PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



143 



illegal and void. In the course of his opinion, 

 the justice delivering the opinion of the court 

 said: "Our Coostitusion dedicates all unap- 

 propriated water in the natural streams of the 

 State 'to the use of the people,' the ownership 

 thereof being vested in the ' public.' 



Judge Ross further said: "Under the 

 Constitution, as I understand it, the carrier 

 is at least a quasi-public servant or agent. 

 It is not in the attitude of a private indi- 

 vidual contracting for the sale or use of 

 his private property. It exists largely 

 for the benefit of others, being engaged 

 in the business of transporting for hire, 

 water owned by the public, to the people 

 owning the right to its use.' 



The HomesceJcers' 

 Association. 



One of the most not- 

 able occurrences of 

 the past month was the public meeting of 

 the Homeseekers' Association at the Well- 

 ington Hotel, in Chicago, on November 

 24. This association (the objects which 

 are fully explained elsewhere in the issue) 

 has been working for nearly two years and 

 has been of material benefit to a vast num- 

 ber of the people in this city and in other 

 places, but it is now entering upon a period 

 when its usefulness will be multiplied 

 many fold. About seventy-five prominent 

 people were present at the meeting and it 

 was decided to place in the rooms of the 

 Association a permanent public exhibit of 

 the agricultural, horticultural and mineral 

 products of the various states. Definite 

 promises of exhibits were made by the rep- 

 resentatives of nine states and conditional 

 promises by many more. The association 

 is donating the necessary office space free 



and it is expected that many of the ex- 

 hibits will be ready for inspection by the 

 middle of December. Two more public 

 meetings will be held during the month of 

 December, at one of which Capt J. M. 

 Wells, World's Fair Commissioner from 

 Idaho, Mrs. Alice Houghton, of the Board 

 of Lady Managers of the World's Fair, 

 and Dr. A. T. Ely, of Kennevvick, Wash., 

 will speak on the resources of the North- 

 west in general and the states of Idaho 

 and Washington in particular. The second 

 meeting will be devoted to Louisiana and 

 the South, with prominent speakers. 

 The association is making arrangements 

 to hold regular meetings throughout the 

 winter and also expects to begin immedi- 

 ately the publication of a series of pam- 

 phlets. 



Important No apology is offered for de- 

 Matters. voting so much space in this 

 department this month to the Wright Law 

 and Judge Ross on Water Rights. No 

 two decisions more vitally affecting irriga- 

 tion interests have ever been rendered and 

 it is now hoped that within a reasonable 

 length of time the many perplexing pro- 

 blems surrounding this particular industry, 

 which is almost entirely new to the mass 

 of the American people, will be solved in 

 accordance with a sense of justice, and that 

 we will be able to move forward in the re- 

 clamation and settlement of our vast arid 

 domain with the knowledge that both those 

 who invest their money and those who 

 invest their time and labor will be en- 

 titled to and receive a fair remuneration 

 upon their investment. 



