711.4215 Air Pollution/565a
President Roosevelt to the Prime Minister of Canada (Bennett)
My Dear Mr. Prime Minister: There are one or two matters which I should like to have talked over with you personally, but I realize, to my regret, that this is for the moment impracticable. I have accordingly asked Mr. William Phillips, our Under Secretary of State, to proceed to Ottawa to place my views respecting these matters before you in a spirit of full frankness. Will you not talk to Mr. Phillips respecting these matters in the same way in which I feel that you would talk to me?
The most pressing of these questions is that of the Trail Smelter case which, as you know, has been pending between our countries for a number of years and remains unsettled. I am receiving in increasing numbers protests from residents and officials in the State of Washington. These communications disturb me greatly and cause me to fear that, unless a way is found as soon as possible to reach a settlement of this case, real harm may be done to the relations of Canada and the United States in the Far West. The continued drifting of sulphur dioxide into the State of Washington, with its consequent injury to the interests of a large number of American citizens, is a matter to which I cannot remain indifferent.
Mr. Phillips will, as I have stated above, express fully my views to you.
I am [etc.]