The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-08

addition. the present laws regulating the gathering and distribution Of the oyster are the children of his brain, and he is convinced that they are mertorlous.
 The total collections annually from fees and licenses which go into the cofers of the commission amount to about $S00O. Members of the Alabama Oystermen Protective association assert that nearly all of this money goes to pay the salaries of the members of the commission and their employees, and that none of it finds its way into the state treasury.
 The local organization of fish and oy- stermen have begun a campaign which will soon prove statewide to show that their business has been materially ham, pered by the operation of the oyster laws and they believe that their appeal to the legislators from other parts of the state will not be in vain. They realize that the oyster commission is not going down with out battle so they are loading their guns with facts and figures to convince the public and tie lawmakers that the present statutes are vexatious discrimin- atorys and detrimental to an industry which they feel should be fostered in stead of hampered.
 Along the coast. where oyster fishing Is about the most popular way Of malzins. a living. there Is general dissatisfaction with she laws they now stand upot the statute books. The humble seafar- ing man of Bayon la Batre and Dauphir Island complains in heartfelt tones of the evil times he has fallen upon The b, canning factory which once gave em- ployment to several hundred workers at Bayou la Batre is now closed down and has long been so. shrimp caught In Ala bana waters are carried to Biloxi and other Mississippi points. due to the fact that Alabama imposes a tax of 25 cents a barrel upon the product
 Dan A. Petty, d well known fish and oyster dealer Of Mobile. tells how his business has been hurt by the operation of the oyster laws. In times gone by he said, ''our firm shipped lots of oysters to little towns of the surrounding coun- try. Men who worked at the sawmill camps, for instance, at wages ot $ or $9 d week, would write us to send them a few oysters for Saturdays Some of these they would keep for their own use and some they would sell to their neigh bors' at small profit. Now everybody who sells an oyster has to pay an annual license of s5. Many of our former GUS toners are entirely unable to do that, and such class of trade has been prac- tically destroyed. In the aggregate it amounts to quite an item"
 committee of the Alabama Oyster mems Protective association has been seeking to pledge local candidates for the legislature to give their allegiance to a bill which would abolish the oyster com mission and assign such duties as remain to John Wallace and his wal.dens. 1t is reported that practically all the as pirants for seats in the house of repre- sentatives have agreed to do so, but a snag was struck when Francis J. Inge, candidate for the state senate, declined to indicate what his probable attitude would be-
 MT. Inge is the attorney for the osyter commission. and where the shoe pinches is the fact that so far he is the only announced candidate for the state senate from Mobile county. Efforts are now under way to induce some other Rich mond to enter the field.
 Anyhow, there Is going to be sharp and strenuous scrap concerning the lowly osyter when Alabama's lawmakers next get together.