, 1925-01-30
EMbARGOES Of
WEST INJUR|NG
OYSTER TRADE
Chesapeake Bay Oyster
Making Fight for
Comeback.
By ROBERT T. SMALL
(Copwyright, 1925. Consolidated
Press Association


ANNAPOLIS, Nd, Jan. 30.-with
his back to the wall. the Chesapeake
-zBay oyster has started a strenuous
fight for lifo. Oysters ordinarily are
not supposed to have backs, but no
oysters ever have had such a fight
on their hands.
The militant spirit of the Chesa.
peake bevalve is rampant.
The oyster is righting his way
back by the only process he knows
Hundreds of him are offering them
selves as personal sacrifices. asking
that they be consumed without pre-
judice and without price. so that all
the world may see hat he and his
fellows are not the deep-dyed viii
lains they have beer panied through
out the length and breath of the
land.
The greatest gain made by the oy-
ster of the waters of Maryland and
Virginia has been in convincing DIR.
Herman N. Rundesen. health COM
missioner of Chicago. that the Ches-
apeake beds appear free from the
pollution which might result in h
incubation of typhoid germs.
DR.. Bundesen has come to Mary
land, has seen the oyster in his ma
tive haunts, has watched him being
dragged from his cold and comfort
able breeding rocks and then has
partaken of him in his native condi-
ton raw
Not only has DR.. Bundesen eaten
freely of the bivalves. but he has de-
clared them to be a very necessary
crticle of diet, particularly in thos
parts of the west where the water
is lacking in iodine and where goiter
trouble has to be dealt with from
time to time. The oyster is a god
send to such localities, supplying the
missing element.
i, Completing today his survey of the
oyster industry in the Chesapeake
Bay with an inspection of the oyster
packing plants in and around Balti-
more, DR.. Bundesen stated hat he
was fully cognizant of the damage
wrought to the oyster industry by
the embargoes from the west. He ex-
planned, however. that the actual EN-
barge was issued by the state COM
missioner of health in Illinois and
not by the Chicago authorities. 1t
was DIR. Bundesen however, who Is
sued the first warning over the radio.
Suspicion in the typhoid epidemic In
Chicago was diverted to oysters by
a Process of elimination, rather than
by a meteorological study. A typhoid
outbreak in New York about h
same time as the one in Chicago con-
WINGED the Illinois authorities that
oysters were the culprits.
Yet for the sins, possibly. of a few.
all oysters have suffered. 1t Is dill
ficult to realize the ends to which
the embargo has gone. Railroad din
ing cars have scratched oysters from
their printed bills. Hotels have Of
~<ered both oysters and clans only In
a stewed condition. 1t is hard on the
oyster population in these Volstead-
ian days to decree h a they are only
good oysters when they are stewed
DR.. Bundesen has suggested TO
Governor Richie of Maryland. what
he believes to be a feasible plan OF
oyster supervision. based on inspec-.
lions of milk and meat. The scheme
is being studied by the Maryland
authorities and will then be sub
mitted to the state authorities in the
west for final approval. Thus. while
the oyster is down at the moment.
he is not out. Maryland people are
enjoying the oysters this season as
never before and resent the imputa-
ton cast against their product.
"