212 THE OYSTER. 



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 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 tide- 

 water 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 citi- 

 zens 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 pro- 



