36 American Fisheries Society 



protect the oyster grounds so that oyster propagators, who expend 

 many hundred of thousands of dollars yearly in propagating or 

 planting oysters, lose much of the fruits of their labor through 

 depredations of a class who do not expend anything to produce 

 shell fish or any other crop, but depend for their livelihood upon 

 catching the natural products of the waters, supplemented by 

 what they can secure by trespass upon the thickly planted grounds 

 of oyster planters. Production cannot continue where depredation 

 is not suppressed. 



In 1916 the writer presented a paper to this Society in which 

 he pointed out the result which must follow such a policy as was 

 then being pursued by the states of Connecticut and Rhode 

 Island. At that time, oyster grounds, to the extent of thousands 

 of acres, were being abandoned because they were being assessed 

 at five to ten times what they would bring in the market. In 

 that paper it was shown that oyster grounds that were assessed 

 at five thousand dollars were publicly offered for sale for $500 and 

 even $250. 



The oyster farmers were thus wrongfully deprived of many 

 thousands of acres of land under forms of law, but which were 

 really confiscation. The owners were forced to give up their 

 lands rather than to pay the taxes that were exacted. These 

 lands had been bought for cash from the state, and taxes paid 

 upon them for thirty years, but they were practically confiscated 

 by the state. 



The same official who in 1908 assessed a piece of ground at 

 between eight and nine thousand dollars, assessed it in 1914 

 for $128,938, more than fourteen times what he had assessed 

 it at in 1908. The rule of assessment, according to law, on both 

 of these dates was the "fair market value," and it was worth 

 much less in 1914 than in 1908. This is only one illustration of 

 many hundreds in which oppressive injustice was inflicted upon 

 the oyster farmers. Not only was the law violated with reference 

 to assessments, but the rate of taxation was doubled, so that it is 

 now twenty mills on the dollar of valuation, and oyster grounds 

 three miles from land, that can enjoy none of the protection or 

 benefits of city government, are required to pay more than real 

 estate in the centre of a populous city ! 



