GREAT BENEFITS IN ST. LAWRENCE DEVELOPMENT

"The project for improving the St. Lawrence waterway will reduce the cost of transportation from Boston to the West, will help relieve railway congestion, and will provide cheaper power," said Senator I. L. Lenroot of Wisconsin during a recent interview for the CRIMSON on the St. Lawrence project, in which he maintained the opposite side of the case from that taken by Congressman S. W. Dempsey of New York in an interview published in the CRIMSON on April 7.

"Such a movement," he continued, "will mean admitting ocean-going vessels into the Great Lakes, and creating 1,450,000 horsepower one-half of which will belong to the United States, and will be available for the industries of New England and New York, all at a cost of about $250,000,000, to be divided between two countries. The other half will belong to Canada, but a large part of Canada's share will be marketed in the United States, because it has, with its present development, a very small additional market for power. Dr. G. O. Smith, director of the United States Geological Survey, has estimated that the annual saving of coal to New England from 500,000 horse-power from the St. Lawrence will be from 1,506,000 tons to 4.850,000 tons annually, in other words an average saving of 5,000 carloads of coal a month.

Barrier Only 46 Miles Long

"There is a barrier between Lake Ontario and the sea and the St. Lawrence project means the removal of that barrier. The Wellend Canal, now nearing completion, will remove the barrier at Niagara Falls. From Lake Ontario to Montreal is a distance of 182 miles. Between Lake Ontario and Gallop Island, a distance of 68 miles, there is now a channel more than 30 feet deep with a minimum width of 500 feet. Therefore, there is only a distance of 114 miles involved in the improvement. But in this 114 miles, there is now at different points about 68 miles of navigable water, leaving about 46 miles constituting the barrier now existing. The barrier consists of rapids at various points, around which the Canadian Government has built canals with locks.

"The problem of the removal of this barrier has been the subject of investigation by the International Joint Commission, consisting of six members, and three appointed by the United States, and three appointed by the Dominion of Canada. In a recent report this Commission, after two years of investigation, has unanimously recommended the opening of the St. Lawrence River.

"Such a project will not only save many industries for Massachusetts which must otherwise move nearer the coal fields on the water power of the South, but it will permit Massachusetts to expand with the rest of the country."