430 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



The present report, based upon my investigations made by request of Profs. Spencer F. 

 Baird and G. Brown Goode, must at the best be but the basis for a more elaborate and thorough 

 scientific examination of this subject. From the chaos in which I found the business, so far as 

 regards statistical information, I have tried to evolve some facts and figures which, by showing 

 the importance of the trade, may cause a more careful study to be made of the means to arrest the 

 present depletion of the beds and provide ways for increasing the natural supply of oysters. 

 Until this is done it is almost useless to hope for wiser laws than those now in existence, many of 

 which are not worth the paper upon which they are written. There are so many widely differing 

 interests, each seeking through its representatives in the State legislatures to have such laws 

 enacted as will protect its own particular branch of the trade regardless of what may be desired 

 or needed by other branches, that it is utterly useless to expect to please all. Politicians, however, 

 dependent upon the votes of the unlearned as well as the learned, must seek by all means to please 

 their constituents, however iinwise may be their desires. The carrying out of this doctrine results 

 in a conflict of opinion among legislators and, no one being willing to relinquish his own pet 

 theories, much time is wasted in useless discussions; and at last, when a bill is proposed, it is 

 subjected to so many amendments, that when finally passed it would scarcely be recognized by its 

 originator. In this way the laws both of Virginia and Maryland bearing upon the oyster trade 

 are often worse than useless ; and if by chance a law should be good, the means of enforcing it 

 and the penalties for violating it will be so inadequate that no good results will follow its passage. 

 It is a lamentable fact that a large part of the oystermen, many of whom are negroes, are so igno- 

 rant as to be easily led by demagogues. I have been informed by a prominent and reliable gen- 

 tleman in Virginia, that during a late political canvass for the State legislature one of the candi- 

 dates, in an address to the oystermen, promised, upon condition of their voting for him, that should 

 they desire to break any of the oyster laws, he, as a lawyer, would defend them free of cost. My 

 own observation leads me to believe that this is by no means an exceptional case. I am inclined 

 to think that just here lies one of the greatest hindrances to the enactment and enforcement of 

 suitable laws. 



The oyster trade of the Chesapeake Bay is of vast extent, giving employment to thousands of 

 workmen and millions of invested capital, and yet there are many intelligent men who believe that 

 the blessings so lavishly bestowed by nature upon the tidewater counties of Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia ju the abundant supply of oysters and fish are in reality productive of more harm than good. 

 Tins belief is based upon the uon- progressive character of the oystermen, who, as a class, are illit- 

 erate, indolent, and improvident. As the great natural productiveness of the soil in tropical 

 countries has tended to retard man's improvement by taking from him the necessity for constant 

 labor, so has the abundant supply of oysters in the Chesapeake tended to make the oystermen 

 unwilling to engage in any steady occupation. A tonginan can at any time take his canoe or skiff 

 and catch from the natural rocks a few bushels of oysters, for which there is always a market. 

 Having made a dollar or two, he stops work until that is used up, often a large part of it being 

 spent for strong drink. When his money is all gone he can repeat the same course. Unless spent 

 in the indulgence of intemperate habits, a small amount of money will enable an oysterinan to 

 live in comparative comfort. He can readily and at almost no expense supply his table in winter 

 with an abundance of oysters and ducks, geese, and other game, while in summer fish and crabs 

 may be had simply for the catching. So long as they are able to live in this manner it is almost 

 impossible to get them to do any steady farm work. This cannot of course be avoided, as they 

 have a right to live in the manner which best suits their taste, although several laws have, at dif- 

 ferent times, been enacted, which, while not so expressed, were really intended to have the effect 



