The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-03-02
VIRGINIA LEADS. IN
OYSTERS AND FISH
NATIONAL SHELITTSH AssouA.
TON HEAR ABOUT WATER
PRODUCTS.

w. Mcdonald Lee, of Virginia. at the
last annual meeting of the National
Fisheries Association was called on
to tell what Virginia was doing in
seafood output The stenographic re-
port OF his speech was In part, as
follows:
Mr.. President. ladies and gentle
men:
/ have not prepared paper, or
speech--just o talk In which to tell
you. as invited. what we are doing
in tho Old Dominion 10 the way
of seafood output.
! am not going to discuss pollution.
l have discussed that for six long
years with Uncle Sam, and we had
our little quarrels and made UP. Mr..
Rowe and other distinguished gentle
men have already told you about the
pollution trouble, probably more than
can tell you. Another point touched
on is one | feel lis In great need of
publicity. We should advertise more
extensively that seafood is the thing
to reduce the high cost OF living.
eat oysters the year round, and /
surmise most OF you do the same We
produce oysters at IL liz cents a
pound. no waste. no bone, all fat,
while you buy your beef In market at
double or treble that ngure-and
sometimes at dollar and n quarter
a dish. as Mr.. Rowe recited in his
case. So long as we have got TO feed
Europe, Asia, Spasfa and the isles of
the sea that are unwelcome append
ages to us. / say let us get busy and
advertise the seafood industry OF the
Atlantic Coast States of America, II
is not to be equaled anywhere, gen
tlemen. for this coast produces for the
sea a food that 10 par excellence upon
any menu that you can find, and pro-
duces IT as cost that reaches the
poor man. Even the common mussel
of our sea coast is coming into repute
as diet. For centuries the mussel
has been eaten in France, Spain, Italy
and other European countries. Time
was when the clam, the shrimp and
other sea products now used for food
were discarded. We expect to see,
some day, conch, fdd1ers. barnacies
and such condemned crustaceans used
as food. We might even prefer the
singing sea nettel to the snails that
Frenchmen delight In. Speaking OF
the salmon industry of the State OF
Washington, the cod and mackerel
fisheries of Massac husetts surpass
them, and yet Virginia since three
years gone has eclipsed even Massa-
chusetts In fisheries output We sur
passed in two and one-half millions
when ! boast of old Virginia.
The administration of oyster affairs
ir the Middle Atlantic States. ash lie
I from New Jersey. have us "skined a
mile on ways and means. Your
methods are up-to-date, but we have
got enough sense to know when we
see good thing. SO We have been talk
ing on it. In the last year we have
taken q few pointers from you North
~
Carolina, Florida, Alabama AMI Louis
lana. in particular. There was time
when you had all the marketable oys-
ters tgrown largely from Virginia
seed) and all the sense. few years
back we began to study ur methods
and while not yet abreast of you
on that. we have advanced sufficiently
to know how to better Use the advan-
tages nature has endowed lis with
until today Virginia far eclipses any
other State in oyster output. When
We adopt In full up-to-date methods
the Chesapeake Bay will be able, from
les wonderful endowment, to supply
the demands of half the States in the
Union. Did you know that small
part of Virginia has for years been
furnishing sixty per cent of the soft
crabs in the United States?
Four of those Southern States are
following in Virgin!as wake, as we
did In yours. and are now items to be
reckoned with. We had to eliminate
politics in Virginia before We got any
results. Twenty-Five years ago. there
was as bad a condidtion there as you
ever saw, and when l tell yoa that
y don't want you TO think We are all
dagoes. though We had certain eie-
ment among us. with darker skins,
that had To be reckoned with in law
iessness. Sixteen years ago. Virginia
with her 225.00 acres OF producing
grounds and 500. 900 set aside as plant
ing ground. derived not one cent in
direct revenues. The administration
was in the hands of three officers.
the Governor, the Treasurer and Audi
tor. good men who are paid TO do
something else. and who were so busy
doing something else they could pay
little attention to the oyster industry.
The Tfdewater people we're at logger
heads. He who Represented one coun-
ty was against the representative OF
another county. The up-country peo-
pie. who are four-ffths OF Virginia.
saw that we of the Tidewater could
not agree on any one subject. and not
until a few years ago, when the vir-
Aues of laws forced upon them be-
came plainly visible. did we ever agree.
We could not get the Tidewater peo-
Pile together, and so some OF the lead
ing spirits went with the other people.
Making the fight for better laws and
regulation of he planters and the oys-
termen, at a time when the up-couu-
try people were on the verge OF rent
Ing out the natural beds. the chaotic
condition and the fearful clashes can
hardly be described. To have rented
meant literally civil strife. As a COM
prnprfee ad in 1898 that