The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-09
OYSTER GROWERS TAKE
 ISSUE WITH EX-GOVERNOR ON QUESTION OF TAXATION
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page.)
 Jy stating the simple fact that the
 grounds in Rhode Island produce .
 revenue to the growers ten times as
 great as those in Connecticut.
 "The grounds off Guilford, Clinton
 and Madison which the Governor says
 are taxed at $1 per acre are worth nc
 more. The tracts mentioned are kept
 out of cultivation because they can
 not be cultivated until thousands o1
 dollars have been expended on them
 Ground there has been sold by private
 individuals for 75 cents per acre. Be-
 fore oysters can be raised on them
 they must be covered with d layer o1
 gravel or sand at an enormous ex-
 pense. Should there be extensive
 government dredging operations in the
 vicinity it might be possible to bring
 the bottom to condition where plant ing would be possible.
 Rhode Island operates her oyster beds on a different system. Nc ground is sold in Rhode Island. The deep water grounds are leased for $5 per acre for a term of years and the shallower beds at $10. These leases run for a term of years and provis- ion issmade for a renewal to protect @ the growers who have expended large sums on the grounds And even then
 
 to operate than those in Connecticut. The revenues received by the growers from the Rhode Island beds are abso- lutely necessary to maintain the oys- ter business in Connecticut. They are fattening grounds Practically no oysters are produced i'll Connecticut which are fit for the market.
 Connecticut oyster growers were obliged to seek fattening grounds or go out of business. They went to Rhode Island and to New York for ground which was not subject to the green color which attacked all oysters in Connecticut waters. The Connecticut beds are now only seed beds and the products are all taken to other waters for development before they can be marketed. The northern oyster can- not compete in price with those from the Chesapeake Bay. If it were a matter of price Baltimore would soon have a monopoly of the oyster busi- ness. The northern oyster is better in quality and therefore brings a high CT price. The comparison between the Rhode Island oyster grounds and those of Connecticut can be accurately rep resented in the case of the farms of the State.
 Tt would be just as reasonable to tax the rocky hill tops of. the northern end of the State at the same rate as the fertile tobacco lands in the valleys. The first produces only small reve- nue while the latter brings in large returns as the result of better natural conditions and the expenditure of much money and labor upon them. Connecticut growers developed the oyster industry in the Narragansett Bay. Before these fattening grounds were developed the growers in Con- necticut were confined to about three and one-half months of the year in which returns were received. The re- mainder of the year was expended in .cultivating the beds and preparing them for the next year. The crop was a matter of speculation. ;.'No business in the country today IS as much of 8 lottery as the oyster business. There is absolutely no as- surance of profit in any year. The expenses are enormous. Steamers, | watch boats and large force of men are required. It is casting bread up- ly and hoping for return which | often fails. When the Connecticut 1 companies developed the Rhode Is- l land beds they did not establish plants | there. They simply took their steam 1 CTS and men and put in the remainder of the year after the work in Connec- | ticut was done in taking oysters from |
  them. 5H
 N'The Rhode Island grounds have the advantage in the fact which is well | known to every oysterman but perhaps not to Governor Woodruff that an oys- ter will develop as much growth in the Narragansett Bay in one year as it | will in this State in three years. This should in itself make the Rhode Is- land beds three times as valuable as those in Connecticut. It is hardly a tenab1e supposition that Connecticut growers would go to Rhode Island and pay s to $10 an acre for ground, go to the immense expense of transport ing millions of bushels back and forth if there was no profit in it. It is the Rhode Island beds which make the profits for the oyster grower It makes it possible for him to get reve- nue all the year round.
 ''TO go back to the grounds off GuiI- ford which the governor says are kept out of cultivation by others by the ti | ties of the big growers, H. c. Rowe of New Haven experimented with these beds at large expense and af- ter giving them fair trial abandon ed them as profitless. The bottom is | of such character that it would be l necessary to practically make new ground before oysters grow on it.
 Another feature of the oyster busi- ness IS not generally understood. Prop | erty on the land is protected by all | the forces of the law. To give the property which the governor seeks to tax more heavily, the same protection the oysterman is obliged to maintain watch boats with search lights and manned by crews at a large expense. It would be impossible to reap any benefit of the immense amount of la bor expended on the grounds if their protection was left to the regular of- fcers of the law.
 Unlike the Rhode Island grounds those in Connecticut are coarser and more widely extended. The product is much smaller, develops slower and is practically worthless if not develop ed in. waters where there is more feed and fresh water.
 The growers are of the uniform opinion that the business will not bear any higher taxation. They take is- sue with the statement that as the product is marketed outside of the |! state greater tax would not be a hardship on the citizen of this state. An increase in taxation would mean an increase in the price of the com modity which would also mean rie of the industry. The fact a that fbo axiSt ence Of tho Co,ooo,; | :.