The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-05

sion, and have been obliged to prove
sometimes to more than one commit !
tee in a single session, that the meas t
ures proposed for the purpose Of ex-
acting an unjust revenue from the
oyster growers were impracticable, !
unjust, and against public policy.
The same questions have been I
tried out session after sessiona ndu nj
formly rejected, and yet they are
again brought before the Legislature.
"A careful study of the protest re-
Gently presented by the Connecticut
Oyster Growers to the Shell Fish
Commission, and their protest to the
| Governor Of Connecticut. gives, a +
strong and clear statement of the
conditions pertaining to the Industry
| 1t shows that the treatment which
the industry has received has seri-
ously depressed and diminished It, |
i of the product the output has been
reduced and the acreage held by plan
tiers has decreased to the amount of
some thousands of acres. Among the
facts which are shown in these ma
pers are the following:
/ The law has been for more than
thirty years, that the oyster grounds
like real estate, should be assessed
lat their true market value. During
the past five years assessments have
and in some cases, have been increas-
ed more than two thousand per cent. {
This has been done when the grounds
in fact, are worth at the present time
far less in the market than they were
five years ago.
THE Clerk of Shell Fisheries, who
is the assessor of the grounds, has as
Isessed oyster grounds at twice their
| value in some Instances five times
their value; in other instances twenty
times and in some cases fifty times
/ their market value. He has done this
when owners Of grounds have publicly
offered them for sale for less than
/ one-twentieth part for what he as
isessed them at Oyster growers have
been deprived of thousands of acres
LOT oyster grounds by means which
i were nothing more or less than Off
cia1 confiscation by assessing the
grounds at fifty mites what they were
i worth and thus compelling their own.
ers to abandon them.
Arbitrary rules have been pro
rnulgated which had no warrant in
law and such of the oyster growers
4 as failed to accede to them were
Threatened, with repraisal and their
next assessment were raised in some
instances to five times what they were
before
en- order that the matter may be
properly realized suppose that t11ous-
d ands Of acres of farm lands in this
state were confiscated and their own
ers deprived of the title to these lands
by assessments being made so high
on these lands that the farmer would
prefer to abandon them rather than
to, attempt to pay the unjust taxes
laid upon them. This is just w hat has.
happened with thousands of acres OF
81 oyster ground and it is a gross injus-
tice to their owners and greatly
Eagainst public policy that this indus
try should thus be injured The state
and federal governments expend very
wisely, millions of dollars in foster
ling agriculture and why should the
| state pursue an exactly opposite pol
icy with oyster farming and permit
its of1cia1s to prosecute those engaged
in this industry.
t"The oyster industry has yerysmuch
diminished and is in a very depressed
condition. Many have abandoned the
business entirely, and two very large
corporations doing business in Com
necticut, and Rhode Island, have gone
into bankruptcy. representing a loss
amounting to many millions of dol
lars. There have been many cases for
! this great depression in the oyster In
dustry, some of which it is, imposs1-
lble to remedy by legislation, but with
out taking these at the present time
! the problem now is how to reduce the
expense OF the administration of the
Il industry and how to encourage and
) foster it SO that it may again return
( Ito a healthy growth instead of rapid
ly decreasing as it is at the present
t time.
esGoyernor Baldwin recommended
the abolition of the She'll Fish Com
= mission and the present Governor
: Holcomb has repeated his reeommen-
I dalton.
: 1.-THE oyster growers of Connecticut
: presented a protest to the Shell Fish
Commissioners against being compel
led to go before the General Assembly
) every session. taking their time and
l | recurring the employment of counsel
: to defend the industry against fur
) Their exactions Committee after Com
) mittee and legislature after 1egisla-
: ture, have examined the measures
! proposed to add further burdens to
: the oyster industry, and have decided
) them impracticable, unwise and un-
: called for Now the Shell Fish Com
t mission and Clerk again recommend
: similar measures.
; ssThe state of Connecticut must de-
eide whether it will still further dis
: courage, depress and injure this great
: good Droductig industry that furnish
Il food for millions of people This
: decision must be made at a time when
$ the cost of food is, high and every
means of producing food ought TO be
= ENCOURAGED and fostered. 1t Will de-
Il eide whether to penalize food pro-
e duction by a productivity tax on oys-
+ ter grounds which may perhaps later
: be a precedent for a productivity
: tax on farms and on land. 1t is just
: as unreasonable and improper upon
oyster farms as it is upon other farms,
D 1t is a pernicious principle and one
: which should not be applied either
3 to farms on land or in the water.
: saved From Burns.
a Since the fire which destroyed st.
: Peters Episcopal church in Plymouth