202 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL

 STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD L. ICKE, SECRETARY OF THE
 INTERIOR
 The CHAQMAN. Mr. Secretary, you may proceed in your own way
 if you care to make a statement.
 Secretary IC s. I have not prepared a statement, Senator. This
 is a War Department project. I do not know as much about it as if
 it were a P. W. A. project.
 Senator VANDmaaNm. How did it happen that it was not a P. W. A,
 project?
 Secretary IcKEs. We did not approve it.
 The CHAIMAN. Did you have it before you for consideration, Mr.
 Secretary?
 Secretary IcKEs. Yes.
 Senator FL~IOHR. You had an application for a loan, did you not,
 Mr. Secretary ?
 Secretary ICEs. A loan and a grant, I think. No; just a loan-
 you are right, Senator.
 Senator VANDENBER Did this come to you, Mr. Secretary, first by
 reference to the R. F. C., who received an application for a loan ?
 Secretary IxKm. Yes. When P. W. A. was set up under order
 from the President all applications for public-works projects pend-
 ing before R. F. C. were sent to us, and this was among them. It
 was then an application by a private enterprise.
 The CHAIMAN. You mean the application for the building of
this canal?
 Secretary ICKe. It was recently filed with the R. F. C.
 The CHAIMAN. As a private enterprise
 Secretary IcmES. As a private enterprise.
 The CHarn*r. That is, a corporation was to be organized in
Florida
 Secretary Icam. Either was to be or had been. It was private
interests.
 The CuAmxAI. In that event there were to be tolls charged on
that, of course
 Secretary ICKES. I assume so. Yes; the original application con-
templated the charging of tolls.
 The CHarJMw Did the B. F. C. automatically send you all appli-
cations made to it of this nature ?
 Secretary Icxls. Of this nature; yes, Senator.
 Senator FhrECHa It was an application by a corporation organ-
ized not for profit?
 Secretary IcKB. I do not know, Senator, the nature of the applica-
tion that was filed with R. F. C., because when it came to us in the
interval there had been a statute passed by the Florida Legislature
which created a public body.
 The CHAMAN. Mr. Ickes, let me ask for the information of the
committee: Did the B. F. C. automatically refer all applications they
received to you
 Secretary Ics. Involving building, I believe so. They restricted
their operations to helping to relieve financial distress of banks,
insurance companies, and that sort of thing.