 | CHAPTER VII. The oyster : |  |
CHAPTER VII.
THE REMEDY.
Looked at as a question in natural history, the oyster
problem is very simple. The demand has outgrown
the natural supply, but it is easy to increase the supply
indefinitely by oyster culture, and this is all that is
needed.
As a practical question it is anything but simple.
It demands the best thoughts of all who are interested
in the welfare of our people. The practical application
of the remedy is proper work for statesmen of the
greatest ability and widest experience, rather than for a
naturalist who knows little or nothing of complicated
social questions.
The interests at stake are so important and vast that
they are worthy the best efforts of the best intellects
in our community, and any statesman who wishes to
devote himself to the unselfish, disinterested service of
the people will find in the complications of the oyster
problem an ample field for the exercise of all his
powers.
So many divergent and conflicting interests are
involved, and so many side issues are to be considered,
that hasty, ill-advised action is sure to do
more harm than good; yet we have permitted matters
to run on so long without attention, that little time now
remains for deliberation or experiment.
It is with reluctance that I venture to speak at all on
the practical question of the reconstruction of our oyster
policy. I feel that I have done my part by showing
the capacity of the oyster for cultivation; by
calling attention to the unexampled opportunities for
oyster-culture afforded by our waters, and by describing
the methods which should be used to improve
these opportunities and to develop our resources. So
far I have dealt with facts, not opinions; and as facts
have permanent value, I hope that what I have written
will help to establish a clearer understanding of the
needs of our oyster industry, and that it will thus lead
in time to the adoption of wise measures for its protection,
and for promoting its growth and development.
Here I feel that my work should end, and that the
practical details should be left to those who have had
experience in public affairs; and if I venture to discuss
details, I do so with the full knowledge that I am outside
my proper province; that I am no longer dealing
with facts, but with opinions which must meet with
criticism and discussion. The reflections of any one
who has thought seriously upon the oyster problem
are worthy of attention, for the true solution can only
be reached through the examination of all sides of the
question, and I have therefore decided to devote the
concluding chapter of this book to the expression of
my own opinion of the way in which a new oyster
policy should be introduced.
Every one agrees that whatever may be the remedy,
our method of managing the oyster industry so far has
been a failure. It has had a thorough trial, extending
through many years, and here are some of the results:
of oysters annually from grounds which are capable
of yielding five hundred million bushels each year.
It has led to the ruin of some of our finest beds, and
to the very great injury of all of them, while other
States have greatly increased the value of their beds
at the same time that they have enlarged and extended
the fisheries instead of restricting them.
It has given a precarious employment for a few
months in each year to about fifty thousand oystermen,
while our grounds should give profitable employment,
the year round, to five hundred thousand.
It has paid to the oystermen about two million
dollars a year, although our grounds should pay their
cultivators more than sixty million dollars a year.
Our six hundred thousand acres of oyster-ground
have paid to the State treasury about $50,000 a year,
which it has cost the State about $52,000 to collect;
and it has paid about $10,000 a year to the School
Fund, while our revenue would be more than $6,000,000
if it were no greater per acre than the revenue from
the oyster-grounds of Rhode Island.
In other States, money invested in the oyster business
has paid an annual interest of more than 200 per
cent, while our oysters have never paid to either packers
or vessel-owners more than 100 per cent, and of
late years they have paid nothing at all.
The interests of our people demand a complete
change in our oyster policy, as rapid and radical as it
can be without inflicting avoidable injury or unnecessary
hardship upon any one who is now engaged in
the business; for however advantageous to the public
should overbalance benefit to many, and we should
hesitate to demand any great sweeping change if it is
possible to devise any plan to open the way for improved
methods without infringing the rights of those
who are now engaged in the business. If proper
measures had been taken years ago it might have
been possible to have preserved our natural beds from
complete destruction, without restricting the fishing,
while a new system was being gradually introduced.
We have delayed action too long, however, and the
oyster business has been overtaken by disaster. There
is no escape, under any system, from a few years of
scarcity and depression, and all persons who are engaged
in any branch of the business must suffer more
or less. It is the duty of the people of the State to
see to it that our resources are developed and made as
profitable and productive as possible, but while it is
quite true that our beds might easily be made to support
many more persons than have ever gained a
living from them in the past, we are bound to see to it
that the welfare of those persons who are now dependent
upon them be not unnecessarily obstructed while
we are preparing the way for a better system.
The question of State revenue from the public beds
is of general interest, but we must not attach undue
importance to it. For several years past it has
amounted to nothing, and under our present system
it will never be worth considering. As this is the
case, the question of revenue for the next few years
should not enter into the discussion of our policy
regarding the public beds. If any plan for restoring
the State can be put into practice, that is all we should
expect.
We often hear that, as their value in the past has
not been the result of human industry, the oyster-bottoms
are a natural source of wealth which
belongs to the people of the whole State. This is
unquestionably true, but it may be well to inquire
more minutely into the exact nature and significance
of this ownership, for common rights bring with them
common duties and obligations.
Our first duty is to protect those citizens who are
most immediately and directly dependent on the oyster,
and, among them, those who fish the public beds
to get oysters to serve as food for themselves and their
families have the first claim.
Of the 10,500,000 bushels of oysters which were
gathered in 1880 in our waters, 8,670,000, or more than
four-fifths of the whole, were consumed outside the
State, and those who hold that the people of our tidewater
counties, or the people of Maryland, have a
natural right to this supply of food, may truthfully
affirm that if the sale of four-fifths of our oysters to
people outside our State were prohibited, there would,
even now, be an abundance for our own people on our
natural beds. Under any intelligent system of management
our natural beds would supply all the oysters we
need for food, and would still leave a great surplus for
commercial purposes, and we do not need to kill the
oyster business in order to get our own supply.
It must therefore be clear to every one that our
natural right to oysters for food does not justify us in
to a large class of citizens. All civilized communities
recognize the advantage of selling their products
in the best market, and it is not necessary to
state that the destruction of our commercial business
in oysters would inflict great injury, not on a few
capitalists alone, but on thousands of fishermen,
shuckers and canmakers, and our people certainly
have as much natural right to make an honest living
by selling oysters to outsiders as they have to use
them as food for themselves and their families.
If our right to oysters for our own food were the
only one, the emergency could be met by legislation
to prohibit dredging and wholesale fishing, and to
drive the oyster business out of our State; but we can
hardly conceive a greater misfortune to our people
than this. Still, if it were the only way to protect our
oysters, and to preserve for the people of our tidewater
counties and for their children the supply of
cheap food which nature has given them, I should be
among the first to recommend this course.
Fortunately this is not the only remedy, and it is
possible to increase our supply so that the tide-water
people shall have all they want without destroying
the oyster business.
Our next duty is to protect the interests of the citizens
who support themselves by work upon the public
beds—the tongmen and dredgers who fish for oysters
in order to make their living by supplying the market.
As their business is an honest and useful one, they
have a natural right to pursue it, and it is the duty of
our people to see that this right is preserved and protected.
claim no right to deprive the tide-water people of food
by plundering private supplies of oysters, or by destroying
the natural beds. Every one knows that
private planting grounds have been robbed without
mercy by some of our fishermen, and even the men
who are most prejudiced by their own interests are no
longer able to deny the well-known fact that our public
beds have been brought to the verge of ruin by the
men who fish them to supply the market.
If fishing cannot be carried on upon the natural beds
without this result, the interest of our whole people
demands its prohibition. The citizens of Maryland
do not desire to deprive any one of the right to earn
his living, but our own interest requires that oystering
upon the public beds shall be prohibited unless the
oystermen can convince us that they can be intrusted
with this right, without placing our common property
or the property of any citizen in peril. The question
which we should ask them, which they are bound in justice
to ask themselves, is whether they are able to give
this assurance to the people of the State. They cannot
satisfy the community by calling for more laws to
keep them within bounds, or by asking for an armed
police force to prevent them from destroying their own
interests.
They must satisfy the people that they themselves
have enough public spirit to organize themselves for
their own government and regulation, and that they
have enough self-restraint and forethought and intelligent
self-interest to provide for the protection and improvement
of the property which is intrusted to them.
people of the State will be on their side and will aid
them by all means in their power. The question of
immediate revenue to the State will not be considered
for a moment, as compared with their prosperity.
The tongmen and dredgers must acknowledge, however,
that as the home consumer of oysters has no
right to oppose the commercial business, it is equally
clear that the public fishermen have no right to oppose
the development of our resources by private oyster
culture, unless it destroys their own livelihood.
So long as they draw on the natural supply without
the devotion of any part of their labor or earnings to
its increase by artificial means, they can claim no right
to anything more than the natural beds; nor can they
claim any right to gain a living from these beds at the
expense of posterity, or by any means which tend to
ruin the property. It is also clear that they have no
rights which conflict with the wider right of our people
to increase our prosperity by rearing oysters.
In discussing the measures which should be adopted
for the restoration and development of our oyster
business, the interests of four classes should be kept
in view: the tongmen who resort to the beds for food;
the dredgers and tongmen who make a living by
gathering oysters for sale from our natural beds; the
persons who wish to engage in oyster culture, either
by planting or by the various methods of oyster-farming;
and the dealers, packers, shuckers, canmakers
and others who are supported by the oyster business.
Fortunately we need not ask which of these interests
is to give way. Our waters are prolific enough
people to see to it that our natural inheritance in the
bay be fully developed and used to the best advantage
for the good of all.
The protection of the people who now depend upon
the natural beds for a living must always be kept in
view, but our people should awaken to a sense that
interest in the matter is not confined to the men who
are engaged in the oyster business.
To ourselves and to our posterity we owe it that
our resources shall be fully developed, for our oyster-beds
are our greatest source of wealth, and upon them,
more than upon our commerce, our manufactures, or
our farming land, the future wealth and prosperity
and population of our State depend.
Every one of us appreciates that it is for his interest
to get his little private supply of oysters for home use
as cheaply as possible, but scarcely any one, except
the oysterman, realizes that this is the least of his interests
in the matter. If our population were increased
fifty-fold, the oysters needed for home consumption
would even then be only a small part of the supply
which our waters can be made to furnish; and every
one who is interested in Maryland, all business men
who will be benefited by an increase in wealth and
population, all farmers who pay taxes to the State, and
all persons who own property here, should awaken to
the fact that our greatest source of wealth is almost
absolutely undeveloped.
The wealth which is within the reach of our people
and their descendants from the oyster-grounds of the
State is great, almost beyond expression, and it is not
under the water is equal to that of the dry land.
I have attempted to form a rough approximation to
the area which is at present occupied by oysters in
Maryland, and while, in the absence of exact surveys,
the result cannot be regarded as strictly accurate, the
conclusions which are given in the following table are
certainly not excessive.
| Square Yards. | |
| Fishing Bay Beds | 25,600,000 |
| Were Point | 1,800,000 |
| Shark Fin Point | 1,850,000 |
| Nanticoke Point | 3,400,000 |
| Clump Point | 400,000 |
| Horsey's Bar Beds | 200,000 |
| Tyler Beds | 700,000 |
| Drumming Shoal | 2,400,000 |
| Cow and Calf | 300,000 |
| Bloodsworth Island (East Bed) | 4,000,000 |
| Cedar Beds | 400,000 |
| Mud Beds | 1,800,000 |
| Turtle Egg Island | 1,650,000 |
| Chain Shoal | 1,200,000 |
| Muscle Hole Bed | 8,000,000 |
| Piney Island Bar | 7,000,000 |
| Manokin River Bed | 6,200,000 |
| Big Annemessex | 3,000,000 |
| Harris' Beds | 3,400,000 |
| Terrapin Sand Beds | 1,400,000 |
| Paul's Bed | 800,000 |
| Woman's Marsh | 7,000,000 |
| Bed of Janes' Island | 1,800,000 |
| Great Rock | 8,500,000 |
| St. Mary's County Bay Shore | 48,787,200 |
| Calvert County Bay Shore | 57,076,800 |
| James River to Islands to Boundary Line | 42,240,000 |
| Anne Arundel County Bay Shore | 88,281,600 |
| Kent County Bay Shore | 21,608,400 |
| Talbot County Bay Shore | 50,372,800 |
| Queen Anne's County Bay Shore | 48,787,200 |
| Susquehanna River Oyster-Beds | 14,700,000 |
| Sassafras River Oyster-Beds | 3,300,000 |
| Back River Oyster-Beds | 2,200,000 |
| Back River Oyster-Beds | 1,200,000 |
| Gunpower River Oyster-Beds | 3,800,000 |
| Bush River Oyster-Beds | 1,300,000 |
| Hawk Cove Oyster-Beds | 960,000 |
| Patapsco River Oyster-Beds (Old Road River to Sollers' Point) | 3,800,000 |
| Chester River and Creeks Oyster-Beds | 21,400,000 |
| Bodkin Creek Oyster-Beds | 5,000,000 |
| Magothy River Oyster-Beds | 8,900,000 |
| Severn River Oyster-Beds | 3,500,000 |
| South River Oyster-Beds | 6,000,000 |
| Eastern Bay and Creeks Oyster-Beds | 19,400,000 |
| Choptank River to Cambridge Oyster-Beds | 13,300,000 |
| Little Choptank River Oyster-Beds | 7,100,000 |
| Patuxent River to Benedict Oyster-Beds | 17,300,000 |
| Total | 578,224,000 |
Five hundred and seventy-eight million square yards
are about one hundred and ninety-three square miles,
or one hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred
and twenty acres.
As Winslow found by actual survey that there are
103 square miles of natural oyster-beds in Tangier
Sound alone in 1879, this estimate of 193 square miles
for our whole territory is certainly not excessive, and
it will be noticed that the Potomac River is not included
in this estimate.
Only a very small part of the bottom which is proper
for oyster-farming is now occupied by natural beds,
and it is safe to estimate the total area of valuable
oyster-ground in our State at one thousand square
miles, or six hundred and forty thousand acres.
Much of this ground could be made to yield to its
cultivators an annual profit of $1000 per acre, and the
profit on the whole, under a thorough system of cultivation,
would not be less than $100 per acre. It is not
too much to affirm that when the whole of this area
shall have been developed, the future citizens of our
State will be able to draw an annual income of over
sixty million dollars from our waters. At present,
however, their value is very much below this estimation,
and under the present system of management it
is rapidly disappearing altogether. The oyster crop
has never been very much more than 10,000,000
bushels, and its value to the fisherman has never, in
all probability, exceeded $2,000,000. It is not easy to
ascertain its precise value with great accuracy, but
$2,000,000 annually is a safe estimate, and the actual
annual value of the oyster-beds, under a system which
thus seen to be less than three per cent of their possible
value.
An abstract statement in figures is always open to
distrust, and in order to guard against any impression
that the value stated above for our oyster-grounds is
imaginary, we wish to call attention here to results
which have actually been realized.
In 1888, Mr. Fred. A. Gunby, formerly a resident
of Crisfield, Maryland, obtained from the State of Virginia
a right to cultivate oysters on about sixty-eight
acres of bottom in Accomac County, Virginia. The
tract lay in Tangier Sound, near the Maryland line,
and opposite that part of Smith's Island which is in
Virginia, lying just south of Horse Hammock. He
planted that year 28,000 bushels of oyster shells, at a
cost of about $1200. Since that time he has been to
expense in employing a watchman to keep off intruders,
and this total outlay up to December, 1890,
had been about $3000. In April, 1890, it was estimated
that there were 30,000 bushels of oysters on his
beds. The shells were found full of young oysters,
which were growing rapidly. In December, 1890, it
was calculated that there were 350,000 bushels of oysters
on the ground, worth at least thirty or forty cents
a bushel in the market.
He was not permitted to gather the harvest which
he had sown, but his experience shows the rich return
which would be yielded by this sort of oyster-farming
if private rights could be respected; and it rests with
the people of Maryland to decide whether our resources
shall be developed, and until we determine to
the rich harvest which lies within our reach, nothing
can be accomplished.
There is no fear that the market will ever be overstocked
with an article of food so cheap and dainty
and nutritious as the oyster; and as improvements
in the method of packing and transporting oysters are
introduced, the demand for oysters to supply the rapidly
increasing population of our country will fully tax
all the resources of our waters. This great business
can be secured just as soon as we are prepared to
demand opportunities to develop our resources.
Since all efforts to engage in oyster culture in our
State at present, even on the smallest scale, are frustrated
by the claim that they are growing upon natural
beds, the first step in dealing with the matter must be
an actual, careful survey of the waters of the State, for
the purpose of designating, first, the natural beds, or
those areas over which the oysters are now so abundant
as to furnish steady production, and employment
for the men engaged in gathering oysters for the market;
and, secondly, those areas which are now under
cultivation as planting grounds; and, thirdly, the area
which now produces no oysters for the market, but
where oyster culture can be carried on.
After this is provided for, the next step is to decide
what shall be done for the encouragement of each
one of the chief subdivisions of the oyster industry.
It will be most convenient to discuss, first, the
measures which should be adopted to promote the interest
of the tongmen and dredgers who now earn
their living by fishing the public beds to supply the
of their means of employment would be a great misfortune
to all the people of the State.
After much thought upon the matter and careful
examination of all the opinions which have been expressed,
I am able to perceive only one way to protect
and develop this branch of the oyster industry, and I
am sorry to say that I am not at all sure that even this
plan is practicable.
It is the co-operative organization of the oystermen
themselves for the purpose of improving the public
beds.
If they were to form an association for this purpose,
and were to organize it in such a way as to satisfy the
people of the State that the desired end would be
attained, they ought to be aided and encouraged to
make the experiment.
The people of the State should, however, require
ample assurance that all industrious, law-abiding oystermen
who are citizens of Maryland shall have a
chance to join the association and to share its advantages;
that the number of oysters taken from the public
beds each year shall be restricted to the amount
which they can yield without injury; that a proper
proportion of the proceeds of the sale of these oysters
shall be spent in the improvement of the beds; that
the equitable distribution of the balance among the
members of the association shall be provided for, and
that all the influence of the association shall be exerted
to enforce its rules and to secure respect for law and for
private property.
If the people of Maryland can have a reasonable
association, I believe that it will be wise for the State
to give up for the present all hope of immediate revenue
from the public beds, and to intrust them for a
term of years to this association, for the use and profit
of its members.
If my opinions carry any weight, I wish to impress
upon the people of the State the fact that the prosperity
of our citizens is very much more important
than all the money which we have ever received from
dredging and tonging licenses, and I also wish to convince
the oystermen that they must depend upon their
own efforts rather than upon the State government.
If I tell the oystermen that it is useless for them to
look to the Legislature for the improvement and development
of the public beds, I only tell them what
they already know by long experience.
It has been proved conclusively, over and over again,
that our public domain cannot be protected without
the aid of the oystermen; but if they would co-operate
for the enlightened administration of their own business,
they would need no new restrictive laws. They
do not even need to send men to the Legislature to
look after their interests, nor do they need to fee lawyers
to make out a case for them. The enlightened
sympathy of our people is worth more to them than
any number of men in the General Assembly, or than
all the advice of the best lawyers in the State. For
support they must rely upon public sentiment, and for
success they must trust to their own efforts. If our
public beds are to be saved from ruin, it must be by
the efforts of the oystermen themselves, by organization
any other way to bring it about, and I hope that the
plan which I have proposed will be considered by the
oystermen.
While there are some reckless, short-sighted men in
the business, most of the captains and vessel-owners
are men who have the respect and confidence of their
neighbors, and the intelligence and personal influence
which are needed to direct and control public sentiment.
I ask them whether it is not worth while to consider
whether a plan for the organization of a co-operative
oyster company cannot be drawn up and put into good
shape during the next year. If they can accomplish
this, I am sure that they could present it to the next
Legislature, with an endorsement by all the people of
the State, so enthusiastic and unanimous that it would
command the support of every one who is interested
in their welfare, and that it would meet prompt recognition
by the Legislature, even if there were not a single
member who depended on the votes of the oystermen.
The complicated details of the organization; the
qualifications for membership; the mode of enforcing
the laws of the association; the way in which rent for
the use of vessels and apparatus is to be assessed and
collected; the sums which are to be paid by the
association for the experience and business standing
of captains and other officers; the way in which fishing
is to be kept within the capacity of the beds; the
means to be adopted for restoring and improving the
beds; the adjustment of the conflicting interests of
different localities: all these and many other matters
careful thought, but I do not believe that the difficulties
will be found insuperable if an earnest effort is
made to work out a plan of co-operative organization.
Certainly the people of the State would rejoice to
see such a plan developed and put into successful
operation, and no obstacles would be thrown in the way
of the oystermen by outsiders. The only difficulty is
the one which comes from human nature.
The native American is too ambitious, too fond of
competition, and too desirous of full scope for his own
individual energy and intelligence and business sharpness,
to take kindly to a co-operative organization;
but the only way to afford a field for these selfish qualities
is private oyster-culture, and if our natural beds
are to be retained as public ground they must be managed
on a co-operative system.
No one can say whether such a system would succeed
or not, but it is well worth trying for a term of
years. If at the end of this period the result were
satisfactory, all the people of the State would be proud
of our oystermen, and it could then be renewed for
another term, or forever, as seemed best.
If the organization should break down or fail
through internal dissension or personal ambition or
conflict of interests, no great harm would be done, for
the system of private culture could then be tried.
Some of the oystermen will assert that they have no
money to invest in the improvement of the beds, and
that the State ought to help them out; that what little
capital they had has been lost in the last few years,
and that, in order to be successful, the fishery would
years that there would be no profits, and only a very
scanty living. Unfortunately, this is true, but it will
be true under any system, and at present things are
growing worse with no prospect of improvement,
while under intelligent co-operation they would improve
rapidly after the first two years. The oystermen
complain that they have no capital to bridge over
this gap, but they will have to get over it somehow, in
any case. At present they cannot borrow, for they
have no prospect of better times ahead.
If, however, the community were convinced that the
organization could be relied upon to develop and improve
the property intrusted to it, there would be no
difficulty in raising the necessary capital, and the
amount which is now paid by the State for licenses
would go a long way towards the improvement of the
beds.
The only plan for the management of the public
oyster-grounds, except oyster culture by a co-operative
organization of oystermen, is cultivation by the
State, and our past history shows conclusively that
the State can do nothing unless it be supported by the
intelligent co-operation of the oystermen. If they are
able to co-operate effectively for the enforcement of
the laws, they are able to co-operate for the improvement
and protection of their own business; they can
manage it for themselves very much better than the
State can do, and they do not need State aid. Every
oysterman will agree with me that if the money
which is now paid for licenses is to be spent in the
improvement of the public beds, the oystermen themselves
than any salaried officers who might be appointed
by the State, to use it to advantage.
State protection has so far proved a total failure,
and I do not see any way to save the public beds, as
common fishing grounds, except the one which I have
proposed. If this is not practicable, the sooner the
natural beds are thrown open to private cultivators, the
better it will be for all concerned.
The artificial culture of salt-water food-fishes is
proper work for the State, for these fishes are migratory:
they cannot be confined or restricted to one
spot, and there is no way to secure to individuals the
enjoyment of the fruits of their own industry in this
field of work. The case of the oyster is quite different.
The animal is as fixed and sedentary as a potato, and
its cultivation is as simple as any other branch of agriculture.
State aid is unnecessary, and experience has
shown that it is totally inefficient, and our public beds
must either be cultivated by the oystermen as an organized
body, for the good of all, or they must cease to
be public ground, and must be cultivated by individuals
for their own profit.
It now remains to consider the measures which
should be adopted for the protection and development
of the other branches of the oyster industry, but this
is comparatively simple.
First, as regards the tide-water consumers of oysters.
So far as they are fishermen upon the public
beds, they should become members of an oystermen's
association for the preservation, restoration and development
of the public domain.
So far as they are planters upon private grounds,
their greatest need is protection in their rights and
encouragement to invest their time and money in the
extension of the planting business. As soon as the
first condition of success, respect for private property,
has been secured, the planting industry will grow
rapidly, and I have already devoted considerable
space (pp. 125-140) to the discussion of improved
methods.
Success in planting requires security in the tenure
of bottoms to be used for the purpose, and I believe
that the following provisions for the growth of the
industry should be made by the State:
Any owner of land the lines of which extend under
the navigable waters of the State, should have the exclusive
right to use the bottom within the lines for
oyster culture; the owners of any land bordering on
any landlocked water should have the exclusive right
to use it for oyster culture above the line where it first
ceases to be one hundred yards wide at low water;
any one who shall construct an artificial pond for the
culture of oysters on any land of which he is the
owner, shall own the pond and its contents; any
owner of land in which there may be any landlocked
water which might be converted into a pond for the cultivation
of oysters without injury to navigation, should
be permitted to construct dams or gates in order to
convert it into an oyster-pond, and should have the exclusive
right to cultivate oysters upon its bottom. In
addition to these provisions, any riparian owner should
be permitted to purchase from the State, at a nominal
price, the right to cultivate oysters upon the bottoms
one hundred yards—beyond low-water mark; and
any citizen of Maryland should be permitted to purchase
from the State, at a nominal price, the right to
cultivate oysters upon an area not to exceed fifteen
acres, on any bottom not already appropriated or set
apart as public ground.
In all these cases the right to cultivate oysters
should be made as much like a title to real estate as
possible, and the State treasury should look for its income
from future taxation of the property rather than
from the price of the franchise. After the planting industry
has become well established it will be able to
bear its proper share of the burden of taxation, but an
infant industry should not be hampered or taxed for
the sake of public revenue.
These provisions, if sustained by a sound and liberal
public sentiment, would put it in the power of any
citizen to engage in oyster-planting, and thus to provide
for the support of his family.
The encouragement of oyster-farming upon the
bottoms in the open waters of the bay now remains to
be considered.
After the natural beds have been surveyed and
mapped and set apart as public grounds, provision
should be made, ultimately, for the encouragement of
private oyster culture upon all bottoms, outside those
limits, not otherwise appropriated.
As nearly all of this book has been devoted to the
subject of oyster-farming, it is not necessary to add
anything more to show its great importance. Its encouragement
is a matter of vital interest to every citizen
contribution to the prosperity of all our people;
it will provide permanent, stable employment for
our oystermen; it will increase the packing business,
it will benefit all oyster dealers, all shuckers and canmakers,
all the business men of the community; it will
provide cheap and abundant food for our people, and
it will contribute to the revenues of the State; but from
its very nature it cannot be successfully carried on
upon a small scale, and steps must be taken to attract
capitalists to this field of industry.
Many thoughtful persons believe that all private
ownership of land is objectionable and injurious to the
best interests of society, and they are for this reason
opposed to private oyster culture. I believe, however,
that it will be found, on careful examination, that most
of their arguments and objections to private ownership
lose their weight when applied to oyster culture.
Private lands above water are often used in such a
way as to exclude other uses more beneficial to society;
but this cannot happen with oyster franchises, for the
State has no power to grant any absolute title to the
bottoms under navigable water, or to grant any right
to use them for other purposes than those specified in
the lease. It has power to convey to private citizens
the right to cultivate and harvest oysters, but it can do
no more, for all the citizens of Maryland have the common
right to catch fishes in our waters, and all citizens
of the United States must always retain and enjoy the
right of free access to all such lands for purposes of
navigation. It is clear that a lease of the bottoms for
oyster culture could not give any exclusive personal
deprive our citizens of their common right to use our
waters for other purposes.
It is also urged that the private ownership of land is
unjust, inasmuch as it enables individuals to appropriate
to themselves the unearned increase of value;
but as the whole bay is a natural highway, where no
public improvements will ever be needed, as no towns
will ever grow up on the water, and as transportation
by water is so cheap that the distance of the market
counts for nothing, and as the bottoms can never be
used for any other purpose than oyster culture, the
only way in which the value of the oyster bottoms
can increase is by the extension of the market, and if
this is brought about by the energy of the oyster
farmers it will not be just to assert that they have not
earned it. The value of our bottoms, for rearing
oysters, is as great now as it will ever be, and while
the selling price of land will rise as the industry extends,
the increased price will not be due to increased
value, but to more general recognition of its value.
Interest in the subject will awaken and spread, after
the success of the first experiments, and as appreciation
of the value of the ground becomes more
general, and the demand increases, the price must
rise, although the actual value of the land for the production
of food will not be any greater than it is now.
The only danger to be guarded against is that some
of the land may fall into the hands of speculators, who,
instead of cultivating it and adding to our resources,
will keep it idle and unproductive until they can sell
their unimproved rights at a profit, on account of the
increased price of neighboring improved lands.
This difficulty seems very formidable on paper, but
it can never exist on any extensive scale, for it would
in that case defeat its own end, and it is clear that it is
from its own nature transitory, and that it will disappear
as soon as oyster culture becomes general and
all the land comes into profitable use.
I believe that ultimately it will be found to be the
wisest policy for the State to make the franchises for
oyster culture perpetual, but since most of the advantages
of private enterprise can be secured by leases
for a term of years, it may perhaps be wise to try this
plan for one or two terms, and to leave the question of
absolute sale for future consideration.
| CHAPTER VII. The oyster : | |