Date: May 4, 1928
Location: Washington, D.C.
(Original document available here)
I haven’t had a chance to talk with Colonel Starling very much since he came back from his visit to Swanannoa. About the only thing I got from him was that it seemed to be a very fine place and he thought it could be adapted to my use during the summer. Of course, there are quite a good many other places that have got to be advertised. I expect to hold a conference gratifying the local desires in that respect.
I don’t know anything more about the White shipping bill than I did the other day. I think there are some very good features in it. There are some things about it that I didn’t think were so wise. That is quite natural about legislation. I am of course very much interested in having legislation passed that would encourage private shipping. I think this bill is intended to do so, though some private shippers are quite critical of it.
I am having the farm bill restudied, but so far as I know the bill that passed the House and the Senate does not meet the objections that I made to the bill that was passed last year. Some of the objectionable features have been eliminated, 4 or 5 of them which were somewhat incidental. I am afraid that the main objections, the more important ones, have not been met.
The report, I think of the conference committee on the flood bill, is in today’s issue of the Congressional Record. It doesn’t indicate that much has been done to meet my views. I expected to have an opportunity to confer with some members of the committee, but apparently they hurried the conference to an end and filed their report without giving me any opportunity to see what they were doing or to indicate whether their additions would meet with my approval. I notice that the press dispatches still refer to this as the $325,000,000 bill. I don’t know why they do that.
I have recommended, I think in all my messages, that the building of the dam at Boulder Canyon be undertaken. I very much hope that some solution may be found at the present session of the Congress. I want the dam built for the purpose of flood control and for the purpose of giving Southern California a better domestic water supply. Incident to that would be some power development. I do not think that ought to stand in the way of a possible solution. A good deal of the power I judge would be used to pump the water over the hill to southern California and some method ought to be devised that will meet the objections of those that do not wish the U. S. Government to go into the power business. This question has been before the House and Senate for a number of years. It has had mature consideration by the Dept. of Interior and they have provided a reasonable solution for it which I hope will be adopted.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge: Remarks by the President to Newspaper Correspondents
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