The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-06-13

proposed a new venture the subscrip.
lion Hat was passed around the town
and both sexes. and people Of all con-
di,ions at once filled IT, Although the
indiscriminate slaughter OF whales
continued, especially the slaughter of
the calves" which we're left to per-
ish, new fishing grounds were opened
In the Japan Sea. There was no Amer
lean nor international law which for
babe the useless destruction of the
young. by depriving them OF their
mothers. and It was merely a question
Of time when the industry would end.
| In 1860 experiments made with the
shales Of Nova Scotia developed the
existence OF coal oil. A process was
invented for its ds.illation. Among
those who invested in this new indus
try was the noted Delmonico of New
York, who ventured his entire fortune
In it. Just after the process for ex-
tracing the oil from the shale had be- |
come profitable, the natural oil wells |
OF Pennsylvania were discovered. Att
once the price of Illuminating oil fell.
Coal oil began to take the place of
whale oil. Those who had invested in
the new processes for distlling coal
oil were made bankrupts. The great
prosperity of New Bedford began to
decline. The fleets of whale ships
which had visited this port and Lahai-
ma every season, to the number of two
hundred and more, rapidly decreased.
San Francisco became the port for
supplies, and in time what remained
Of the industry passed into the hands
Of the merchants of that place, and 1t ,
is now in their hands. During the
'forties" as many as one hundred ard I
hfty whalers visited the harbor of Ho- {
nolulu at the same time. The average ,
tonnage OF these whalers was about {
,hree hundred and fifty, and they lay \
'ide by side, like packed sardnes, in g
)ur hrbor. The average crew con- G
sisted Of about thirty men, and as I
many as three thousand seamen at one ]
ime generously distributed the vices h
II civilization among the native Ha- y
New Bedford, New London, Nam q
ncket, Martha's Vineyard and Sag Z,
iarbor went to seed. The ships rot s,
ed away or were sold. The young n
len scattered and settled in the larg- d
r cities, or emigrated to the West. A h
Irge part of the capital accumulated p
y the fisheries was transferred to &c
oston and New York. The enterpris-
lg men of those places believed that of
ew industries would take the place q,
the old one. But economic laws m
He'd these places out, and grass grew en-
the streets. The only hope OF new va
'osperity was in the line of manufac- to
ring. New Bedford alone establish he
veral cotton mills, but the profits Nj
ON these were Insignificant in COM al,
'rison with the extravagant returns nj,
the whale fisheries. 10.
The demand for whalebone has in w;
eased to such an extent that IL the no
ices now paid for 1t had prevailed lis
the early days the dividends Of the IN
'ners of shares in the whaling fleet br,
)uld have been fabulous-far ex- ,
eding the dividends OF the most sue M
ssful plantations. q,
The story of the whale fisheries Is wb
nply one of the rise and decline Of an,
eat prosperity, leaving the descend IN,
IS of those who were fortunate wr
ough to share in 1t, no better intel IN
tually and morally than II they had tio
ne" d haru living out OF the rocky mol
of New England. Prosperity de- =
oped more vice than virtue. a..