156 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Statistical eecapittjlation for Philadelphia: 



Number of planters, wholesale dealers, and shippers 75 



Value of shore-property |100, 000 



Number of vessels and sail-boats engaged (registered in other States) 250 



Number of men hired by planters or dealers 250 



Annual earnings of same $150,000 



Number of restaurant servants, etc 3, 500 



Annual earnings of same |1, 000,000 



Total number oi families supported 3,250 



Annual sales of — 



I. Northern oysters : bushels 1,740,000 



Value of same $2,000,000 



II. Chesajieake "plants" bushels 940,000 



Value of same ^^750, 000 



Total value of oysters sold annually , $2,750,000 



0. MARYLAND AND BALTIMORE. 



45. OYSTER-FISHERIES OF MARYLAND. 



The investigations of Mr. R. H. Edmonds. — In respect to Baltimore and Maryland, the information to 

 be given is due almost entirely to the labors of Mr. R. H. Edmonds, of Baltimore, who investigated the subject in 

 the capacity of special agent of the Census. His report for this special region was published in the Journal of 

 Commerce, Baltimore, of which Mr. Edmonds was an editor during the summer of 1880, and gave much satisfaction 

 to those who were interested in the matter in that city and down Chesapeake bay. If some of his expressions are 

 too enthusiastic, they can easily be pardoned. The men of Chesapeake bay believe that their waters cover the very 

 best oysters in the world, but my note-books contain a record of a dozen localities, all along the coast, where the 

 same assertion is fondly made and sincerely believed. He is a wiser man than I, who attempts to decide among 

 their claims and, ex cathedra, to award supremacy to any one district. 



I shall have little to add to Mr. Edmonds' history of the oyster-interests of Maryland, and include all of his 

 report in quotation marks: 



General considerations : Introductory. — "The Chesapeake bay and its numerous salt-water tributaries, 

 contain proliUc and valuable oyster-beds, probably about equally divided between the two states of Maryland and 

 Virginia. Notwithstanding the great importance and value of the oyster-trade of the Chesapeake bay, it is a 

 subject upon which there has been no trustworthy information, either as regards its extent, the amount of capital 

 invested, or the past and present condition of the business. The legislatures of Maryland and Virginia have, at 

 every session for many years, revised and re-revised tiie laws upon this subject for their respective states; but 

 have always been content to work in the dark, knowing nothing practically, and never seeing the value of obtaining 

 fidl information upon so important an industry. There is, perhaps, no subject of such vital importance to either 

 state, that is so little understood. By some it is as greatly overestimated as it is underestimated by others. Many 

 who have never lived near the water, and who gain their information from the rose-colored pictures, drawn by 

 correspondents who see only the best features of the trade, imagine that an oyster-bed is a mine of wealth, from 

 which every oysterman may gather a liberal competence with but little labor. Nothing could be more erroneous. 



"The present report 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 widelydiflering 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. I'oliticians, however, dependent upon the votes of the unlearned as well as 

 the leai'ued, must seek by all means to please their constituents, however unwise may be their desires. The 

 carrying out of this doctrine results in a conflict of oi)iniou 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 



