250 POLAR PROBLEMS 



support a valid claim of sovereignty unless the discovery is followed 

 by an actual settlement of the discovered country. In the absence of 

 an act of Congress assertative in a domestic sense of dominion over 

 Wilkes Land this Department would be reluctant to declare that the 

 United States possessed a right of sovereignty over that territory." 



Knowledge of this Antarctic Continent and its surroundings is as 

 yet very incomplete. Commander Byrd has expressed the opinion 

 that exploration by air, while difficult, would not be impossible; but 

 such voyages as those of the Discovery, which sailed in September, 

 1925, on a three years' expedition under the auspices of the Govern- 

 ment of the Falkland Islands, are more likely to be of scientific value. 



The Antarctic region is of present importance only in connection 

 with sea life; there is no question of future air transit, as in the Arctic; 

 any form of mineral wealth is no more than a remote possibility of 

 the unknown; nor can we today visualize any settlement or occupa- 

 tion, in the ordinary sense, of any part of the Antarctic Continent. 

 National territorial jurisdiction, if exercised, could seemingly touch 

 only those visitors engaged in whaling or sealing or in exploration. 



Such diplomatic discussion of the Antarctic as may have taken 

 place is unpublished and doubtless not important; perhaps because 

 of the fact that there has been no attempt at a rigid administration 

 of any system of control of the fisheries. However, if certain marine 

 species are not to become extinct, international discussion and agree- 

 ment, which will include the Antarctic region generally, are a necessity. 

 Various valuable forms of sea life are in question; but in particular, 

 because of whaling in the southern waters, a highly profitable and very 

 active industry, the whale seems destined to extinction within a brief 

 period. The very learned and interesting report made to the League 

 of Nations Committee of Experts by M. Suarez in December, 1925,^^ 

 tentatively estimates the remaining number of whales at not over 

 12,000, with at least 1500 killed in the Antarctic every year. 



In no part of the globe are claims to sovereignty over land areas of 

 as little apparent consequence as in the Antarctic ; but the waters of the 

 Antarctic, which seem to be a natural refuge for the whale and other 

 habitants of the sea, are now the scene of a ruthless and reckless 

 slaughter of those creatures of the deep whose protection from ex- 

 termination is a matter of interest to mankind generally. From this 

 point of view alone the Antarctic is a part of the problem of interna- 

 tional cooperation. 



^^ J. L. Suarez: Report on the Exploitation of the Products of the Sea, Pubis. League of Nations, 

 V: Legal, 1026, V. 6: C. P. D. I. {Codification Progressive du Droit International) 28, revised, Geneva, 

 1926. 



