| Show Too Many Whalers on the thc Trail of Poor Leviathan lIe He Ic Is Protected by Treaty of oC Powers was never inside a JONAH whale at all and never meant to say he was was vas declares the latest latest lat late est eat bit of biblical interpretation When the prophet related how howle lie he le had been swallowed up by bya a great fish he was only using a figure of speech which his contemporary hearers understood understood understood under under- stood well enough meant that he ie was in 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 pursuing Ing ng poor Leviathan through all the seven seas leas and cluster thickest on his ils trail trall in the remotest part of the he world away down under Inthe in inthe inthe the waters about Antarctica A convention convention con con- of 26 28 nations drew up a protective pro- pro protective treaty at Geneva in 1931 which has haa now gone cone one into effect Among the ratifying powers are some ome that have no coastline at all like Ike Czechoslovakia and Switzer Switzer- land and and others other whose direct interest in interest in in- terest in the whaling industry is remote re re- mote like Turkey and Rumania Jut But the real masters of today's today whaling Norway and Britain have ratified and the United States though now having only a 2 per percent percent percent cent stake In the total whaling interest Interest in- in terest crest has bas signed up also Some Nations Wont Won't Agree AlTee But there are a few notable holdouts hold bold outs The U. U S. S S. S R. R which controls controls con con- the greatest stretch of Arctic lea seacoast coast in the world and Japan always unwilling to yield any national national national na na- na- na advantage whatever A newcomer newcomer new new- comer is Germany which Is send lend lending sending ing one of the great reat ships known ala as al asa asa a floating the field If It these holdout nations should plunge thead shead without restraint kill In ng Ing whales with no bag limit at all they hey might be expected to undo all the he good effects of other powers' powers treaty sealed self deniaL But Dut the story is rot not quite so 10 simple as 81 that Those floating factories are terribly expensive things Built in sizes Ilzel running running running run run- ning up to tons ton I or more they cost a million dollars or so 10 apiece Each must be attended by from four to six smaller killer boats which cost about each bring bring- ling ing ng the total for tor each unit up to something like That is a alot alot alot lot of money t to gamble on any any ani kind of fishing Norway May lay Foil Them At present Japan and Germany have only one one floating factory each And both nations are considered as broke as can be It remains an open question whether they will spend great speculative sums on whaling fleets when every mark and yen is urgently needed to feed other hungry spots in is their respective respective respective tive national economies And Norway has a fistful of aces aces aces' In the hole A large part of the Norwegian fleet of of floating factories is tied up at present A special act of the Norwegian parliament forbids the selling of any of ot these ships But If any holdout nations show signs of going whole hog and junking the Geneva treaty the they will find themselves confronted with a fleet more formidable in this kind ofa of ofa a trade war war than if It U were composed composed com com- posed of |
