Lake Erie-Ohio River Interconnecting Waterway Statement of Support

              statement
in support of the
Lake Erie-Ohio River INTERCONNECTING WATERWAY
before the Public Works Appropriations Sub-Committee House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
May 12, 1965 Mr. Chairman; Mr. Congressmen:
My name is Kenneth M. Lloyd,  I am Executive Secretary of the INTERCONNECTING WATERWAY, Inc., 16 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio. The INTERCONNECTING WATERWAY Association is made up of groups favoring the construction of a waterway which will permit the free interchange of water-borne commerce between the Ohio-Mississippi River navigation system and the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway navigation system. The navigation structures to be built are substantially the same as those which constitute the Panama Canal and thus permit the inter¬ change of water-borne commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Panama Canal has operated successfully^for more than 50 years and I can assure this Committee that the Lake Erie-Ohio River INTERCONNECT¬ ING WATERWAY will operate in the future with equal reliability and service to the nation.
Congressman Kirwan is the modern apostle urging the people to build this very important link to interconnect an important segment of our 28,000 miles of navigable waterways.  The pages of history confirm Congressman Kirwan^s faith in the value to the nation of such an INTERCONNECTING WATERWAY.  We find on page 52 of Forest G. Hill's book entitled ^'Roads, Rails and Waterways*' the following:  "Soon after passage of the Survey Act, for instance, a 'Board of Engineers' presented 'a list of canals in the order of their importance in relation to the defence of the country and to commerce.^  Twenty-seven