DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL 33

 "Resolved, That the president and officers of this association are hereby in-
structed to use their utmost endeavor to bring the merits of the prompt construc-
tion of this project to the attention of the President of the United States, to the
Secretary of War, and to the directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation,
and to all other officials -involved, in order that this exceptionally meritorious
project may be promptly constructed under the provisions of the emergency
relief bill; and to the end that human suffering may be relieved through the early
construction of this great national project, we earnestly solicit the cooperation
of the high officials of the Government of the United States in removing all tech-
nical barriers which normally impede the progress of a project of this magnitude
under circumstances of less emergency; and be it further
 "Resolved, That we hereby instruct the officers of this association to carry out
such plans to finance construction of the Gulf-Atlantic ship canal project as
they may deem proper and as may be acceptable to the Federal Government and
the directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation."
 Pursuant to said resolution, and to forward the objects of its organization, the
undersigned, National Gulf-Atlantic Ship Canal Association, files this preliminary
application for a loan pursuant to title II, section 201-(a)-3, of the Emergency
Relief and Construction Act of 1932, and respectfully represents as follows:
 1. That this association will at an early date complete the organization of a
corporation to be organized under the laws of the State of Florida (and in particular
pursuant to sections 6313-6330, Compiled General Laws of Florida, 1927), to
be empowered to construct a ship canal across the peninsula of Florida, within
the provisions of article 16, section 16, of the Constitution of the State of Florida,
providing for the exemption from taxation of the property of a corporation which
shall construct a ship canal across the peninsula of Florida. This application
is made for the use and benefit of such canal corporation to be organized as
aforesaid.
 2. The amount of the loan applied for is one hundred sixty million dollars
 ($160,000,000).
 3. The loan will be evidenced by notes, bonds, or other obligations of the canal
 corporation, to be in such form and to run for such period and to be secured by
 such mortgage or trust indenture as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
 may require, pledging all of the assets and tolls or other income of said canal
 corporation. Said canal corporation will likewise offer to hypothecate with the
 Reconstruction Finance Corporation as additional security all of its authorized
 capital stock and will make such provision in its charter and bylaws as the
 Reconstruction Finance Corporation may desire, providing that all of said capital
 stock after the retirement of the obligations of said canal corporation incurred in
 the construction of said canal will be held for such purposes or upon such trusts
 or will be transferred or assigned to such person, corporation, or governmental
 agency, as trustees, or otherwise, as the Congress of the United States may from
 time to time by resolution request or direct.
 4. The statutes of the State of Florida authorize and provide for a canal cor-
 poration collecting tolls. By the regulation of such tolls the operation of said
 canal can and will become a self-liquidating project under the terms of the
 Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932.
 5. Pursuant to the provisions of the Federal River and Harbor Act of the
 United States dated July 3, 1930, the Secretary of War was authorized and directed
 to cause preliminary examinations and surveys to be made for a waterway across
 northern Florida to connect the Atlantic intracoastal waterway with the proposed
 Gulf intracoastal waterway. The canal corporation proposes to construct a
 ship canal across the peninsula of the State of Florida upon a route to be approved
 by the Board of Engineers of the United States Army. The route as thus
 approved will be specified in the charter of said canal corporation and in the
 final application to be made to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for the
 proposed loan.
 6. It is believed that the construction of the proposed canal at this time will
 further the purpose of the Congress of the United States in adopting the Emerg-
 ency Relief and Construction Act of 1932, because said construction will provide
 as much or more man-hours of labor than any other similar public or private
 work now proposed, will stimulate many industries in various parts of the United
 States in the construction of the materials and supplies needed for such work,
 and will otherwise provide sources of employment. There are filed herewith
 exhibits showing the relation of this project to unemployment relief, its self-
 liquidating characteristics, and additional series of charts.