DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL


 Senator FL MCHE You are interested in showing that it is a self-
liquidating proposition
 Secretary ICKEo. That is right. We were making a loan.
 Senator VANDENBERG. How close was Mr. Walter Davenport to
the facts when he said in Collier's Weekly on December 14:
 Mr. Ickes hotly contended that the canal is an economic impossibility?
 Secretary IcKES. Well, everything I do seems to be "hotly" done
when it is reported.
 Senator VANDENBEBG. Will you "coolly" answer this question?
 Secretary Icxms. Yes. I will coolly answer the question by moving
to strike out the word "hotly." I was not particularly excited about
it one way or the other. It simply was one of many thousands of
applications that came over my desk.
 Senator VANDENBEBG. Mr. Davenport might be said to correctly
reflect the facts if we amend his sentence to read:
 Mr. Ickes contended that the canal was an economic impossibility?
 Secretary IcKE. No; I never contended that at all. It came up to
me in the form of reports, and, generally speaking, I affirmed the
reports that came up from my experts.
 Senator VANDENBEG. And that is what you did in the case of the
report from Major Fleming. I think you formally disapproved the
application on January 29, 1935; is that correct?
 Secretary IcKE. That is correct.
 Senator VANDENBEmG. Then the application was again submitted
to the President, as I understand it, on a revised basis of financing,
which was again referred to the P. W. A. for consideration-is that
correct?
 Senator FrzIcHE. There has been no application submitted to
the President.
 Secretary ICKES. It was revised in other respects, I think. It
included navigation features and some other elements which had not
been presented to us for consideration with the original application.
 Senator VANDENBERG. Then was there another report made to you
by E. H. Foley, a junior director of the legal division, dated February
2, 1935
 Secretary IcKES. That is right.
 Senator VANDENBERG. And does that memorandum state that the
plan outlined by the applicant could not be approved
 Secretary ICKES. Yes; in the form presented.
 Senator VANDENBERG. Then on April 10, 1935, did your finance
division make a report on the amended plan ?
 Secretary ICKEs. It did.
 Senator VANDENBEqO. And did it report that there was no present
sufficient justification for P. W. A. reopening the case
 Secretary ICKES. That is correct.
 Senator FLmECHEB. The conclusion of the finance report was to
this effect:
 The finance division's study of this project has been limited to a consideration
 of the reasonableness of the security offered, without regard for the fact that
 the proposed canal might be of value as an aid to national defense or of eco-
 nomic value to the country as a whole.


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