1022 JOINT RESOLUTIONS.

WHEREAS, because of the remoteness of railway facilities to
a large section of the territory through which said canal passes
there is urgent necessity for an efficient carrier to move the
increasing crops of the planters of said section, and

WHEREAS, the Honorable J. Hampton Moore, a member of
Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, has heretofore intro-
duced in the House of Representatives a Joint Resolution
requesting the President of the United States to take over said
canal, improve and operate it for the purposes of national
defense, and

WHEREAS, the Honorable Frederick N. Zihlman, a member
of Congress from the State of Maryland, did on January 8,
1918, introduce in the House of Representatives a Bill author-
izing the President of the United States, through the Secretary
of War, to take possession of, and assume control of, said canal,
and utilize the same, to the exclusion as far as may be neces-
sary, of all other traffic thereon, for the transportation of war
material and equipment, or for such other purposes connected
with the present emergency as may be needful or desirable,
said bill providing for a revolving fund of $1,000,000 for the
improving and proper equipment of said canal, and

WHEREAS, after thorough investigation it may be found
feasible to improve and operate said canal in accordance with
the general scheme of transportation intrusted to the Director
General of Railroads, Honorable William G. McAdoo, and fur-
ther by the construction and operation of a railway along the
level of said canal from Washington Junction, in the State of
Maryland, to and into the District of Columbia:

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, By the General Assembly
of Maryland, That the Hon. Frederick N. Zihlman, and his
colleagues in Congress from the State of Maryland, be re-
quested to use all honorable means to have said canal operated
by the federal government and equipped with a fleet of barges
and boats sufficient not only to provide the residents of the
City of Washington, and the government agencies therein, with
fuel during the war crisis, which is urgently needed, but fur-
ther to provide adequate transportation for the extensive food
supplies and crops of grain from the rich agricultural section
through which said canal passes, and, if found feasible, the
construction and operation of a railway along the level of said
canal from Washington Junction, in the State of Maryland, to