Evening star., 1932-07-24
BY WILLIAM HARD.

The st. Lawrence River promises to
roll itself into one of the fiercest fights
of the presidential campaign.
The power authority" of the State
of New York brings numerous serious
charges against the Hoover administra-
ton in the matter of the negotiation
and conclusion of the St Lawrence
seaway treaty All five members of
the power authority Of the State OF
New York are appointeeS OF Gov.
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gov. Roosevelt
gives his backing to the charges brought
by them. unanimously, against the
White House and the Department of
State The quarrel therefore is really
directly between Gov. Roosevelt and
President Hoover-whlch Is to say be-
tween the two major candidates for
the presidency in the Fall election
This is the second of their two main
Quarrels so far. The first was, and is,
regarding relief" by the Federal Gov
ernment in the matter Of the depres-
sion. Gov. Roosevelt at Chicago differ
entiated himself from President Hoover
on relief" more deeply than on any
other topic in either of the two party
platforms. He maintained that relief
By the Federal Government should be
bigger and better. He specified re
forestation' as his first suggested
method Of bigger and better relief"
He is expected to specify additional
methods as the campaign progresses
Close now upon the heels of relief"
as Rooseveltian campaign issue comes
the st. Lawrence. II Is the second
genuinely direct and irreconcilable
alteration between the two candidates
TIE surface of it Is filled with a
sandstorm of trivialities. The under
meath of it is occupied by strong
difference in temperament. Gov Roose-
velt tends toward experimentation with
the public ownership and operation OF
electric power. President Hoover tends
away from it. That is the difference
in temperament. in principle, as under
stood by the two men themselves.
Ironically. in practice. the difference
is not so marked.
The Democratic platform, adopted at
Chicago, under the overwhelming i'm
mediate influence of Gov. Roosevelt
and his friends is destitute OF any
commitment of the party to the electric
power public ownership and operation
idea. The closest approach to it is in
the entirely nom -committal words:
I'VE advocate the conservation, de-
velopment and use Of the Nations
water power in the public interest"
The public interest" might mean
public ownership and operation but it
might. contrariwise, mean only public
regulation.
On the other hand, the record OF
President Hoover at Boulder Dam. now
Hoover Dam, in the Colorado River, is
tinged with a public ownership and
operation outcome. The dam IS being
built by the Federal Government. Inc
power plant at the dam VIII De operItSo
by a private company and by a puphc
instrumentality the City OF Los
Angeles The power from tne
power plant will go largely directly to
two agencies publicly owned and
operated, namely, the Power ana
Light Department of the City OF Los
Angeles and the Metropolitan water
District of Los Angeles ana neignoor-
ing municipalities. .o
Ir practice. accordingly, the TWO
candidates are more separated by logic
as talked tIldll ny Aic 40 A'N
Nevertheless, the separation in tenn
perament Goes exist and 1t urderlles
and originates the whole St. Lawrence
controversy. TIE accusations orought
in that controversy against president
Hoover by the friends of Coy Roose-
velt-and the replies produced ny
President Hoover's friends-are as lol-
lows:
/. President Hoover refused to see
Gov. Roosevelt for conversation re-
garding New York's interest in the st.
Hoovers friends reply that at least
dozen other States were equally en-
Enthusiastically in the St. Lawrence de-
velopment and that the President ne
eotiated the terms of the development
treaty without special pressures from
the Governors of any of them. The
President saw no reason, his friends
say, for giving unique preference to
the Governor of New York.
2. In August of last wear Mr.. VIII
liam R. Castle, ir.. Undersecretary OF
State. informed Gov. Roosevelt that no
negotiations with Canada regarding the
st. Lawrence were under way, whereas
in this month of this year President
Hoover informed Gov. Roosevelt that
negotiations with Canada regarding the
st. Lawrence had been under way for
three years. Why this discrepancy?
+ 4 =
The Presidents friends answer that
both President Hoover and UnderSec-
retary Castle we're right. Published
public documents prove that diplomatic
notes between the United States and
Ca~ 7da began getting exchanged as far
J. tx as l927-which is five years ago.
nevertheless, at the moment when Un-
dersecretary Castle wrote his letter to
Gov Roosevelt this exchange of diplo-
matte notes had temporarily ceased.
The impartial commentator might say
that President Hooyer's statement to