711.42157SA29/1328½
The Assistant Chief of the Division of Western European Affairs ( Hickerson ) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: The proposed treaty with Canada respecting Niagara Falls about which the President inquires is still before the Senate. The Treaty was signed on January 2, 1929, and approved that same year by the Canadian Parliament. In February 1931 the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate held hearings on this Treaty and voted against reporting it favorably to the Senate. It is my understanding that the vote was 13 to nothing, in the Committee against a favorable report on the Treaty. It is understood that the basis of the Senate’s objection to this Treaty was that it would confer unusual and unwarranted advantages upon a private American power company which was to receive the benefit of the additional diversion in return for defraying the American share of the costs of the contemplated works to preserve the scenic beauty of the Falls.
On December 17 you signed a letter to the Secretary of War78 reviewing the situation with respect to this Treaty and asking the advice of the Secretary of War concerning the advisability of our now seeking to arrange for the construction of the proposed compensating works independently of additional diversions of water for power purposes. We have just received Secretary Dern’s reply, dated December [Page 983] 28,79 in which he states that he is “disposed to favor a reopening of the question with the Canadian Government in the manner you suggest if American participation in the project is in harmony with the financial policy of the President”. This procedure which we have in mind would involve an expenditure on the part of the United States of about $975,000. We are now preparing a letter to the President with a view to obtaining his approval of reopening this question with the Canadian Government.