56 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 



ation seemed likely to be had, many letters have been written which yield- 

 ed little or no valuable return. The Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries 

 of Suffolk County are almost wholly a sealed book, or, rather, the book 

 has not been written that even assumes to record their origin, growth, past 

 development or present condition. None of the histories or historical 

 documents relating to Long Island, so far as I have been able to discover, 

 treat separately and with either any considerable fullness of detail or exact- 

 ness of statement, the subjects which go to make up the several topics cov- 

 ered by my theme. In attempting to do it even the scant justice which 

 such an occasion permits, I am left to grope in the dark, with no clear and 

 fixed illumination to guide my steps in any direction. Instead of the de- 

 scriptive accounts from which some definite and trustworthy generaliza; 

 tions might be drawn, there are but the barest and- briefest references, 

 which neither satisfy inquiry, nor supply information; instead of precise 

 data, which are essential to historical accuracy, there are loose assertions, 

 unverified conjectures and random remarks. Even the statistics which 

 appertain to certain branches of the general subject, though gathered in 

 recent years with painstaking fidelity by ofiicials or agents assigned to the 

 work, are comprehended in the fio^ures of other and larger districts, and 

 thus fail to shed light on the particular section to which attention is nec- 

 essarily confined. It would seem even easier to discuss with some degree 

 of satisfaction the Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries of the State of New 

 York or of the United States, than to sift from numberless bushels of chaff 

 the grains of truth which miy give in. meagre outline some idea of what 

 ought to be said of the Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries of Suffolk 

 County, to which, by the mistaken indulgence of your committee, I have 

 been restricted. Amid some physical disabilities and many pressing en- 

 gagements I have tried faithfully and arduously to collect and combine the 

 elements from which might be composed a worthy testimonial to the last- 

 ing influences, the large results and the wide bearings of these topics in 

 their manifold relations to- the development, material, moral, mental and 

 spiritual, of the people who inhabit our good county. My own concep- 

 tion of the scope and character of such a contribution to this bi-centennial 

 celebration as ought to be and as could be made from a proper treatment 

 of the theme assigned me, is a far higher one than, as I am deeply con- 

 scious, has been attained or perhaps approached in performance. In 

 truth, I have been compelled to be content with some general and doubt- 

 less crude observations more or less pertinent to the two first topics, and 

 after considering the last in a similar incomplete way to add some facts 

 which have been secured by dint of diligent research in a field where 

 neither landmarks nor mile posts were ever erected and where one must do 

 his own digging to unearth even small fragments of that full knowledge 

 which probably will never come to the surface. As proof that I am not 

 exaggerating the difficulty attending this inquiry in order to shield myself 

 from your displeasure at not receiving such an exposition of the theme as 

 vou may have been led to expect, I may be allowed to quote the conclud- 

 ing sentence of a letter from Joseph Nimmo, jr. , the accomplished and 

 indefatigable Chief of the Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department 

 at Washington, himself a loving son of Old Suffolk, written in answer to 

 my application for aid from his Bureau. After reciting various insupera- 

 ble drawbacks to the proper preparation of a paper on this theme, he says: 

 " If you should fail to meet the expectations of your audience you will 



