Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-12-22

wv SiuHl' Ol rum lOllOWlng same,
were not fulfilled. and amounted TO
nothing. for from giving poor employ
ment TO possibly n dozen men. the
business was built uD to n Joint. that
In 1905 very neatly $4,000 weekly
was paid out in Hampton for labor
employed in the work of handling the
oyster crop during the season
Besides this. the profit on the crop
remained In Virginia. instea, of going
to the planter in New Jersey. or SOM,
other state which otherwise wout1
rave obtained 1t, for planters in these
states had been In the habit of buy
ing their seed oysters here and talk.
ing them away TO grow them. thus
getting tho. big share of the profit.
| Soon after this start was made In
| planting on HAMPTON Bar. othcEs SEQ.
: ing the possibilities. demanded that
they be allowed to have plantinr
ground and again in the face of great
| opposition. and many prophecies OF
| the terrible results that would follow
virginia passed n general planting
law setting aside u special class of
around Tor the planter. and retaining
lor the Use of the general public other
grounds which were known MS Nat
ural Rocks. appointing commission
10 take evidence and establish hv sur
reys the extent of these Natural
Rocks, in order that tho planter mich,
Know what was available for his mr.
poses and what not
Here Is where vireinia's trouhlos
negnn. for the planter maintained or
MS side that the actual. and what was
really natural rock. was very limited
ana comprised only small part of
inc territory that the longer (that is
inc laDorcr dependent OH tho natur-
al supply claimed it did. and that
these bottoms were much better off
anyway. under his cultivation than II
ieit to nature. for he-the planter
could make them many more times
productive than they ever would be
In the natural state. thus giving en-
pioyment to many men and boats. he
Deing willing at the same time to nav
the State handsome return for the
use of these grounds. and the state
would not be required to maintain an
expensive system of supervision TO en-
force its laws.
The State. however. saw III 10 con-
strue the term Natural Rock" (which
| N"' 10 iiol d TUCK i'll all. hit
an accumulation OF oyster shells I'm Z,
PIE or long reef on the bottoms. and
is caused by little oysters growing on
me Top OF old ones and killing them,
they in turn meeting with tho same
iate' mus building up n bed of shells
sometimes many yards decp), in n
very broad manner and many thou
SANDS oil acres were put out of reach
OF inc planter; he was forced to do
the best he could with what was left
nut as the best grounds were with
heid from him, he was badly handi-
capped.
NOW let us compare the policy pur-
sued by this State, with that of some
others, and see if we cannot benefit
by their experiences
First take Maryland. our neiehhor
that is nearly In the same geographic
cal territory as ourselves, and Con-
necticut that is much farther North.
twenty years ago Maryland control
led the oyster business of the United
States. baltimore. her principal ship
ping point, handled seven millions of
bushels of oysters in the winter of
1856, while Connecticut's total bust
ness amounted to une-half mil
lion of dollars: Maryland dc.
pended entirely upon the Natural sup
ply Connecticut had started her
planting industry
Maryland refused to permit Guilt
vation Connecticut encouraged II in
every possible way offering only about
eisht thousand acres for public use.
and was informed a few weeks ago.
that she was about TO let. half of that
60 ana today the Connecticut plantcr
pays sixty cents for the same number
Oh planting oysters that the Virginia
planter must pay one dollar and TWEEN
~ cents FOR. and they must both sell
in nearly the same market: ii Is not
hard TO foretell the outcome of such
rusiness Now let us examine the blIs-
mess for the year 1902. (thc later fig
ures nave not heen received by me as
ycp baltimore handled two million
bushels, falling off of about five mil
Hon bushels, while Connecticut did n
hve million dollar business. an in
crease of four and a half million of
dollars.
Maryland lost the business, II went
10 Connecticut. and today more men
arc employed at a higher rate of
wages in that state than any on the
coast; many Virginians annually dur
ing the oyster season so there to
work.
Let lis see what influenced Connec-
ticut to adopt this policy of encourage
ing cultivation by private parties, as
opposed to trusting to nature and
chance to pull her along.
Here Is how they figured 1t out up
there:-lf piece of ground produces
from nothing TO one hundred dollars
per acre. it will furnish from no la.