TffE OYSTER. 213 



tected. It is equally clear, however, that they can 

 claim no right to deprive the tide-water people of food 

 by plundering private supplies of oysters, or by de- 

 stroying the natural beds. Every one knows that 

 private planting grounds have been robbed without 

 mercy by some of our fishermen, and. even the men 

 who are most prejudiced by their own interests are no 

 longer able to deny the well-known fact that our public 

 beds have been brought to the verge of ruin by the 

 men who fish them to supply the market. 



If fishing cannot be carried on upon the natural beds 

 without this result, the interest of our whole people 

 demands its prohibition. The citizens of Maryland 

 do not desire to deprive any one of the right to earn 

 his living, but our own interest requires that oystering 

 upon the public beds shall be prohibited unless the 

 oystermen can convince us that they can be intrusted 

 with this right, without placing our common property 

 or the property of any citizen in peril. The question 

 which we should ask them, which they are bound in jus- 

 tice to ask themselves, is whether they are able to give 

 this assurance to the people of the State. They can- 

 not satisfy the community by calling for more laws to 

 keep them within bounds, or by asking for an armed 

 police force to prevent them from destroying their own 

 interests. 



They must satisfy the people that they themselves 

 have enough public spirit to organize themselves for 

 their own government and regulation, and that they 

 have enough self-restraint and forethought and intelli- 

 gent self-interest to provide for the protection and im- 

 provement of the property which is intrusted to them. 



