292 DEPAKTMENTAL REPORTS. 



toward helping farmers solve the problems already created, and lay- 

 ing an adequate foundation for the adjustment of the conflicting 

 interests growing out of claims to flowing water which future devel- 

 opment will inevitably create. 



While the questions dealt with have a vital interest and importance 

 to each individual user of water and to investors in irrigation prop- 

 erty, it is also beginning to be realized that they have a larger signifi- 

 cance and that their study is required in order to rightlj^ deal witli 

 questions which are of both National and international importance. 

 The manner in which water is used in irrigation is destined to have a 

 commanding influence over the social and industrial institutions of 

 one-third of the United States. Not only the agricultural interests, 

 but all other industrial interests of this vast region will be largely 

 influenced in growth and prosperity by a wise settlement of the irri- 

 gation questions which this Office is now studying. 



Two causes have operated to create an increased interest in the 

 work being done and to augment the requests for information and 

 advice. One was the drought which prevailed throughout the Middle 

 West in 1901 and which brought to the attention of the farmers of 

 that region the advantages that would accrue from being able to 

 apply moisture at the time when most needed. The other is the 

 desire of the arid States for the creation of conditions which will make 

 it possible to f all}^ develop the water supply and apply it to beneficial 

 uses, and which will at the same time protect all existing rights to 

 water so far as they are based on beneficial use, whether they are 

 the result of the ownership of riparian lands in some States or of com- 

 pliance with the laws of appropriation in others. 



The need of a prompt settlement of these questions has been ren- 

 dered more imperative by the legislation of the last Congress, which 

 set aside the proceeds of the sales of public lands for the construc- 

 tion of National irrigation works. The more rapid our development 

 the greater the need of laws and customs under which titles to water 

 shall be stable. To secure these results the nature and extent of 

 water titles should be better understood and more clearly defined than 

 at present. So long as streams furnish more water than irrigators can 

 use, rights to their flow receive little attention ; but with the construc- 

 tion of storage works to restrain the floods and the building of more 

 canals than sti-eams can supply, when titles have to be established to 

 both the stored supply and the portion used without storage, when not 

 onlj' the diverse and conflicting interests of individuals and communi- 

 ties have to be reconciled, but the boundary line between the water 

 supplies used in private and public works has to be marked out, the 

 questions of irrigation law and irrigation administration assume 

 an overshadowing importance. It is a source of gratification that 

 the West is clearlj^ awake to its needs in these directions. Active 

 and influential associations for the reform of irrigation laws, of which 

 the California Water and Forest Association is a conspicuous exam- 

 ple, have been formed in California, Utah, Montana, and Arizona, 

 and civic associations having other interests as well are giving much 

 •attention to this subject. 



THE NEED OP ADDITIONAL FACTS. 



The flrst need, in laying the foundation for future development, is 

 for the facts on which it must be based, and it is these facts which this 

 Office is endeavoring to secure through the irrigation investigations. 



