Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-11-24

right, sad a packer, but il needs
to be enforced on the oyster beds and
NOS In the city as at present. lie
necessary to it's enforcement. pat
on larger force on the bay oyster
ing grounds; let the Inspection be RI
gid, aud ! feel confident that no Ha.
man bill will be needed to save the
waning industry in this state. Call
everything on the grounds aud The
oyster will rehabiiitate the beds ia a
very short time itself" efs s..
/ Mr. James IL. Brady said that 10
his opinion if the chesapeake bay
were closed for, say, three years the
state would have all the roysters. its
people wanted. '.My fear IS that un .
der-tbe -Hsmaa law there would be
a strong tendency for the industry to
drift into the hands of the mono2o.
list, said MIR. Brady. lit Is cisimed
that this can be obviated. lf that
De true, then the bill is materially
strengthened. With the oyster in
dustry as monopoly would rather
have stock in it thanh the Standar
Oil Trust. 1t would supply be a
gold mine. Possibly TO stop dredp-
Aug for two years would be sufficient
to bring the oyster beds back to a
point OF great profit to the people
and put them in a position to thor
oughly recuperate. The rest cure
is, IN my opinion, an absolute uec-
hesslty 10 the rebuilding of the oys-
ter industry in the Chesapeake bay
region" .'f '' tsAtoo nc =
Eve have all the law that is need.
ed,"0 said another packer. .bo"What
we most need is that it be rigidly en-
forced. | would remedy the present
weakness of the Gull law by requirs
ing that every bushel of oysters taken
from the bay bottoms be CLOSELY cuI-
led on the beds and bars from " hlch
they are taken, I'd all shells, small
oysters and everything to which the
spat or young oyster could attach it,
self thrown back on the bottoms.
Every captain coming into port with
a cargo of the Chesapeake DAY stock
L wonid require to lose his cargo by
confession. 81 He would be compeli.
ed to return his cargo TO the bay
beds In addition to heavy fine." D.
VI nder the present law the down.
the-oay ooatmau ia evadiOg the law
oy an ingenious method that leaves
tne captain well ahead In the game
OF robolDg the state of a portion of
valuable asset. The method is to
load up with understood oysters, and,
since the magistrates IN the Eastern
Shore counties are disposed to be ex-
tremely lenient towsrd these yiolators
OF the obvious intention of the Gull
law, the oysterman sails into an Eas-
tern Shore harbor nonchaleutly in
forms the rural magistrate that he
has cargo Of oysters on board that
are not IN conformity with the re-
quirements of the law, and he wants
to pay his fine. The sum, the min
imum under the law, is paid, and in
stead or returning the entire cargo
OF unmerchantable oysters to the
beds, as required by law, he sails in-
TO port, the unmerchantable stock
goes into canning house; or, if
they are still too small to be
available for steaming purposes, he
goes into Virginia aud disposes of
bis stock to planters for seed purpo.
SEES. Suppose the violator BUYS mis-
stock at from tbirty-five to forty
cents a bushel. pays his fine of $25,
With the other incidental require
ments, secures his certificate and sails
Tor market. All that is necessary
when bis vessel is boarded by the in
spector here, is to show his certificate
or magistrates receipt and he is ex-
empt from further penalty" ]