Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1930-05-22

said enough to indicate the fallacy
that underlies this whole proposition
of so-called all-American ship
canal. In the first place the pro-
posed canal is not all-American, and
if it were it would be built at a stag
gering cost, which could only be justi-
fed on the ground of national de-
Tense and national existence. This is
problem which does not rightly en-
ter. For 100 years we have lived up
to the spirit of the treaty of 1918
which neutraliZed the Great Lakes,
and every step that has been taken in
the development of our Great Lakes
commerce since that time has been
based upon the fact of neutrality. We
have joined hands with Canada in
the development of the Great Lakes
and their connecting waters. They
have used our waters and our canals
and we have used their waters and
their canals. We have a treaty right
that gives us the use of the St. Law
renee. If we ignore that right and
build our own waterway from Lake
Ontario to the Hudson, do we not in
effect abrogate the treaty now exist
ing with Canada? Do we not at least
waive any claims we may have, any
title we may now possess, to the St.
Lawrence waterway? AS sure as we
do that Canada must and will build
her own way from the ocean to the
lakes, and for her to possess a water
way that is superior to ours, as en-
gineers admit it is, would put us in
a position of having constructed a
5OO,OOO,O0O monument to false
patriotism that would stand as a per-
petual threat at the very existence of
friendly neighbor.
Mr.. Chairman, we in Minnesota
want the right to ship our goods from
our own harbors to the harbors Of
Europe, Asia, and South America,
Africa, and Australia, without let Or
hindrance. We have not any ambi-
tions to be the greatest state in the
Union or to build the port Of Duluth
into the greatest port in the world,
rem, we have an ambition for the fut-
ure of the mid-cOntinent. We want
our exports, upon which rests so very
materially our prosperity as a people
to grow. We want the charges that
we now pay for exporting our pro-
ducts to be reduced, so that there
shall be more money in the pockets of
our farmers and manufacturers, in
order that they in turn may have more
money to spend for the things that
make life worth while. We do not
bow even to New York. not even to
the chairman of the Rivers and Har-
bOrs committee, nor to the editor of
the Washington Herald, when it comes
to a question Of patriotism. But we
can not convince ourselves that pa
triotism and ordinary business sense
may not walk hand in hand.
We live close to the Canadian Dor
der, we have frequent dealings with
them-we do not fear either for our
national safety or our Industrial pres
tige at their hands. Instead, we are
glad of Canada's prosperity, for it
means more cotton goods sold in the
Dominion, more automobiles, more
tractors, more plows, more of every
thing that goes to make the world
pleasant and the community prosper
Gus.
Let us do the sensible thing. The
Army engineers have reported against
the Oswego-Hudson ship canal. Let
US accept that report in good faith
and let the project rest in peace. un-
disturbed by the drums of conflict or
the waving flags of patriotism. Let
us do the wise thing-the sensible
thing-join with Canada i'm develop
ing a property which is now jointly
ours and that should forever remain
ours in joint ownership with her. and
continue to develop the Great Lakes
as we have done in the past. all the way
down from Superior to the ocean. Let
the Canadian people and ours to-
gether build a seaway that shall save
the interior of the continent for Can
ada and for the United States alike.
Then by the use of this seaway. the
interior shall grow from its present
100000 to three times, even four
times that number, within our child
ren's day.
A ship channel to the sea, as Gov
ernor Smith says, is inevitable. Let
us see to it that in building this in