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Show - Too Many Whalers Whalerson on the Trailof Trail of ofPoor ofPoor Poor Leviathan LeviathanHe He Is Protected by byTreaty byTreaty Treaty Treatyof of Powers PowersBONAH BONAH JONAH 1 ONAH was never inside a awhale aJ awhale awhale J whale at alland all andnever and never meant meantto meantto meantto to say he was , declares decJares the 1at- 1at lat- lat 1atest latest lat latest - - est bit of biblical blbhcal interpretation interpretation.When interpretationWhen . When the prophet related how howhe howhe howhe he had been "swallowed swallowed "swal1owed swal1owed " up by bya bya a great fish fish/ fish fishhe , / ' " ' ' he lie was only using usinga a figure ofspeech of speech which his hiscontcmporary hiscontemporary hiscontemporary contcmporary contemporary hearers under under- understood understood understood - stood wellenough well enoughmcant enoughmeant enough meant mcant that thathe thathe thathe he was in a pretty bad fix fi'c fic fi " ( ' : . Nowadays the whale is in the po- po posItion po- po position po position - - sition of Jomh Jon'lh Jonlh Jonih ' Too many whalers whalerswith , , Wlth with too efficient ships and too toodeadly toodeadly toodeadly deadly killing killrng \ weapons \ ; e3pons eapons , , are pursu pursuing . ing mg poor Leviathnn Levlath\n Levlath n Leviathin ' \ through all the theseven theseven theseven seven seas , and cluster thickest on onhis onhis onhis his trail in m the remotest part a of ofthe ofthe ! . the world , away "down down " under , ' , " in inthe inthe inthe the waters about Antarctica AntarctIcl : A con con- convention convention . - vention of 26 nations drew up a pro pro- protective protective - . tective tcctive treaty at Geneva in 1931 1931hlcb 1931I , , \ ' which \\hlcb hlcb 'hich hich has now gone into mto effectAmong effectAmong effect effectAmong Among the ratifying ratIfymg powers arc are arcsome aresome arosome some that have no coastline coastlme at all all alllike . , hke like Czechoslovakia and S\\ S SItzer Sther- Sther Stherland Swiber-land Swiber land \ \ Itzer- Itzer Itzerland - - land , and others whose direct in- in interest Interest in interest - terest in the whaling whahng industry mdustry is re- re remote remote re remote - - mote , , like hke Turkey and RumanIl Rumania Rumania.But RumaniaBut : . But the real masters of at today's todays today'swhalmg today'swhaling today'swhaling todayswhaling ' ' whalmg whaling , , Norway Nora3 Nor\\a Nor a \ \ ) and Britain Brltam , , havo have havoratified haveratified havoratified ratified , , and the United Umted States Statesthough , , though now having havmg only a 2 per percent percent percent cent stake in the total whaling ill- ill illterest in interest - . terest . , has bas signed up alsoSome alsoSome also alsoSome Some Nations Won't Wont ' Agree Agree.But AgreeBut . But there are a few notable hold hold- holdouts holdouts holdouts - outs The U . . S S R , , which con con- controls controls controls - trols the greatest stretch of Arctic Arcticsencoast Arcticseacoast Arcticseacoast sencoast seacoast in m the world , , and Japan Japanalways , , alwlYs always : unwilling unwlllmg to yield any na- na national national na national - - tional advantagehatever advantage whatever \\hatever hatever \ \ . A new new- newcomer newcomer newcomer - comer is 15 Germany , which is send- send sendmg send sending nd- nd ndmg - - ing mg one of the thc great ships known as asa asa asa a floating floatmg factory into mto the fieldIf fieldIf field fieldIt It If these holdout nations should shouldplunge shouldplunge shouldplunge plunge ahead .head head . without restraint restramt . , , kl11- kl11 kill- kill kl11mg killing kill killing - ing mg whales with no rio bag limit at all all.they allthey , . they might be expected to undo aU all aUthe allthe allthe the good effects eITects of other powers powers'treaty powerstreaty ' treaty sealed self denial But the thestory thestory thestory story is not quite qU1te so simple slmple as that thatThose thatThose thatThose Those floating floatmg factories factones are arc ternbly terribly ternblyt'Xpenslve terriblyt.xpensive terriblyt-xpensive terriblyt xpensive t'Xpenslve tXpenslve t.xpensive txpensive . . - ' things Built BUllt in sizes run run- runnmg runnmg running - ning nmg up to 20 000 tons or more , , they theycost theycost theycost cost a million mllhon dollars or so apiece apiece.Each apieceEach . . Each must be attended by from fromfour fromfour fromfour four to six Sl't Slt suc ' smaller smaner ' * killer 'k1l1er k1l1er " boats boatswhich , WhlCh which cost about $50 50 $ 000 e each ch , bring brmg- brmg bring- brmgmg bringmg bringing - ing mg the total [ for or each unit up to tosomethmg tosomething tosomething somethmg something like llke $2,000000 2000000 $2,000 2000 $ , 000 That is 1S a alot alot alot lot of money to gamble on any kmd kind kmdof kindof kindof of fishing fishmg fishingNorway fishmgNorway Norway May 1\l3y 1 l3y \ Foil Foul Them Them.At ThemAt . . At present . , , Japan and Germany Germanyhave Germanyhave Germanyhave have only one floating floatmg factory each eachAnd eachAnd eachAnd And both nations arc are considered as'brokc as broke 'brokc brokc * ' " as can be It rcmams remains rcmamsan remainsan remainsan an open question queshon whether they wIll wIllspend willspend willspend spend gleat gieat speculative sums on onhalmg onshaling onwhaling \\halmg halmg shaling \ \ fleets , , when every mark markand markand markand and yen is urgently needed to feed feedother feedother feedother other hungry spots in their respec respec- respective respective respective - - tive national economiesAnd economiesAnd economies economiesAnd And Norway has a fistful of aces acesin acesin acesIn in the hole A large part of the theNorwegian theNorwegian theNorwegian Norwegian fleet of floating floatmg factones factories factoriesis factonesIS IS tied up at present A specIal specIalact specialact specialact act of the Norwegian parllament parliament parllamentforbids parliamentforbids parliamentforbids forbids the selling sellmg of any of these theseShIPS theseships theseships ShIPS But if l ! any holdout natIons natIonssho1 nationsshoi nationsshow sho\1 sho 1 shoi \ signs of going whole hog , , and andJWlkmg andjunking andjunking JWlkmg junking the Gene\ Gene Genes Geneva Genea \ a treaty , they wIll wIllfind willfind willfind find themselves confronted with a afleet afleet afleet fleet more formidable in m this kind kmd of ofa ofa ofa a trade v/ar v ar war / than if it were com com- corn- corn composed cornposed composed - posed of supcrdreadnaughts superdrcldnaughts superdreadnaughts : . |