30 THE MOLI.USK FISHERIES 



industries, and every man should have a " square deal," which is fre- 

 quently lacking under the present regime. 



Besides party discrimination, there is discrimination against certain 

 individuals, as illustrated in giving oyster grants. Town politics plays a 

 distressing part here. Favoritism is repeatedly shown, and unfairness 

 results. All this shows the unpopularity and impracticability of such 

 regulations and the method of making them. 



(3) Present Chaotic State. — The present town laws are in a chaotic 

 condition, which it is almost impossible to simplify. No one knows 

 the laws, there is merely a vague impression that such have existed. 

 Even the selectmen themselves, often new to the office and unacquainted 

 with the shellfisheries, know little about the accumulated shellfish la,ws 

 of the past years, and find it impossible to comprehend them. The only 

 remedy is to wipe out all the old and replace them with unified new 

 laws. 



(4) Unsystematic Laws. — The present laws are unsystematized. 

 Each town has its own methods, good and bad, and the result is a 

 heterogeneous mixture. Often there are two or three laws where one 

 would definitely serve. To do absolute justice there should be a definite 

 system, with laws elastic enough to satisfy the needs of all. 



(5) Nonenforcement. ■ — The worst feature of allowing town control of 

 the shellfisheries is the nonenforcement of the laws already passed. We 

 find in many towns that good by-laws have been made, but from inat- 

 tention and lack of money these have never been enforced and have 

 become practically nonexistent. The iy2-inch quahaug law of several 

 towns is an instance of this. In but one town in the State, Edgartown, 

 is any effort made to enforce this excellent town by-law, although sev- 

 eral of the other towns have passed the same. The proper enforcement 

 of laws is as important as the making, as a law might as well not be 

 made if not properly enforced. The only way that this can be remedied 

 is either to take the control completely out of the hands of the town, or 

 else have a supervisory body which would force the town to look after 

 violators. 



Besides the town by-laws there are other evils which result from the 

 present system of town control. 



II. Lack of Protection in Oyster Industry. — In no case is the man- 

 agement by towns more inefficient and confusing than in the case of 

 the oyster industry. As this subject will be taken up in the oyster re- 

 port which follows, it is only necessary here to state that there is great 

 need of a proper survey of grants, fair laws, systematic methods, etc. 

 Protection is necessary for the success of any industry, and is especially 

 needed for the oyster industry. The oyster industry of Massachusetts 

 will never become important until adequate protection is guaranteed to 

 the planters. Under the present system, uncertainty rather than pro- 

 tection is the result. 



III. Town Jealousy. — The evil of town jealousy, whereby one 



