THE OYSTER. 221 



assurance that all these ends will be secured by the 

 association, I believe that it will be wise for the State 

 to give up for the present all hope of immediate rev- 

 enue from the public beds, and to intrust them for a 

 term of years to this association, for the use and profit 

 of its members. 



If my opinions carry any weight, I wish to impress 

 upon the people of the State the fact that the pros- 

 perity of our citizens is very much more important 

 than all the money which we have ever received from 

 dredging and tonging licenses, and I also wish to con- 

 vince the oystermen that they must depend %pon their 

 own efforts rather than upon the State government. 



If I tell the oystermen that it is useless for them to 

 look to the Legislature for the improvement and de- 

 velopment of the public beds, I only tell them what 

 they already know by long experience. 



It has been proved conclusively, over and over again, 

 that our public domain cannot be protected without 

 the aid of the oystermen; but if they would co-operate 

 for the enlightened administration of their own busi- 

 ness, they would need no new restrictive laws. They 

 do not even need to send men to the Legislature to 

 look after their interests, nor do they need to fee law- 

 yers to make out a case for them. The enlightened 

 sympathy of our people is worth more to them than 

 any number of men in the General Assembly, or than 

 all the advice of the best lawyers in the State. For 

 support they must rely upon public sentiment, and for 

 success they must trust to their own efforts. If our 

 public beds are to be saved from ruin, it must be by 

 the efforts of the oystermen themselves, by organiza- 



