74 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 



keting ; increase the productive acreage and the yield per acre ; check 

 the inroads of enemies; increase opportunities for remunerative 

 labor; vastly improve the sanitary conditions of the moUusk beds 

 and of the marketed moUusks; and, finally, would restore public 

 confidence by definitely and completely removing even the present 

 exaggerated conceptions of the typhoid germ lurking in the oyster. 



Such laws could in the long run work no injury to present 

 riparian owners, for the reason that these owners now have no ex- 

 clusive rights in the fisheries, but would have equal opportunities 

 to acquire such additional rights as they could properly utilize, 

 and thereby secure themselves and their property against trespass 

 or other undesirable conditions. 



The shore town would profit by increased taxable property and 

 increased production of wealth within its territory. Both the 

 inland and the seashore dweller would be able to secure oppor- 

 tunities for farming under water as well as on land; while the 

 general public, i.e., the State, would realize an income from an 

 extremely valuable asset at present decadent and unproductive. 



