Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-01-29

a system of restrictions has been SCI
up which requires that oysters shall bs
kept free from contact with water. Ir
the first place this calls for package,
which increases the cost to the con-
sumer at least 10 cents per gallon. II
requires them to be supplied either in
tin cans or in zinc can which is enam.
eled on the inside with a lead paint
mixed with heavy varnish. Now, tir
plate, from which cans are made, is
simply thin sheetiron coated presumably
with pure tin, but most all the chear
tins are coated with az alloy of tin and
lead, and this lead is liable to conver-
sion into lead poison when in contact
with. substances subject to chemical
change.
1.-The same may be said of the lead
paint which is used to enamel the zinc
packages used in carrying oysters free
from ice and water. The inseed oil
and varnish oxide under ordinary at
mospheric and unstable chemical con-
ditions, and there is again the liability
of the formation of lead poison. OF
course, plate covered with pure tin is
not subject to changes. So. this
movement for keeping oysters clear of
water and ice, which do them no harm
whatever, they are forced upon the con-
sumer in an unsafe condition at large
increase in price.
RiyaIye's Natural EIement
"Again, it is not an easy matter to
get shucked oysters free from water.
Water is the natural element of the
oyster. When living in its shell it
keeps itself enveloped in water. If
you make hole in its shell so that the
water can run out, it will continue to
exude water from its body in the effort
to keep itself encased with water,
until it shrivels up and dies. If you
remove an oyster from its shell and
place it on dry plate it will exude
water from its body until the whole
lower portion is covered. If you re-
move this water it will exude more,
and as this exuded water carries quite
a proportion of the gelatin and salts
which compose its flesh, it will shrink
in volume.
''If you will drain gallon of oysters
as dry as you can and watch them for a
few minutes you will observe them to
become gradually immersed in water
again, which has come from within their
bodies. Drain off this water and there
will be an appreciable loss in volume.
So that any effort at delivering shucked
oysters to the consumer free from
water will surely fail, and as the effort
at doing so is costing the dealers in the
west good deal of money they are
forced to raise the price still higher,
until it has reached point where the
mass of the consumers will not buy
them.
"This is large factor in the falling
off of the demand for oysters. When
the demand for product falls off the
consequences fall first upon the produ-
Ger. and the producer of oysters now
finds himself enormously overstocked,
with no sale, except for a part Of his
product at very low price.
Something More To Business
''It is all very we'll for the Western
officials to make restrictions based on
what science furnishes in the way of
information. But there is something
more to this business, and it is we'll to
remember that science, like other fields
of human endeavor, has devotes who
when they know little know it all and
print it quickly. The idea that the
shucked oyster should be kept free
from contact with water and ice is al
together mistaken one. 1t is simply
catchy idea and cannot be proved.
Water is a natural environment of the
oyster, and if this cannot be provided
from without twill provide it itself from
within--with this material difference: the
fluid provided from within is charged
with substances very prone to decay
and the oyster will not keep in a whole
some condition as long as it will in pure
water. If as soon as an oyster is opened
1T is thrown into cool fresh water the
process of exudation, whereby it loses a
portion of its substance, will be stopped.
1t will even absorb some of this water,
but as at least nine-tenths of its sub
stanceis water it is not conceivable, nor
has it ever been proved, that this addi-
tion has any deleterious effect upon il
as food product. doubt if the ut.
most resources of science could tell with
precision an oyster with this water
from one without it, except from les.
salty taste.
FOOdstuff at 12 Cents a Poand.
Gas ] have said before. Maryland ans
Virginia oysters can be placed to tn.
consumer in Chicago at $1.2O gallon
Now, dry gallon weighs about 1,
pounds, so here is flesh food produc
provided for IL cents a pound which i
absolutely free from bones, feathers O
anything whatever but foodstuff. /
there anything else in the way of fisl
flesh or fowl that one can get as cheapl,
as that? When the consumer in tn
west wakes up to this fact and puts
stop to the restrictions that are piyin,
him canned oysters at an exalted pric
there is good reason for believing tha
: the oyster industry will thrive again.
unU,O ,rIEUA0