Present Status and Future Prospects. 115 
them to continue the business to a limited extent as long 
as the fondness for sperm lubricating oils continues to be a 
Yankee trait. 
Beyond these possibilities the future seems to hold 
nothing. Whaling no longer ranks as an important 
commercial interest even in the localities from which it is 
carried on. The most optimistic view of the future 
reveals no prospect of any chance for permanent growth 
or development. The economic conditions under which 
whaling prospered have ceased to exist, never to be 
revived. The chief influences which induced the decline 
of whaling have not been abated in the slightest degree. 
The death knell of whaling was sounded fifty years ago. 
It may almost be said that whaling is already dead. 
