480 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLOBIDA CANAL

 and that the damage to water supply would be small, consisting only of lowering
 the levels of nearby wells.
 These reports are now being reviewed by the Board of Engineers for Rivers
 and Harbors precedent to the submission of the reports to Congress with the
 recommendation of the Department.
 Very truly yours,
 E. M. MAsKmAx,
 Major General, Chief of Englnsers.
 USE or U r woBKOa ON THE CANAL
 There are now 6,000 people employed on the canal, 90 percent of whom were
 taken from the relief rolls. They allowed contractors 10 percent not on relief
 rolls, because the contractors had to take with them certain men who had
 been with them for years. The men are doing real work, and you are getting
 dollar for dollar for the work. If $12,000,000 is appropriated, the result will
 be that 10,000 more people in Florida will come off the relief rolls and begin
 digging the canal
 Now, when the President made his estimate to this committee, Mr. Speaker,
 he asked for $1,00,000,000, and he asked for $12,000,000 in addition thereto
 for the Florida cross-State canal Therefore these 6,000 men already put to
 work and the 10,000 to whom work will be given were not taken into consid-
 eration, and the bill should be increased by an amount sufficient to take care of
 those people if the appropriation for the canal is not secured. I do not know
 of any way of absorbing those people in any other employment. Frankly, I
 have urged the canal not only from an economic standpoint and as something
 worth while-a great national project-but from the relief standpoint. It will
 be a project that will stand as a monument to the President and to Congress
 when this canal shall have been completed.
 Now, I cannot speak for the members of the committee or for my colleagues,
 but I can say that some of my colleagues have told me on the floor of the
 House and over in the Offce Building that it was just a matter of difference
 of opinion. They felt that the President should go on with the canal without
 asking Congress anything about it. The President thought he should ask
 Congress' endorsement before going too far with it. Personally, it is imma-
 terial to me which way you proceed so long as we get the canal.
 ADVANTAGE TO SHIPPING AND BUSINESS THROUGH UO s OF CANAL
 Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, let us consider some of the opposition to the canal.
 First, I will call your attention to this phase of it: It has been stated, and I
 think it can be proven, that the mail-contract rates will be materially reduced if
 the canal is completed. For the boats carrying the mail, the canal will take off
 about 400 miles of the distance. That much will be cut off the distance by
 going through the canal; and, as you know, they are paid by the mile. Of
 course, that may be a selfish way to look at it; and if I were a mail contractor
 receiving several hundred thousand dollars a year for carrying the mail, and
 there was a chance of cutting off $75000 or more because of the construction
 of the canal, no doubt I would oppose it.
 The contract that the Government has with them, I think, provides that they
 shall carry the mail by the shortest route that can be traveled.
 Second, I would like to call your attention to this map. Perhaps you have
heard about this before. This [indicating] is called the Yucatan Channel, the
graveyard of ships. This is leading into the Gulf and down into the Caribbean
Sea. The canal, you will see, comes through here [indicating] from Yankee-
town across to Jacksonville. Now, the canal is 373 miles nearer to the Gulf
on the western side through the canal on to Galveston and other Texas
points. From points on the east coast of Florida to Galveston, Savannah,
Charles, and northern ports, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, and other points,
the distance is 300 to 400 miles shorter by going through the canal instead of
around the coast of Florida.
 Now, they tell you that the boats will not use it; but the same argument was
used against the Suez Canal, and It was used against the Panama Canal. I
want to be perfectly fair with you. It may be argued that the Merchants &
Miners Line, the Clyde Line, the Occidental, and all the lines of ships from New