The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-03-15

to the construction of the Central Va
LEY Flood Control and Irrigation Work
of California, to all the services o
the army engineers in erecting floo'
control and channel improvements ant
for that matter to the building of fed
orally financed roads. | should like t.
question too the suggestion that {
project affecting 20 states, with pop
ulation of so million of our people
sectional in nature.
Senator Walsh Leading Exponent
of Seaway
A leading exponent of the develop
ment of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Seaway was the late Sen. Thomas J.
Walsh of my state. Senator Walsh is
perhaps the leading public figure pro-
duced by Montana in its entire his
tory His last official act as a mem
Der of the senate Of the United States
was to secure from this very commit
tee a favorable report on the treaty
pending in 1888. He had always been
an ardent advocate of this plan in all
of his public life before and during his
service as a member of the United
States senate. In discussing the prof.
ect, he said as to this sectionalism
argument:
"The enterprise is in the very strict
est sense national in its scope 1t
would be to take an unjustifiably mar
row view of it to consider it as of
concern only to those states whose
traffic passes through commercial
centers on the Great Lakes"
Major Railroads Formerly
Favored Project
| Montana is traversed by four major
railroad systems-direct connecting
links between the Great Lakes, and
the Pacific Northwest We have in
Montana a very large number of men
employed directly in the railroad in
dustry. Their welfare is of paramount
concern to all of our citizens. In norm
al times the work of the railroad man
is seasonal and fluctuating. In the
past the arrangements of these roads
consistently ouPpOl ICu ILLS iICN6lOp-
ment. 1t is only recently that stand
has been taken by them in opposi- |
ton. The fact is that the completion |
of the Seaway would greatly increase
rail traffic through my state Products
would be transshipped from Duluth,
Chicago, Milwaukee and other lake
ports through the Pacific Northwest,
in very great quantity. The degree
to which traffic would be increased 1
can not say but l am confident that
the completion of the Seaway would
have a very great beneficial effect
on the railroads serving my state Ger
tainly the seasonal fluctuation in en-
ployment in the railroad industry
would be reduced. l have heard some L
testimony indicating that the railroad
labor organizations were concerned
that construction of the Seaway would [
be injurious to rail transportation.
do not believe this fear to be we'll s
1t is my personal opinion '
that construction of the project would [
result in such an increase in business {
and agricultural activity as to increase t
traffic on all railroads whether East l
ern trunk line or Western to such an {
extent as to more than make up for
traffic lost to sea-going vessels plying
the waterway. The railroads and the |
railroad employees have had no bet
ter friend than the late Franklin Del
ano Roosevelt. He said in his message
submitting the treaty in 1888:
SeaWay Would Not Injure
Railroads.&c.. D. r. U
81 am convinced that the building n
If the ST. Lawrence Seaway will not q
njure the railroads or throw their en- o
,loyees out of work, and that it will v
lot in any way interfere with the prop b
II use of the Mississippi river or the Il
Missouri river for navigation" a
Those of us in the West have had j
long experience in our attempt to F
evelop cheap public power On prof.
ct after project we have met with fl
opposition which resembled in a great n
egree the experience of the propon- i,
nts of the Great Lakes Seaway. 1t fl
as not been the general practice Of y
he power monopoly in my state to il
penly oppose combined irrigation and r
projects on the power n
5sue alone !,
All of the shibboleths are relied upon
0 divert public attention from the r,
cal issue. On March 5, 1884, the SEN =
Or senator from Montana, Burton K. -
Nhno1a,. Of =
f the senate in support of the treaty =,
nth Canada which provided for the :,
evelopment of the Seaway. He spent =.
considerable amount of time setting :,
1rth the facts as to power company =,
pposition, and he said:
Il know that the propaganda that
being seminated from one end of
lie country to the other at the pres tn
Mt time is being put out by the power al
ust" hi
fheeler Blamed Power Co. Opposition ie
He quoted extensively from the NJ
atements of the late President -
rankin D. Roosevelt showing that ~
over company opposition was the -
'al opposition to the development of o.
lie Seaway and that all of the talk 80
to sectionalism, navigation, ETC.,
as merely the smoke-screen hiding 90
lie real reasons why the project was -,
cling opposed. I do not mean to sug- H.
est that every opponent of this de- 90
'lopment is here before this commit p,
e at the behest of the power interest, D,
1T from nv exnerience ,ouet oo,oo -