Show Too Many Whalers on the Trail of Poor Leviathan He Is Protected by Treaty of Powers JONAH I ONAH was never inside a I 13 whale at all and never meant I Ito to say he was declares the latest latest latest lat lat- lat lat- est bit of biblical interpretation When the prophet related how he had been swallowed up by bya a a. great fish fash he was only using a figure of speech which his contemporary hearers understood understood understood under under- stood well enough meant that he was in iii a pretty bad fix Nowadays the whale Is In the position position po po- of Jonah Too many whalers with too efficient ships and too deadly killing weapons are pursuing ing lag poor Leviathan through nil all the seven seas and cluster thickest on his trail in the remotest part of the world away down under in inthe inthe inthe the waters about Antarctica A convention convention convention con con- of 26 nations drew up a protective protective pro pro- treaty at Geneva In 1931 1031 which has now gone Into effect Among the ratifying powers aro are some that have no coastline at all oU like Czechoslovakia and Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Switzer Switzer- land and others whose direct Interest interest interest In in- terest in the whaling industry is remote remote remote re re- re- re mote like Turkey and Rumania But the real masters of today's whaling Norway and ond Britain have havo ratified and the United States m though now having only a a 2 per percent percent percent cent stake In the total whaling interest interest interest in in- terest has signed up also Some Nations Wont Won't Agree But there are a few notable holdouts holdouts holdouts hold hold- outs The U. U S. S S. S R. R which controls controls controls con con- the greatest stretch of Arctic seacoast in the world and ond Japan always unwilling to yield any ony national national national na na- na- na advantage whatever A newcomer newcomer new new- comer corner is Germany which is sending sending sending send send- ing one of the great ships known as asa asa asa a floating factory into the field If It these holdout nations nation should plunge ahead without restraint killing killing killing kill kill- ing whales with no bag limit at all aU they might be expected to undo all the good effects of other powers' powers treaty-sealed treaty self But the story is not quite so simple as that Those floating factories factories' are terribly expensive things Built In sizes runnIng running running run run- ning up to tons or more more they cost a million dollars or so apiece Each must be attended by from four tour to six smaller killer boats which cost about each bringIng bringing bringing bring bring- ing the total for fot each ach unit up to something like That is a alot alot alot lot of money to gamble on any kind of fishing Norway May IMay Foil Them At present Japan and Germany have only one floating factory each And both nations are considered as broke as can be It remains an on open question w whether eth r they will spend great speculative sums on whaling fleets when every marland marl mark and yen Is urgently needed to feed other hungry spots In their respective respective respective tive national economies economics And Norway has a fistful of aces in the tile hole A large part of the Norwegian fleet of floating factories is tied up at present A special act of the Norwegian parliament forbids the selling of any any of these ships But if any holdout nations show signs of going whole hog and junking the Geneva treaty they will find themselves confronted with a fleet more formidable In this kind of ofa a trade war than If It were composed com corn posed of |