New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-14
WHALEBONE SUBSTITUTES.
CAUSES THAT ARE KILLING A GREAT MARI
TIME INDUSTRY.
THE PRODUCT OF THE LEviATHAN or THE
ARCTIC SEAS BEING DRIVEN OUT OF THE
MApEf TT, ny cuEAp nEXICES


largest dealers in baleen. the whalebore
'of commerce. In this city. ION its last
legs" With the extinction OF whaling will end one
the gorou, periods OF American sea life for
more true hcroism and romance have clustered about
the hardy mariners who have sailed out OF Nantucket
and New. Bedford harbors these hundred years and
more to engage In the pcrs and hardships Of Whaling
voyages than Sir Walter scott dreamed Of invest
Ing his heroes with But like the feudal times Of the
Middle Ages. with their barons and knights and mail
clad warriors. the whaling epoch OF American scafar
Ing life, 1t seems must disappear. Already Its sun Is
far down toward the rim, though stout craft and
stouter hearts are still fitted out In New Bedford
chase the sperm whale through the rolling fortics'
OF the Atlantic. or to follow the "bowhcad' in the
frozen OF the Arctic.
All this sad condition OF affairs Is due to the In
vcntivc genius OF the Yankee and the lamenabe ease
with which the women OF America humbuggcd into
buying cheap substitutes for the flexible and incom
parable strips from the jawbone OF the levatan Of the
Northern seas. Devices supply the place OF whale
bone have been multiplying with fearful npldty OF
recent years. until now the Down East whaling mas
drcading, stated above, that the actual
extinction OF the whaling industry Is only question
OF few years. dozen years ago the thin. Nat strips
of whalcbOne were considered essential In the make
up OF womans corset the laces that drew 1t snug
~ 10 the form OF The owner, Willie now, according to
the statement Of Il leading manufacturer OF corsc's,
1t Is the exception und not the rule that wlalebonc
Is found In corset. The factory madc corset Is rib
bed with such substitutes for whalebonc Feather
bone" hornbone, Hat strips OF Steel wire rattan. reed
and cOralnc and even n vegetable fibre that grows
the Spanish dagger plant OF the Far West is brought
into play, scwed down and passed OIL on the public
because 1t Is cheap and much OF 1t palmed of gen
uine wlalebOne.
But the vast army OF shoppers who daily throng tho
Sidewalks OF SiAhavc., Fourteenth and Twenty third
SITS. and DRIFT In and out OF the great retail emrori-
uins not all deceived. They know that feather
bOne' h0rnbOnc, cclulod. reed. rattan, cOrane and
vegetable fibre quickly break and that steel ribs are
rust, whaebone the experienced women call
FOR, and whalebone they get. Probably they have to
so 10 some OF the female corsetmakers who abound In
the uptown shopping districts, and do n thriving bust
In their special line, for they use nothing but
whacbcne, or at least use II literally. But che whale
bone coscs made I'm these special shops expensive
built the plan o. the famous mile balaines,
Of Paris with their thousand pieces CT wha-ebone EACH
costs upward OF $50, while hardly OF the work OF
these cotsctmakcrs can be had under slO. The lac
tory made ianscs In price from so cents to g.
Nor are the only things INTO the manufacture
Of which vhalcbOnr oLtcis largely that Is being Oh Up
encd aud the business rcvoluionizcd by substitutes for
the whaebOnc. The substitutes gradually driv-
,ng whaleb. he out OF the factories where whip handles
are made aid from The nilliners Establishments
whalebone has been used largely In the fashion
ing II hats and the shaping Of waists OF dresses, es
Decally the latter. Steadily but surely the cheap
sub tne for Ing out tie genuine arlic In dozens
OF other directions where II long he'd monopoly, such
as the stiening OF shoes for persons with weak ankles,
etc.
The flooding Of the markets with substitutes Tor
whalctonc began a dozen years ago, but the practice
received an immense impetus In 1883, partly through
natural CAUSES and partly through the folly or fSw
owners of whaebone In trying to put an outrageous
price on the stock OF bone held by them, practically
tbo hon In fha rkpt0
mer OF 1901 sale OF whaebone was made In this city.
800 pounds for So 20 pound. which was the uptop
price ever paid for whalebone In this or any other
country. At that time practically the only wl'ac3one
held In the world was the stock OF 10000 pounds
owned BY the Pacific Steam Whaling Company Of San
Francisco. This short supply was due 10 several
successive OF poor luck and disaster for the
whaling feet In the Arctic. Tile records OF whale
fishery show that in 1854 the bone brought to Amer
can ports BY vessels engaged In the pursuit OF right
whales nearly all American vessels by the way, with
asoned and sailed Down East slippers In command,
reached the splendid total OF 3,443,.OO pounds which
was worth an average Of 40 cents Il pound. Notwith-
standing improved and more destructive methods OF
fishing. the Of steam vessels which could follow
the whale In young lce and the invention OF the ter
rible boom lance harpOOn, and Its accompanying
destroyer the shoulder gune industry In 1882 yield
cd only OIL 800 pounds OF bone which, however sol
at an average of 81 II pound. The year 1883 was
amounted to only OJ7 pounds before the fleet was
blown out OF the whaling grounds. The price. be-
cause OF the shortage began to rise, and 1t rose stead
w. though with fluctuations as the news came good
or b,d from the North 10 the excessive figures reached
In 1881 mentioned ABOVE.
As the price scared the mliners and manufacturers
OF Europe and America became desperate, and sub
sti,ues began to appear rapidly. The Pacific Steam
Whaling Company realized that they were killing the
goose that had been laying the golden eggs for cen
tury II Is related that Mann Isaac, of Berlin one OF
the heaviest users of whalebOne in the world, when
the price got to u.s. gave out notice TINT he would not
buy pound. lie kept his word Whether he used
substitutes or what he did. none OF the American
whalebone dealers seem to know. Last summer how
ever when the price had receded to . somewhat lower
Ogire Mr. Isaac placed order In America for 900
pounds. What he did OH large scale nearly every
body else In the business did In lesser degree ana
the con sumption OF whalebone fell Of enormously The
cheap devices to FIJI the place OF the genuine bone null
tiplIed and Gourished rnkly, like the wicked Ihey
struck their roots into the business world SO deeply
TINT whaIemen see the future through glass,
darby expect nothing short OF total extinction OF
their business And this, with the North sea full OF
whales Fuller. in fact than ever before IL The as
sertIon OF some NcwBedford owners OF whners are 10
be believed. But 1t must he said that the views OF
these New Bedford whacrs as 10 the number OF whales
left are not shared IN by the body OF people who,
while they NAV have no special knowledge the sub
ec are firm In the faith that one OF the great causes
OF the reduced output OF wbalebonc Is the extinction
OF the whales.
ats only o question Of time before substitute
for whacbone will be found nearly like the genuine
article as TO make whaling Improbable" said G. \.
Bartlett OF the Tobin Whaebone Company to n Trtb-
une reporter recently and dread OF that contingency
permeates the whole whaling business. should be
sorry 10 see It myself for my grandfather established
the Ayhaline firm OF |. II. Bartlett Sons In Ncwbcd-
ford In 1910. and the firm still exists YET afe'uN
Imported hornbone from the East Indies has pracu-
colly displaced the short pieces OF whalebonc.'
Arc whales rs numerous as ever In all the seas !
"well maybe the sperm whale OF the Atlantic has
been pretty well hunted ont. but The rght whaIc. or
.bowhcad' of the Atlantic Is. believe. more numerous
than ever. one OF our CAPTAINS reported a'' summer
that Ii, lad struck II large number OF whales ana mao
caupbt n ecr,oip number bnt" he added. for every
whur | cangh, struck thirty, and for evccry one
struck saw a thousand Other captains talked 10