To the House of Representatives:
On March 4, 1910, your honorable body adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested, if not incompatible with the public interest, to furnish the House of Representatives the following information:
First. Why is not the appropriation for the construction of a gunboat on the Great Lakes, contained in the naval appropriation act of eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, expended?
Second. What steps, if any, have been taken by the United States Government to remove the obstacles that prevented the construction of this vessel?
In answer, I beg to transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Navy.
WILLIAM H. TAFT
Note: This Message was accompanied by a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the effect that when Congress authorized the construction of a gunboat on the Great Lakes, the Navy Department requested an opinion from the State Department as to whether or not, under the terms of the Rush-Bagot convention of 1817, the department was justified in proceeding with the construction as authorized. The reply was that such construction would be a violation of the terms of the treaty.
William Howard Taft, Special Message Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207410