Concerted action was not taken until 1907, when the Lakes to the Gulf Deep Waterways Association was formed at St. Louis, having for its object the deepening of the water-way between Lake Michigan and the Gulf. The proposal to construct a canal by the way of the Illinois River to the Mississippi, large enough to carry ships, was declared feasible by government engineers and a route was surveyed. President Roosevelt endorsed the scheme. In his message to Congress, December 3, 1907, he said: "From the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi there should be a deep water-way, with deep water-ways leading from it to the East and the West. Such a water-way would practically mean the extension of our coast line into the very heart of our country. It would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If begun at once it can be carried through in time appreciably to relieve the congestion of our great freight-carrying lines of railroad. The work should be systematically and continuously carried forward in accordance with some well-conceived plan . . . . Moreover, the development of our water-ways involves many other important water problems, all of which should be considered as part of the same general scheme." He appointed an Inland Waterways Commission which was to outline a comprehensive scheme of development along the various lines indicated. Their leading recommendation had to do with the proposal for a deep water-way from Chicago to New Orleans. The completion of the drainage canal by the city of Chicago, at a cost of $55,000,000, really created a deep waterway for forty miles along the intended route. It was reported to Congress by a special board of surveyors that the continuation of such a water-way to St. Louis would cost $31,000,000. [Illustration: Nine men seated at a conference table.] Inland Waterways Commission. The legislature of Illinois, following the recommendation of Governor Charles S. Deneen, submitted to the people an amendment of the constitution which would enable the State to assume a bonded indebtedness of $20,000,000 for the purpose of constructing a deep waterway from Chicago to St. Louis. The measure was approved by popular vote November 3, 1907. Thereupon, the State Senate passed a bill providing for the construction of the canal. This failed in the House. It was again introduced into the legislature, 1910, but failed to pass. Among the other important projects submitted by the Inland Waterways Commission are the following: To connect the Great Lakes with the ocean by a twenty-foot channel by the way of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River, an inner channel extending from New England to Florida; to connect the Columbia River with Puget Sound and deepen the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers, so as to bring commerce by water to Sacramento and other interior California cities.