Editorial Note

In an Executive Agreement of March 19, 1941, the United States and Canada had agreed, subject to the approval of the United States Congress and the Canadian Parliament, to undertake the joint construction of a deep waterway and power project on the St. Lawrence River. Since 1941, legislation to approve and implement the agreement had been introduced annually in Congress, but no action had been taken. The House Committee on Public Works held hearings on the subject from April 24 through May 10, 1950, but discontinued the hearings before their completion. For the text of the Executive Agreement, see Foreign Relations, 1941, volume III, pages 157168; for documentation on developments of the interim period, see ibid., 1947, volume III, pp. 104 ff. and ibid., 1949, volume II, pp. 393 ff. For the 1950 hearings, see House Committee on Public Works, Great Lakes–St., Lawrence Basin: Hearings on H.J. Res. 271, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. (Washington, 1950). The Secretary of State’s statement at the hearings is printed in the Department of State Bulletin, May 15, 1950, pages 765–768.