711.42157SA29/1305
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
Messrs. Frank P. Walsh and R. G. Sucher71 called this afternoon to talk over the situation surrounding the St. Lawrence Waterway Treaty. Mr. Walsh said that he had discussed the matter with the President about three weeks ago and that the President had asked him to take it up with me.
I asked Mr. Walsh whether he had any suggestions to make as to procedure and he admitted that he had not any. I told him of my [Page 978] talk with Herridge early in the summer; that I had expressed the hope that the Canadian Government would agree to utilize the summer months by an informal exchange of views with regard to any possible changes in the Treaty which would make it more acceptable to our Senate: that Herridge had not received this suggestion with any enthusiasm, but had agreed to communicate it to the Prime Minister; that he had, however, expressed the thought that possibly in November he might be ready to go into the subject with me, but that he did not believe Mr. Bennett would care to open up conversations before November; that subsequently Mr. Herridge had again mentioned to Mr. Hickerson of this Department the month of November as the time that we might together approach the problem. I told Mr. Walsh that we had no reliable information as to the attitude of Mr. Hepburn, the new Premier of Ontario, but that my impression was that, being a Liberal leader in opposition to the Conservative Government, he was not enthusiastic about making the payments to the National Government as contemplated by the arrangement between Ontario and the Dominion Government.
I told Mr. Walsh that he could rest assured that the Department was eager to see the Treaty put into effect and would do everything possible along these lines. Mr. Walsh said that he was glad to hear it and that he would get in touch with me again after elections. He added that the President had told him that he would like, if possible, to have the Treaty slightly amended, in order to facilitate its passage through the Senate, but that if that was impossible he would feel disposed to send the Treaty back to the Senate in its original form.
- Ralph Gunn Sucher, Washington counsel, Power Authority of the State of New York, in negotiations with Federal Government on St. Lawrence public power project.↩