116 



At the end of this time their inequalities with respect to each other 

 and the evils which might have arisen in their management could 

 be corrected. The possibility of such correction would be a potent 

 hindrance to abuses. The experience of European countries shows 

 that private capital is ready to undertake far costlier works than any 

 built in this country for the diversion and storage of water under 

 thirty-year licenses. Both canal companies and farmers realize that 

 there is little danger of a just license not being renewed, and that 

 there is great advantage to the people as a whole in having unjust 

 ones corrected. 



There are, however, circumstances under wdiich rights to water should 

 be separated from the place where acquired. As the country develops 

 more water will be needed by cities and towns, hy factories, and for 

 household purposes. Where all the water is appropriated, as it is 

 on many of the Platte's tributaries, these needs can only be supplied 

 by extinguishing existing rights. But it is not necessary that water 

 rights be made personal property in order to provide for this, nor is 

 it necessary to sacrifice the doctrine of beneficial use as a standard for 

 rights to provide for this. The State of Wyoming through its con- 

 stitution has provided for the increasing needs of cities by author- 

 izing them to take, through condemnation, any earlier right needed 

 for this superior use. Here the doctrine of use is maintained by 

 the transfer being effected through the supervision of the public 

 authorities. 



There are also cases where inferior lands have been irrigated or 

 Avhere lands have become unproductive by excess of water or alkali. 

 If the right of this land to water can not be shifted the water will 

 still be used there, while if it could be transferred to better land it 

 would secure larger returns. Where these conditions exist the cor- 

 rection is not to be sought in making water rights personal pro])erty, 

 or by giving a right to a certain number of cubic feet of water as an 

 equivalent of the water used. The doctrine of use as a measure of 

 the right can be maintained by simply shifting the right from the 

 inferior land to an equal number of acres of better land. A pre- 

 liminary requirement for all such shifts should be their approval and 

 record by the State irrigation authorities. AMien such shift was 

 made one acre would lose its right to water and another acre would 

 succeed to it. Such transfers do not change the character of a right. 

 They do not change the measure of a right. They do not surrender 

 the principle of beneficial use, as the basis of a right. 



