Kipling as a pro-war poet? Not what I've read.

'It's "Tommy this", and "Tommy that", and "Tommy walk behind"
But it's "Please to stand in front sir" when the troop-ship's on the wind...'

Now as an apologist for imperialism, that's a different matter. But his verse is (as the title says) from the barrackroom, not from the "glorious victory" officers' view.

For that matter, "Pick a bale of cotton" might as well be seen as celebrating the slaves' triumph over adversity.

As far as whaling goes, they need to face the fact that like Cornwall and Grimsby in the UK, and like the Grand Banks in Newfoundland, they (and others) have been taking more than Nature can replace.

Graham.