeake bay are the common property
of the people, and they have an intense
feeling against the adoption of any policy
which they believe would result in the for
nation of trust in bivalves.
They have been able to command support
and sympathy in agricultural districts here
tofore as well as among the masses of the
Baltimore city people, by appealing to the
popular distrust Of corporations. Under a
leasing system they say. with some show of
reason that the time would come speedily
when a combination of capital and of mar
ket manipulators would throw the absolute
control of the entire oyster beds of the
Chesapeake into the hands of few men
and the oyster trust would Join other
monopolies of the neceSsaries of life.
Among the most bitter opponents of a
leasing system are the vessel owners, who
fear that their investments would become
useless.
Change in Popular Attitude.
That a radical change in the attitude of
the people of the state toward the bay bot
toms is near is apparent. The close mar
gin by which the Hannah bill failed of pass
age in one of it's modified forms at the last
session and the forceful and plausible ar
guments brought out on the leasing side
were convincing proofs Of a rapidly chang
ing public sentiment. Twenty years ago
such a proposition as was made in the
Hannah bill would have aroused a relent-
less storm of denunciation, and neither it
nor it's authors would have seriously fig
ured again at Annapolis. But twenty years
ago nearly seven million bushels of oysters
were annually taken from the Chesapeake.
Now the yield has fallen to from one to
one and a half millions. No longer are for
tunes being made in the industry. There
are men today in the city Of Baltimore and
in the bayside counties who began business
life with little else than shirt, a pair of
trousers, rubber boots and a pair of oyster
tongs, who count their possessions at
values mounting up into tens and hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
But for the last half-dozen years, at
least it has been the general complaint
that living cannot be made in any
branch of the industry.
When the failure of the crop first be-
came noticeable the remedy was supposed
to be the Gull lava measure requiring all
marketable oysters to be of certain size,
and the young and undeveloped bivalves to
be returned to the beds. Great trouble and
ill-feelng was caused in the enforcement
of this law. While some of those con-
cerned in the industry called for strict en-
forcement as a panacea for the decline in
yield others ridiculed it.
Then planting laws were turned to as
tongers and dredgers fought them so
strenuously as to seriously impede any real
progress. At last the point appears to have
| been reached when the matter is to be put
| to the leasing test as the final resort. In
| the non-oyster sections the people are be-
ing gradually educated up to the idea of
state ownership of the beds andsthe regula-
ton of them by the legislature.
Acreage Of Oyster Grounds.
1t is estimated that the total acreage of
oyster grounds is in excess of $40 000 and
a rental of 81 an acre would bring into the
state treasury an annual revenue of one
million dollars, or a sum equal to that
now received from all property under the
direct state tax OF II cents on the 500.
An appeal is made to the farmers, whose
greatest need is good roads, to support the
leasing proposition In return for the ex-
penditure of the revenue on the highways.
| 1t Is not Observation-Disclosures the oyster
men claim this would certainly and event
ually come to pass, they would be driven
| by corporate control of the markets to re-
| linquish the businesS-to lease any Of the
present productive bottoms. rocks or bars
on which the oystermen depend, but to con-
| fine the operations of lessees to what are
known as barren bottoms. Capital and la
Dor would have to be employed to plant
oysters on these, and it would be some