60 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



engaged in this industry. These men employ $2,147,850 capital, and market annually 

 2 >397.735 bushels of oysters and 380,460 bushels of clams. The market value of their 

 product is probably very near to $2,500,000. 



I have been in office six months, and the means at hand were necessarily incom- 

 plete and unsatisfactory, so that I have not made this census as accurate or complete 

 as it will be possible for me to do. With the means I now have at my command, and 

 with the experience gained by the preliminary work, I am satisfied that the census of 

 this industry would show it to be a great deal larger and more important than the esti- 

 mate I have submitted appears to indicate. The exportations of oysters from the port 

 of New York aggregate annually 125,000 barrels, at an estimated value of $625,000. 

 Fifty thousand bushels of seed oysters, valued at $25,000, were shipped to California. 



It would be very desirable if some method could be devised by which annual 

 statistics of this industry could be given to the Legislature of the State in order 

 to show its importance, and also to determine accurately the effect of existing 

 legislation as it affects the industry favorably or unfavorably. 



One of the most gratifying results of the passage of the laws of Connecticut, and in 

 New York, has been the cheapening of oysters as a marketable commodity ; they are 

 no longer a luxury. Professor Atwater, of Wesleyan University, who has made a life 

 study of the question of economic food supply, says the oyster, at its present price, and 

 with its value as a food product considered, is the cheapest commodity of its kind on 

 the market. Chemical analysis has determined that the oyster contains in large quan- 

 tities the valuable protein substances that are of such value in building up the physical 

 system. It seems, therefore, that the Legislature, recognizing the enormous possibilities 

 of New York State for the production of oysters, should encourage this industry. There 

 is nothing more important to be considered than the question of a food supply of the 

 people, especially in view of the fact of the enormous increase in the population of the 

 world. The food supply of the future is. even now a question that is being widely dis- 

 cussed, and it seems to me that a great industry like this, which cheapens and 

 increases the food supply of the people, should be encouraged. 



In the leasing of lands under water I have considered that the intent of the 

 Legislature in passing the laws under which I act intended rather the development of 

 a great industry and the providing of cheap and abundant food for the people than 

 the creation of an additional tax upon oystermen or increase of revenue to the 

 State. No attempt has been made by the Commissioners of Fisheries, nor by myself, 

 to increase the burdens of the oystermen by imposing unnecessarily large expense 

 upon them to carry on the business, and the minimum price fixed by the Legislature 

 has been, as a rule, accepted as satisfactory, apparently, to the Commissioners in the 

 past, and certainly to myself, for the rental of these lands. 



