Author: Harry Hopkins Merrick

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-20

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781331902942

Excerpt from Joint Debate on the St. Lawrence River Ship Channel President Small: Ladies and Gentlemen: There has been under consideration by the International Joint Commission, a commission composed of American and Canadian citizens, a project for the improvement and canalization of the St. Lawrence River for the purpose of providing a ship canal connecting the lakes and the lake ports with the Atlantic. Its advocates are belligerent and insistent; its proponents are in like position as to their attitude. When this Congress met in December, 1920, there was strong pressure brought to bear for the discussion of this great project, but your officers and Executive Board stood out against discussion at that time, because it was then under consideration by the agency created by Congress for that purpose. Recently they have made a report, and, presumably, it is now ready for action by Congress, and, in pursuance of the policy of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress that this shall always be a public forum for the discussion of projects which have been investigated by the agencies authorized by the Congress of the United States, it was deemed appropriate that it should be discussed at this session, and, in order that the discussion might be orderly and confined to those who were selected for the discussion, it was arranged to have it presented by its proponents and opponents at the afternoon session today. The Chair only makes this suggestion pending the debate. It is a great project. Those who advocate it retain high hopes of its national benefits. Those who oppose it have, as they think, good reason for believing that it is not a proper project to be adopted by the Government of the United States. The admonition, which the Chair gives in all seriousness, is this: Consider it on its merits; not sectionally. (Applause.) Let us not have any division of the Lake States on the one side and the Eastern States on the other, because they are all Americans; they are all patriotic; they all want to do that which will subserve the best interests of the country. (Applause.) The following division of the time has been agreed upon: The first hour will be consumed first by Mr. Merrick for thirty minutes and then by Governor Allen for thirty minutes. The second hour will be occupied by Governor Miller. Governor Allen will then have fifteen minutes for reply and, finally, Governor Miller will have seven minutes for rejoinder. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.