DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL


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no one of which shall have had any connection whatever with the project here-
tofore. This board is directed to reexamine this entire project, and specifically
it is directed to examine the questions of whether it will have a harmful effect
on the water supply of Florida and whether the project itself justifies the
expenditure of Federal funds for its construction. If the report of the board
is favorable, the President would be authorized to utilize the project for work
relief by expending on it not more than $10,000,000 of the work-relief funds
appropriated in this bill-funds which must be expended for work relief in
Florida in any event. That is the sum and substance of this amendment.
It is the President's view that it will be informative and helpful to have the
study and advice of a board whose judgment may be relied upon as unbiased
and unprejudiced in determining these fundamental questions. The President
was undoubtedly fully satisfied on these points before he authorized the project,
but his critics have continued to insist that he has erred in this matter. This
amendment provides for just that further examination and study of the project.
which they demand before additional funds are expended. I think, Mr. Speaker,
that the amendment is therefore not only eminently fair but is the most reason-
able way of meeting this very serious situation. It is one which I believe any
sincere opponent of the project should welcome, because it insures that no
further funds would be expended until additional investigation of the questions
raised have been made. The great number who favor the project should be
willing to have this further study made. A vote in favor of this amendment
is simply a vote to require more study of this project before it can be utilized
for work relief, reserving to Congress the decision at some future time as to
whether this project shall be prosecuted to completion.
 Mr. Speaker, I do not see how this request of the President can be reasonably
 refused by his opponents, and I feel certain that it will not be refused by his
 supporters It is so sensible and so fair that I am confident that the House
 will vote to adopt it.
 Mr. BAcoN. Will the gentleman yield?
 Mr. O'CoNNoB. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
 Mr. BAOoN. The gentleman stated that the Army engineers had approved
 the project. My understanding is that the Board of Engineers for Rivers and
 Harbors have not made any report either for or against it.
 Mr. O'CoNNoB. That is correct. They have not reported officially. I meant
 the Army engineers who had studied the project heretofore.
 Mr. TABsP Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
 Mr. O'CoNNOL I yield.
 Mr. TAB=s On page 42 of the hearings on nonmilitary projects of the War
 Department this question was asked General Pillsbury:
 "Was that approved by the same type of board that the Passamaquoddy
 project was approved by?"
 General Pillsbury replied:
 'No; to the best of my recollection, that was not recommended by any
 board."
 Mr. O'CoNNoLB I can only say I am informed it was recommended by a
 special board of Army engineers, including P. W. A. and other engineers. I
 have not any more time at the moment to yield.
 Mr. BUOHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time to my colleague, the gentle-
 man from Florida [Mr. Green], as he may desire to use.
 Mr. GrBEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to extend my remarks
 and to include therein a short statement of facts of about one page.
 The SPBAK x pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman
 from Florida?
 There was no objection.
 Mr. GRmeN. Mr. Speaker, I have on several former occasions discussed this
 project in detail and at length. It is not now my purpose to anything more
 than very briefly review the history and the present position of the Florida
 canal. This is a river and harbor project. In the ordinary course of events
 it would before now have reached the Committee on Rivers and Harbors
 and been subject to such action and recommendation as that body might have
 seen fit to make. It had its inception in the river and harbor bill of 1927,
 which provided for a survey for a waterway connecting the intracoastal
 system of Atlantic seaboard with that of the Gulf of Mexico. I drew and
 introduced the survey bill The River and Harbor Act of 1930 provided for
 further surveys. It was my lot to also introduce this survey bill. Pursuant
 to these provisions the Corps of Engineers, over a period of more than 6
 1'