IRRIGATION PRINCIPLES. 



253 



and irrigators for centuries. The Spanish govern- 

 mental policy contemplates the joining of waters of 

 all streams not strictly private because of their dimi- 

 nutiveness to the lands they irrigate, and their man- 

 agement by the landowners organized into communi- 

 ties. The law provides that wherever an area exceed- 

 ing 200 hectares (494 acres) and belonging to twenty 

 or more persons, is served under one water privilege, 

 a community or district shall be formed, according to 

 the principles and regulations laid down. Thus, not 

 only in the case of new enterprises, but for old ones as 

 well, these associations are compulsory, and the law 

 directs that the Governor of the province shall take 

 steps to force their formation and compliance with 

 the law, if the people do not voluntarily move in the 

 matter. An association is thus made compulsory in 

 every case so that questions which might give rise to 

 dispute, and all relations of interested parties may 

 once for all be adjusted in advance, to protect the 

 common interest and promote public welfare. 



Each such association is empowered to fix the 

 qualifications of its electors. The law provides that at 

 the election held at times of organization, the voting 

 shall be done according to area of lands which each 

 participant represents, notwithstanding all parties 

 have an equal voice in the proceedings. This pro- 

 vision would seem to put the stamp of land voting, 

 only, permanently on all associations; but the prac- 

 tice results in a compromise very similar to that found 

 in the law under the French system hereafter de- 

 scribed. 



Where districts are authorized to contract a fixed 

 indebtedness or to incur obligations to pay for waters 

 furnished by concessionaire companies, as is the 

 case in a number of the more recent enterprises, the 

 government reserves the right of enforcing the pay- 

 ment of taxes and water rates. Thus it protects the 

 outside investor, just as it has protected the district 

 and the irrigators by fixing in the concession the 

 maximum water rates which may be charged, the 

 amount and manner of serving water, and the pro- 

 vision that the works and water rights are at the close 

 of the term of concession to become the property of 

 the district. 



The Spanish system goes further still in applica- 

 tion of the principles of local self-government in irri- 

 gation. It sets up special water courts in irrigation 

 districts whose members are irrigators elected by the 

 people by manhood suffrage to determine all petty 

 questions arising out of the practice of irrigation 

 among irrigators. And, finally, it provides for the 

 federation of irrigation districts or communities deriv- 

 ing water supply from any one common source, and 

 delegates to each such general association the control 

 of diversions from the stream within its jurisdiction, 

 subject only to general regulations and supervision 

 by and appeal to the governmental or provincial irri- 

 gation authorities. 



The topographical conditions in the irrigation 

 quarters of Spain were such as to admit of canals being 

 taken out of streams and maintained and operated 

 by community labor and without the necessary em- 

 ployment of capital in large sums, and in this fact do 

 we find a physical reason for the adherence through 

 centuries of feudal and Moorish rule, to the commun- 

 ity principle in irrigation enterprise. 



FRENCH IRRIGATION SYNDICATES. 



The French system of association has these points: 

 The codified general law of France contents itself 

 with exacting general principles relative to water 



rights and associations in general. Special laws and 

 departmental decrees authorize the formation of asso- 

 ciations or syndicates of land owners for a number of 

 purposes, among which is irrigation, and prescribe 

 forms of organization, et f c. 



" The general ofganiz'ation of associations is the 

 same for all the purposes specified, but the details of 

 agreement and administration differ with the object 

 in view. * * * The law recognizes two kinds 

 of syndicate associations: The first, called 'free,' 

 because held together only by the expressed will of 

 the members; and the second called 'authorized' 

 because specially declared, in each case, to constitute 

 an organization of public utility, and so 'authorized' 

 to exercise the right of eminent domain in condemn- 

 ing private property for the purpose of the as- 

 sociation." 



"These societies are formed upon the basis of the 

 land to be beneficially affected by the works con- 

 templated; representation and voting power in the 

 general assembly of subscribers being proportioned 

 somewhat to the area held, varying indifferent cases, 

 within prescribed bounds, according to circumstances 

 and as determined and settled in the constitution or 

 articles of agreement of the society. Their boards of 

 directors called syndics, constitute the syndicate, 

 proper, although the whole association is frequently 

 called a syndicate. Being legally constituted bodies, 

 they can enter into court, acquire or dispose of, 

 exchange or hypothecate property, and do all that an 

 individual may do in a business way." (Irrigation 

 Development, p, 750.) 



Every association of this character, whether "free '' 

 or "authorized" officially, must be registered, and 

 becomes a known and definite factor of local devel- 

 opment. The terms of association may differ as to 

 details in different cases, but the principles in all re- 

 main the same. Landownership is the qualification 

 for voting. Owners of land in the district, or their 

 representatives, alone have the ballot in the syndi- 

 cate or district elections. They alone determine 

 whether the district shall contract a debt, and elect 

 the officers to levy and collect its taxes, disburse 

 its funds, and manage its affairs. The voting power 

 is always arranged, however, so as to give small land- 

 owners a voice not only in full proportion to the 

 area of their holdings, but as due also to the simple 

 fact of their being landowners. Thus, generally, the 

 voting unit is the small farm of five hectares (12.86 

 acres) ; but every owner of land of less area, down to 

 one hectare, has equally a vote, while owners of 

 greater area add votes only by one for each addition- 

 al five hectares owned. 



All associations are first formed as "free 1 ' syndi- 

 cates, and those which desire to be recognized as of 

 public utility, and be "authorized' 1 to exercise the 

 right of eminent domain, are made so only after hav 

 ing their entire project examined and approved by 

 the irrigation authorities of the department (or state) 

 in which situated. " In the case of authorized associa- 

 tions the government in a measure becomes account- 

 able for the meeting of their engagements, so that the 

 assessments are not only collectable as taxes by the 

 officers of the syndicate, but the government author- 

 ities, if necessary, may interfere and force their col- 

 lection so as to make good the debts of the district." 

 (Irrigation Development.) 



In granting water rights to landowners for the irri- 

 gation of their lands, where more than five persons 

 are the beneficiaries, the government insists that a 



