Rowe. — Destroying a Food Industry 65 



When this law was enacted, it appeared that the aver- 

 age tax upon farm lands of the state was about ten mills 

 on actual market values, and as oyster farming was more 

 hazardous than up-land farming, and, as the property 

 involved was less protected by law than property on 

 land, it was considered that ten mills was a sufficient and 

 reasonable rate of taxation. The taxation of oyster 

 grounds was analogous to that of farms, rather than to 

 that of city property, because the oyster grounds could 

 not partake of the benefits of taxation such as are de- 

 rived by city property, — they need no fire protection ; no 

 sewers or public works of my kind ; no street lights ; no 

 building department; no educational expense, parks, 

 street pavements, sidewalk pavements, etc. All these 

 items furnish reasons for the additional taxes which in 

 many cities amount to twenty mills instead of ten mills, 

 as upon farms in the country. 



In 1893 it was called to the attention of the legislature 

 that the oyster grounds situated from one to four miles 

 from land, in the open waters of Long Island Sound, 

 were of necessity more subject to depredation than any 

 property on land, because the navigable waters are a law- 

 ful highway which is travelled by every kind of boat 

 and vessel by night and by day. 



After a long discussion in the General Assembly, it 

 was enacted that five mills additional should be collected 

 in taxes upon the oyster grounds, and the Shell Fish Com- 

 missioners were authorized to expend this amount in 

 oyster police for the protection of the oysters on these 

 exposed grounds. 



The Shell Fish Commission, whose personnel had been 

 changed after the investigation of 1888, called a con- 

 sultation of oyster growers of the state, and methods 

 were devised for the expenditure of this additional tax in 

 such ways as seemed to the oyster growers and to the 

 Commissioners best adapted to protect these properties. 



This continued for eighteen or twenty years, after 

 which without any authority of law or justice, the 

 amounts collected for this purpose were withheld and the 



