The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-09-10
WHALES NOT In DEMAND
FEW LEvlATHANs LEFT AND THEY
ARE NOT MUCH HUNTED.
II Was New Bedford That cleared the
Seas of Esrth's Largest Creatures - u
Was MIR. Rockefeller who showed the
world How to Live without whales.

rOr tnc WnHle tneSe are, IN tnc ian
gtiage of Jack Millers farewell, Hap
by days and many of en-" exclaims
the Boston Evening Transcript. After
a strenuous life of four centuries this
IL the conee-and-cigars. the easy-chair-
and-slippers period OF his existence.
Since the time when Columbus crossed
the Atlantic he has been hunted and
harred from Arctic pillar TO tioplc
post. but the economic cycle has passed
and for the present the whale is en-
ioying a period of comparative secur-
ity. when he may roam the waters In
peace, multiply and people once more
the depleted seas. Let none begrudge
him his repose. The whale deserves
well of the world. What he has in his
humble way contributed to the intel
lectual development of the human race
only the imaginative can compute, only
the ungrateful deny. For four cen
turtles he fed the scholars lamp and
the victors torch. For SO much of
literature and of science as we owe to
midnight oil' the thoughtful and the
generous will give the whale due cred
II. But the service he has long per-
formed is now done better by another
agency, and he enjoys a comparative
ly unmolested rest.
One day last March, a tale came up
from the tropics as weird as the rank
est yarn that ever came out of n
fo'c's'le, but verified as accurately as
n government report. The New Bed
ford whaling bark Kathleen was float
ing calmly in placid sea, when she
caught the attention of n giant fin
back. lie swan up in his majestic
way, and when within a few yards OF
the ship he dlved Just below the sur
face and moved slowly beneath the
keel. Then he rose quickly and saw
agely. in the manner of bucking
bronco. until the ship was sheer above
the water. II toppled over on its side,
the whale moved on few feet and
then, with an angry flip of his tail,
knocked the bark to smithereens.
Now, that may be considered the des-
perate parting shot of maddened,
long-hunted fugitive the climax of an
ancient feud. Only in order to look on
II In this way, we shall have to give
the whale credit for carrying about In
that huge head of his a kind of Mach
iavellian subtlety and mind for deep
planned revenge. And az every old
whaler knows. the only thing in
whales head is some three or four
tons of liquid spermaceti, worth in
the New Bedford market about $50
barrel. 1t is a pity this prosaic fact
is so. for 1t forblds us to indulge in
the poetic fancy of imagining the
whale as entertaining a feeling of
gratitude to the Standard Oil COM
pany and erecting monuments in the
deep to the glory of John ID. Rookie
felcr, who is chiefly responsible for
his emancipation. The petroleum age
for tho world spells golden age for
the whale.
of Boston, Purchase, High and India.
and along the old wharves, you will
find a score perhaps of weather. beat
en- gilt signs which proclaim that
those within sell. among other things.
Sperm and whale-oil, sperm candles
and whalebone." But those signs tell
not the truth. They are signs of moth
ing at all but the conservatism of the
Boston business man, who changes his
wares to meet new demands, but
changes not his sign above him. The
prowllng newspaper man who asks
the junior partner for information
about the whale-oil trade is met by
an amazed stare and half-indignant
Great Scott. man, wake up; this is
1902. We don't deal i'm whale-oil. We
sell mineral oils" And when you call
his attention to the sign which he
has seen with unseeing eyes these
twenty years he explains that that is
of the past, and refers you to Smith
& Co., around on India square-they
handle the whale-oil, think" And
then Smith, the commission dealer,
says: I'VE don't carry any whale-oil;
oh, yes, there is an old fellow out i'm
central New York that orders a barrel
once every six months or so. We or
der 1t for him from New Bedford, but
we don't know what he does with 1t.
Some old Rip Van Wrinkle. I guess,
that sticks to the old ways"
After diligent search you find the
one or two houses that do make a
business of whale products, and you
learn that there is now just one staple
use for sperm oil-miners' lamps
Then, too. a few railroad companies
like 1t for their signal lamps, and for
certain curious purposes. like temper.
ing steel, the universal mineral oil is
improved by a slight admixture of
spermaceti.
In New Bedford you will hear the
same story. In the grocery stores and
on sunny porches the old whaling
captains. deep-eyed, hawk-nosed, re-
hearsed old times in the Western
ocean," The picturesque population
that made New Bedfords wharves
the most genuinely cosmopolitan spot
in America is gone forever. Frank T.
Bullen has written their requiem:
From all the isles of the South they