The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-25
GOVERNOR CALLS
ON MARYLAND FOR
IT'S COOPERATION
Joint Commission Protests
Against Condemning Po-
tomac Oysters
COMMISSIONER LEE
SAYS ITS INHUMAN
Strongly Condemns Action,
Which Will Take the Liv-
ing From Several
Thousand

. So -serinus- Is the situation Affecting
the oyster industry ny reason Of ths II
federal condemnation of Potomac
river beds that Governor Mann dee
cided yesterday that Immediate ac-S
ton is necessary to prevent not only
the complete decentralization OF the
industry, but to keep starvation FROM
the doors OF thousands OF men, women
and children next winter N
The cooperation of the state Of
Maryland. which is as seriously At
fected as is Virginia was sought and
gained yesterday and Monday joint &
commission from the two States wtfE
walt upon the bureau OF chemistry or
the agricultural department in Wash-s
ington to protest against the cons
domination of oyster beds in Nirgfnf4
and Maryland. which experts of both
States declare -,tH@.sst--aHa-- uHEeA.-.~.
sonable.
Governor Mann's action followed u
conference with Chairman w. Me-
Donald Lee of the State fsherie1
commission yesterday afternoon. He
Immediately wired Governor r.. L..
Goldsborough, OF Maryland. reauests
ing him to appoint a special commits
sion to meet a similar commission
at the New Willard In Washfngfon
Monday at noon and together demand
that the governments recent action
be rescinded.
An answer was received from Gov.
ernor Goldsborough last night in
which he stated that Governor Mann
would have his hearty cooperation
In the matter and he would name q
commission which world meet tho
yirginians at the appointed time Mona
day. s
Commission Is stirred.
The members of the Virginia fisll~
cries commission are greatly stirred
over the recent action of the federal
authorities In putting the Potomac
oyster beds under ban and they de-
clare that the action is entirely un-
justified They say that 1t is the
work of pure food faddisfs-thass
State experts have made thorough Elk
animation of the Potomac OYSTERS
and they have been found to be IN
fine condition. The charge that oysters
found a hundred miles below Wash~
ington could be polluted by the sew
age from that city Is held to be abs
surd The seriousness of the sftuaftoM
rests in the fact that the men enEa8e0
| in the industry have lost millions OF
| dollars by reason of government con-
| formations and thousands OF peoples
face starvation next winter uHiesn tHNa
/ ban is removed
/ Chairman Lee of the StatN fsherie0s
! commission Ia greatly perturhed over
| the government report and Expresses
| himself concerning IL yesterday IN n0A
/ uncertain terms. He denounced the
condemnation order as the result O.
! the work of an "inhuman faddist
and ''pinhead scientist
Danger is Infinitestimal.
Mr.. Lee has made a study OF thu
| oyster industry for thirty years. an0s
! is one of the best posted men 10 Ill
country on the biyalve. He described
the colon bacilli. which the govern
| nent expert claimed to have Koun0a
| In some oysters he examined. as harm~1
less germs which TEEN in the humAMi
1 body. There Is Just one chance Sci
a typhoid fever germ in every OIL
| hundred billion bacilii," said MIR. LA4s3
land vet because ct that in ffnftHMfnn&xxss
possibility of infection the governs
| lment would turn the public againa8
/ the oyster"
/ The commissions expert ne sfate1G
| has made three Investigations at fonr-s
teen points on the Potomac. In whtc11
1 thousands of oysters were tested. An4|
| In all those examinations they founA1
| one lone oyster with the colon barill1S
| and If that oyster had been eaten tn
person who fed upon II would h2xas
had one chance in a hundred billion
| of becoming infected with fever. M4S
Lee illustrated the utter absurdifY 0H
i the governments action: "You might
as-weiiL place a ban upon nncklA-s
berries" he said. because hucklNA
berry patches are known to be 1Avss
/ nrite habitars of the rattiesnakeH aMN
some snake, I'm striking at an cnemN
raTr ~