66 American Fisheries Society 



oyster growers were deprived of the protection for which 

 they had paid additional tax. 



In 1908 a movement was started by certain politicians, 

 upon the assumption that the taxes upon the oyster prop- 

 erties were not as much as they ought to be. The reason 

 advanced for this claim was that the oyster grounds did 

 not pay to the state nearly as much revenue per acre as 

 the oyster grounds in Rhode Island. 



In a message to the Legislature by the Governor at that 

 time, this was pointed out, but the message failed to men- 

 tion the basic fact that in Rhode Island the oyster 

 grounds are owned by the state, while in Connecticut the 

 state sold the ground upon prices and terms fixed by it- 

 self and that they are owned by the planters, — so that, 

 while in Rhode Island the state may justly fix such a 

 rental as it may choose upon its own property, the State 

 of Connecticut has no right to exact a rental on property 

 that it does not own, but is justly entitled to a reason- 

 able tax upon the value of property owned by the oyster 

 farmers. The message also failed to note the fact that 

 some of the grounds in Rhode Island are beyond com- 

 parison more valuable than those in Connecticut, but, 

 even so, it has been found in recent years that the rent 

 required in Rhode Island is so high, that the business is 

 now steadily declining in that state, as well as in Con- 

 necticut. 



Misled by incorrect information, the legislatures dur- 

 ing the past four years, have added one hardship after 

 another in the treatment of the oyster farmers. 



While the law permits the assessment of oyster 

 grounds at their market value, they have been made in 

 fact, ten and twenty times as much as they were ten 

 years ago. Oyster grounds that have been assessed at 

 $5,000 have been publicly offered for sale for $500, or 

 even $250. 



The oyster farmers have been wrongly deprived of 

 many thousands of acres of land under forms of law, by 

 means of making the assessments so high that the owners 

 were compelled to give up their lands rather than pay the 



