THE OYSTER. 157 



ent 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, nor to any plan for public improve- 

 ments in other parts of the State by this revenue. For 

 several years past it has amounted to nothing, and un- 

 der our present system it will never be worth consider- 

 ing. 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 and protecting them without expense 

 to the people of 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 unquestion- 

 ably 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 oys- 

 ter, and, among them, those who fish the public beds 

 to get oysters 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 



