The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-01-14
HARDING URGES
EARLY TREATY
WITH CANADA
Deep Waterway Work Posi-.
BILE in 1928 If People Ask
For II. He Says

II the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
waterway is completed, North Da-
kota will be brought "next door" to
Europe and will have a world mar
ket in which to dispose Of its prod
ucts, W. l.. Harding, former governor
Of Iowa and president of the Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence Tidewater asso-
citation told members Of the state
Legislature at a joint session this aft
crnoon.
"When the Saint Lawrence is OPEN
cd you will have a rate from Duluth
to Liverpool of ten cents a bushel,
within two cents of the rate New
York now has" Mr. Harding said.
That means tnat you Will save from
10 to IL cents a bushel on the hun
dred million bushels Of wheat you
annually ship out of the state
Diversified farming can be carried
out on Il larger scale in this state if
the waterway goes through, Mr..
Harding said, declaring. that the
project would not only help North
Dakota to get to foreign market
but also to reach the New York and
New England market.
Possibility that Il treaty with Cam
ada might be presented at the first
session of the new congress next
December and that construction work
may be started on the waterway in
1928 were expressed by Mr.. Harding.
People Must Convince Coolidge
With the engineering facts defi-
nitely established by the Interna-
tional Joint Engineer Board Mr..
Harding declared, ''it is up to the
American people to convince Pres
lot
shipway to the sea and that he should
start treaty negotiations at once.
"The power to negotiate treaty
lies in the president and, naturally
enough, Mr.. Coolidge wants to know
what the people think about it. There
is one task left before US and that
is to tell our president that we want
the channel to the sea.
"If North Dakota and the other
states want it and say so, they'll
have it. II not, the project will be
delayed"
MIR. Harding declared that Pres
idcnt Coolidge, il definitely con-
WINGED, could start negotiations wl.n
canada Immediately and have treaty
ready for the senate when it con-
vencs again in December.
with the passage Of the treaty
next winter, it is possible for actual
construction work to start q year
from this spring." Mr. Harding de-
clared.
In answer to the question, general
~ asked, If Canada will join the
United States in such treaty. Mr.
Harding said that the Dominion has
already spent or is spending $ll4,-
100000 on the Welland canal, which
connects Lake Eric with Lake On
tariO.
Canada Will Favor Plan
The Great Lakes are the western
terminal and the Atlantic is the east
crn terminal" he pointed out. "Of
all the freight carried in the United
States, p per cent moves on the
Great Lakes. The st. Lawrence is
the connecting link between the lakes
and the Atlantic.
THE Welland canal does not con-
meet the lakes with the Atlantic and
to complete the job and make the St.
Lawrence navigable for ocean-goine
vessels, about 1923 3,OOO, 900 more will
have to be spent. Will Canada Join,
after having already obligated her
self for $114,O0,00O? Add $l14,OOO,-
600 to the $l23, 100000 more needed
and divide it by two and ask whether
or not she will take on the PROPOSE
/ tion. Certainly she will"
A brief resume of the history of
the tidewater movement was given by
Mr.. Harding at the opening of his
talk. Governor Of Iowa in 1919, Mr..
Harding joined the movement from
the start and has been one Of it's &C.
tive leaders through the last eight
years.
AT that time" he said, ''t was a
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