158 



THE OYSTER. 



State, and those who hold that the people of our tide- 

 water 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 manage- 

 ment 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 

 destroying a business which gives profitable employ- 

 ment to a large class of citizens. All civilized com- 

 munities recognize the advantage of selling their pro- 

 ducts 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 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 



