Twilight in the South 333 



practically no concern to them specifically. America's part in inter- 

 national whaling today is as nearly altruistic as any international 

 action could be for, apart from a small new sperming industry run 

 by Norwegians, she prosecutes no whaling and uses very little of 

 its products. 



The results, even now, are not happy. Every whaling outfit — and 

 there are about twenty during each season today — carries an in- 

 spector with assistants. Their duties are to inspect every whale and 

 to check its measurements to see that it is neither a nursing mother, 

 a protected species, nor below the prescribed limits of size. In addi- 

 tion this official advises — and he can never do anything else, poor 

 fellow, since he is not invested with any executive or other real 

 authority — the manager of the expedition against any physical en- 

 croachment upon the great oceanic reservations which have been 

 set up among the southern sea-countries for the conservation of the 

 whales, and he performs a lot of other watch-dog functions. He re- 

 ports only to the Commission, and he is supposed to be empowered 

 to recommend disciplinary action to be taken against any offenders, 

 by the government under whose flag they are working when the 

 offense is committed or by the government of the national con- 

 cerned. In point of practice, not one single case of any such action 

 has ever, as far as I can ascertain, been taken by any government as 

 a result of any recommendation, and I do not know whether such a 

 recommendation has ever been transmitted by an inspector to the 

 Commission. At the same time, all the accounts of modern whaling, 

 which admittedly are limited in number, in remarking upon this pro- 

 cedure seem to stress that the "suggestions" of the inspectors are 

 noted with the greatest care by both whalemen and whaling com- 

 panies, and their admonitions and advice are greatly respected. In the 

 case of the whalemen, the inspectors have come to represent um- 

 pires. If they are vigilant and interpret the rules fairly and without 

 bias, they become just as great a comfort to Captain Olsen by watch- 

 ing out for sharp practices by Captain Larsen when Captain Olsen is 

 absent, as they do to Captain Larsen in watching the behavior of 

 Captain Olsen when Captain Larsen's back is turned. So, in a strange 

 kind of Anglo-Saxon way, the system is working, and, provided the 

 Commission has lit upon a safe annual quota for the whales, experi- 



