the promise of transcendent
good which this treaty affords, I do not hesitate to accompany its
transmission with an expression of my earnest hope that it may commend
itself to the favorable consideration of the Senate.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 18, 1897_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the report of Messrs. James B. Angell, of Michigan,
John E. Russell, of Massachusetts, and Lyman E. Cooley, of Illinois, who
were appointed commissioners under the authority of a law passed March
2, 1895, to make inquiry and report, after conference with such similar
commissioners as might be appointed on behalf of Great Britain or the
Dominion of Canada, concerning the feasibility of the construction of
such canals as will enable vessels engaged in ocean commerce to pass
between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, and the most convenient
location and probable cost of such canals, together with other facts and
information in said act specified relating to their construction and
use.

The commissioners have prosecuted the work assigned them with great zeal
and intelligence, resulting in the collection of a mass of information
embodied in their report and its accompanying exhibits which is of great
importance and interest as related to the project subjected to their
examination.

The advantages of direct and unbroken water transportation of the
products of our Western States and Territories from convenient points of
shipment to our seaboard ports are plainly palpable. The report of the
commissioners contains, in my opinion, demonstration of the feasibility
of securing such transportation, and gives ground for the anticipation
that better and more uninterrupted commerce, through the plan suggested,
between the great West and foreign ports, with the increase of national
prosperity which must follow in its train, will not long escape American
enterprise and activity.

It will be observed that the report of the commissioners, though as
comprehensive as the time and facilities at their disposal permitted,
does not definitely deal with the cost of the work they were called upon
to consider and omits some of the other details related to it. Thus far
they have labored without compensation, and a part of the small sum
appropriated for the payment of their expenses still remains unexpended.

I suggest to the Congress the propriety of making economical provision
for such fur