Evening Star Newspaper, November 17, 1929, Page 96

country, on the water it rises sharp and chill and penetrating damp, and rapidly upon the water the cold comes on, till, by December, these men who “follow the water” (as they say) are first drenched and then frozen as they work, tumbling below exhausted to thaw and steam when the day is over. We crowd on sail and make a new race for the nearest harbor to negotiate with the “buy boats,” those intermediaries between the *drudgers” and the “shuckin’ houses.” “Cap'n,” shouts the buy boat captain to the (dredger, “you haven't a thing in there except a lot o’ culls!” Then begins such a dickering as never was heard outside a stock exchange. At last they hit on a price. The bargain's consummation is marked by the buy boat's order: “All right. Start in an’ load!” A windlass with a block-an-tacklé€ fail Jets down an “oyster bucket”—a rough bushel measure—and the count begins. The buy boat men say the drudgers try to ease the oysters up on end and slip in a few stones. The drudgers say the buy boat bushel measure holds about a bushel and a quarter. The buy boat captain sits with a shingle in his hand and makes a vertical pencil mark on it for each bushel delivered, with a tally mark for every fifth. They chant back and forth from boat to boat: “One is a one!” says the buy boat. “One is a one!” the “drudger” answers. “Two is a two!” “Two is a two!” “Three is a three!” “Three is a three!” “Four is a four!” “*Four is a four!” comes the echo, and then: “PFive is a five—Tally!” Wholesale buyers board the dredgeboais and dicker for lots of 40 or 50 bushels at a time. At last, the bargaining over, the buy boats put off for their shipping ports, for such great eyster marts as Norfolk in Virginia, or Crisfield or Cambridge on Maryland's famed Eastern Shore and scores of others. There, in the shucking-house, men and women wearing heavy gloves shuck—or open —the oysters 10 or 12 hours a day with the rapidity of skilled piece-workers, pass them on to be cleansed in fresh water, to be packed in ice and shipped in special cars by express, to be redistributed from Baltimore or Washing- ton. Second grade oysters—these to the shucking houses. The epicure’s delight and the joy of the “raw bars” go to their last red receiving station in or on their shells and still alive. Cold and wet and tired, but enormously you it is a whole lot easier the morning. The cap'n and equipment and gets one-half of sales. The crew pay the cook and bill on shares and divide the rest—and cook helps with the dredging. THERE is many a man still oystering in the waters of the Patuxent and the Potomac and the Chesapeake who remembers when things were very different. They tell of days when it was common practice to shanghai men in Pratt street and cother river streets of Balti- more—if they could—and impress them in the oyster fleet. The cap'n’s will was law. From the time they woke up aboard ship till the season ended they never went ashore except virtually under guard. “The food was terrible,” says Cap'n Harry. “Beans and black molasses, a little heckfish and mighty seldom flour bread. If a man rebelled it was mutiny and treated as such. The regular crews were a tough lot—unskilled, mostly for- eigners. Now they are made up of local people, who divide their time between oystering and crabbing and fishing and working for the can- ning factories. “And when the season was over in the old days there was many a cap’n found it cheaper to pay his ‘nen off with the boom. What'’s that? Why, just give them an order that will make them go up for'ard and stoop over, and then swirg the boom around and wash them over- board.” 1 thought the cap'n was having a little fun ut my gxpense. I know better now. Rowed ashore from the James O. Wright in Monroe Bay, I walked along the beach to what they call “the Point.” It is a tiny spot covered with thickets, On this single point are the un- wmarked graves of a dozen bodies, unknown, un- tdentified and long since forgotten. And just the other day Dr. Truitt dropped from the airplsne in which he is making a sur- vey of the Maryland waters for likely spots for a marine laboratory upon My Leg Island. He, too, had heard such stories. He took a spade and began to dig. In an hcur he unearthed the skeletons of half a dozen men who similarly had met their deaths. These were no idle tales. past My Leg Island, where the Patuxent in past My Leg Island, where the patuvent in Maryland flows to the Chesapeake, past many another inlet, I wander, talking to the oyster- men of today. Here is Cap'n Mister of Solcmons Island, in Maryland-—"“Ole Cap’n Mister” as distinguished from his son, who is the young cap'n. We sit in the twilight after his day on the waters—a group of us—talking of the oyster wars between the men of Maryland and the men of Virginia, -of the machine guns hidden in small boats and the rifle fire that has taken scores of lives at- tacking or defending what each thought was his own privileged oyster rock, and of the way the States had just recently arbitrated and set- tled a line and driven the local warriors back to legality by dropping shells from a one-pounder gun into the mud ahead of the machine gunners and rifilemen. There was Cap’'n Wessel, who has a fine scorn for gadgets. Some one asked him why he did not carry a compass on his boat. “I steered my chorus up and down the bay for 40 years,” he remarked, “and I never got THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. NOVEMBER 17, '1929. off my chorus and M¥eFfin aground yet, and I'll put my judgment against any instrument!™ And he had proved his right. Rickly endowed with humor, steady-eyed and utterly American, these captains of the oyster fleet of Maryland and Virginia are men well worth going miles to find and talk with. They are splendidly built men, blue-eyed, sea-tanned. descendants of early settlers from England, and no college educated or city experienced man 1 know can surpass for fineness of manners or fluent and excellent English such men as Capt. Miller or Capt. Lore or Capt. Mister or Capt. ‘Watson or many another. HEN their hard work is not calling they take their rest in sweet little houses shadowed by trees, part of the picturesque scenery of this water-color landscape, and there they enjoy such food as an epicure might envy. And always, threaded through their lives, goes the homey Southern flavor of the local colored helpers. They, too, have been for generations in and of these places, these waters. They, too, are content. The Eastern Shore Negro has a curious accent all his own. “That's where the rake lMes, might could be oyster there,” says Tom Toy. “The rake?” you ssy. “Suthenly, the rake. Whar the ole Mary Ann got sunk and ain't neveh been able lif’ her out yit.” Another who used to take people out in his boat gave up “following the water” entirely. When we asked him why he had done so, he said: “I was out en m¥ boat en a squall come up and I done nearly drowndead. Affer that 1 couldn’t go out in the deep river anny mohe, I was so weakened down. Every time I come about my center-boahd done tech bottom!” In the very strength and old-time individual- ism of the character of these oystermen ironi- cally lies the real menace to the future of the oyster industry of these waters. They them- selves are the first to tell you of their own di- minishing takes, stories amply borne out by the official figures. “In the old days,” said Capt. Miller, “a good day was 150 to 200 bushels. Now it's a right good day to get 40 or 50 bushels. Then they sold for 30 or 35 cents a bushel. Now they sel] for $1 or $1.25 a bushel.” = — P | deal of such leased oyster rock in these waters. Many ardent conservationists would go farther and, temporarily at least, provide for a com- plete oyster lease system. Dr. Truitt has an even simpler idea. He would emphasize con- trol of the shells and their return to the oyster bars, so that on them the seed oysters could find their perfect resting place. For it seems that the oystermen no longef throw the shells back onto the bed of river and bay to make new ideal surfaces for the searching oyster seed to grow on, but sell them %0 road makers and chick-feed grinders. Yet a few months ago, when Maryland protagonists of scientific oyster conservation had their hearings in the Statehouse at Annapolis be- fore a throng which packed the big room and reached out through the corridors to the street, it was these very oystermen of whom I have been writing—these strong, charming and seemingly highly intelligent captains of the oyster fleet-—who were too individualistic, to@ wedded to their own ancient traditional ways, to permit the new attempt at saving their industry to be lent a legislative hand. It was so Ameri- canly like all of us, so magnificently wrong, that it could not be called pathetic. And they could oppose it successfully bee cause in Maryland these oystermen hold a bal- ance of political power. And in Virginia, when a bill to lease certain natural oyster rock passed the Legislature and the men who owned this mere legality ate tempted to exercise its rights, they were literally driven off the water at the point of the guns of the local oystermen. They had their choice between a dead letter law and being dead themselves, and they chose the Temporarily so, at least, while the quarrel over leasing oyster beds in Mob Jack Bay goes to the Supreme Court. UST recently the century-old dispute as to Will Rogers Looks In on New Political The Civil War Was the Issue in Virginia, Says Comedian, and the Confederates Won. ik L ELL, all I know is just what I read Advertisements. Been a Jot of Scandal in the last few Confederates won. pulpit into a rostrum and wound up with the minority. g Kentucky threw out a mess of Republicans that had accidentally got in during the boom days. Another Dinner Scandal in Washington. When Mr. Hoover was pouring tea for Mr. and Mrs. Dawes why it seems that the invitation of Senator Hiram Johnston was misplaced, per- haps purposely, and instead of Hi getting into the White House, why he had to eat with some Democrats in the Capitol Restaurant. Well, that brought up a big scene out here in Cali- fornia. Our papers played it up very big, for they are both home town boys, both members of the same club (Republican). These lads seem to have had different views for some time past. When they come West loeking for a President why naturally Mr. John- ston couldent see why they had to pass his house on the search., He was in Washington and wouldent have to move his things far, and it looked like a good move all around. But the Republicans always claimed that, while Hiram was carrying a Republican labor card, he was at heart for the open shop, and they claimed that everything they started he would not only disapprove of, but he would even go so far as to lead his support to the Democrats. Well that’s one thing the Republicans wont forgive. They can excuse you being against them, for in their hearts they know that you are right, but when you go and throw that support to the Demo- crats, that’s the last straw. ‘So along comes Mr. Hoover and naturally he had some ideas of what he would like to have done in the way of Civic good for the entire Commonwealth, But every time he would sug- gest something why Hiram was there with the veto. Mr. Hoover would suggest fishing in Virginia and Mr. Johnston would suggest that he fish in California. Mr. Hoover suggested relief for the farmer, Mr. Johnston suggested Relief was what put the Farmer where he is now. THEN the Tarriff come up and for awhile A% they dident know how to disagree on it, for neither knew how the other stood on it. But it . finally worked out satisfactory to each of them, they disagreed. I can understand this invita- tion being lost in the mail. Now, that brings us down to Senator Brook- hardt, who a week or so ago related the ingredi- ents of a wild party he attended. He said Liquor just flowed like Oratory in the Senate. iSaid he sit next to Otto Kahn, which sounds to ume like a boast, for it was certainly a social 4 Senators’ lives are getting tough enough as it is without losing out on any in- vitations that might crop up. concession on Otto’s part. He told the names of the Senators that were there. ‘Well, anyhow, the other Senators could have choked him for telling all this, for it just made it that much harder for them to get into an- other Dinning room. Senators lives are getting tough enough as it is without losing out on any invitations that might crop up. Look at Senator Bingham; they said he had disgraced the dignity of the Senate, and every- body couldent understand what he could possibly have done, so he was reprimanded. The Demo- crats wanted to have him thrown out, and his place taken by a dignified Democrat, but they couldent get him to resign. It's awful hard to get a Senator to quit. In fact, Mr. Bingham wouldent even appoligise to ’em. Bingham is strong for aviation, And I like Hiram, he has done some mighty worthy things, and, anyhow, it takes years in this country to tell whether anybody’s right or wrong. Its kinder a case of just how far ahead you can see. The fellow that can only see a week ahead is always the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope, but he can’t make anybody believe he has it. But, anyhow, it's been a great fall in legisla- tive matters. Nothing has been accomplished, making it a typical session. But there has been a lot of laughs, plenty of what looked like excitement at the time, but which in the gen- eral results dident amount to anything. They had Grundy up for awhile and he gave them the lecture of their lives on “Protection.” They was going to try and prove he was a Lob- byist. Well he not only admitted it, but seemed proud of it. Well, that dident leave them a thing to do but just look amazed. Said he had been a Lobbyist for fifty years and never lost a Lob. He raises a million dollars every Presi- dential year for the good of the Party, and is down there to collect his dividends. - Don’t want a thing but protection for everys thing that is made in Pennsylvania. Said the Just why Otero and Lincoln Counties should have the distinction is not evident; but experi= ments and inquiries carried out by the De= partment of Agriculture have failed to indi- cate any undue effect upon stock in other sec- tions where the grass grows. Its official name is Stipa Vaseyi, and it is & stout, upright perennial grass, with narrow, flat leaves and narrow green or tawny flower heads. It is supposed to be peisonous to horses, cattle and sheep, but little effect was seen on any animals other than horses in the test. In the experiments less than 1 per ¢ the weight of the horse in the grapsi w:: tle?lf The animals became drowsy with fever and an accompanying light pulse. The animals af- fected often lay with their heads and necks stretched out on the ground. They were de= cidedly affected in their gait, and when they could be stirred out of their lethargy enough to move their rear dragged. Profound slumber usually set in and the animals slept for 24 to 36 hours, but, upon waking, were found to have no ill effects. J ryy Treatment of Farm Land, FARM land twice the area of the State of Rhode Island has been subjected to treate ment to prevent soil erosion and loss of fere tility through the effects of rains and flood waters as a result of a campaign carried on by the Department of Agriculture. More than 45, 000 farmers heeded the advice of the depart- ment and built dams and terraced lands which were subject to erosion. This work was carried on in 31 States, with Texas leading. The cost of the work has been from $5 to $10 an acre, but the saving to the farms is believed to warrant many times that amount in expenditures. The farmers of the Northern and middle-Western States are awakening to the need of the work and more rapid progress is expected in the future,