Whaling as a Business Enterprise 337 



cause of the decadence of whale fishery, however, 

 as a glance at the other branches of the American 

 merchant marine will show, for American ship 

 merchants as a guild have been steadily losing 

 their sea habit. They have turned from invest- 

 ments afloat to those on shore, save only as some 

 have found profits in alongshore trades. 



In connection with this change of habit, consider 

 the effect of forecastle life upon the young Ameri- 

 cans, as already described, and the effect of the 

 disgust of the young men upon the ship-owning 

 guild. For it is manifest that when the supply 

 of young Americans failed in the forecastle, the 

 supply of men for the cabin decreased, and with 

 the failure of the supply of American officers 

 there was a failure in the supply of new blood 

 that should have been infused into the counting 

 room. The young men who might have brought 

 enterprise and enthusiasm, as well as knowledge, 

 into the counting room to keep up the needed 

 evolution, were riding the line on Texas cattle 

 ranches or "booming" town sites in Kansas, or 

 sinking prospect holes in the Rockies. The old- 

 time shipowners learned the business astride of 



