THE IRRIGATION AGE. 335 



at a future date was unsafe and the point should be covered in other 

 ways. 



This is only another of the many instances of tne unfitness of our 

 laws to cope with new conditions. Judges have to take the law as 

 they find it, which is right or we would have no law. But there are 

 cases of applying old law to new conditions where they might strain 

 the old to advantage. The application of the riparian doctrine to our 

 arid states, for instance, could be easily avoided by saying that if 

 England had been a dry country instead of a wet one, she would have 

 announced in thunder tones that water was public wealth and no man 

 had a right to waste a drop of it by playing dog in the manger. In 

 the same manner if this question had first arisen in irrigating countries, 

 where the judges knew the requirements of irrigation, they would have 

 said it is of the utmost importance to both parties to have this matter 

 fixed from the beginning and perpetually and they are therefore at 

 liberty to make contracts in contravention of laws made for the pro- 

 tection of those who are not wise enough to protect themselves. 



If parties are not allowed to make such contracts, consider for a 

 moment the consequences and see how important it is that this should 

 everywhere be put beyond doubt by constitutional amendment or 

 legislation. For capital is already well apprised of the fact and the 

 building of one large system in California has been already suspended 

 by this danger. And it will not be long before it is everywhere aware 

 of it. And if it is the law then no man of sense wants to make any 

 permanent improvements under any ditch that is subject to such rules. 

 For it is worse for the land owner than for the company. In the case 

 mentioned the land owners were all dumbfounded for they ware satis- 

 fied with the contract and pleaded it against the right of the company 

 to raise the rate. And well they might be astonished, for it took but 

 a minute to forsee the possible results. 



It is impossible to make irrigation works from which all con- 

 sumers can draw at will as from city pipes. Aqueducts cannot be 

 made large enough for irrigating heads for everyone at once, and the 

 waste would be enormous if they could be. Rarely can over ten per 

 cent of the consumers be supplied on the same day, often not over 

 five. There are ditches in which it takes thirty days to get all around 

 with full irrigating heads and this time can be shortened only by re- 

 ducing the heads so that they are of little value for the heavy work of 

 mature trees or fields of alfalfa. 



It is therefore of the utmost importance to the irrigator to know 

 how much water he is to have before he can safely make any perma- 

 nent improvements. The stipulation of the quantity is the most valu- 

 able part of his contract. He cannot tell exactly on what days he will 

 have it, or in what heads; but in practice he gets it so nearly that 

 there is rarely any dissatisfaction on his part. He wants to know, 

 too, that the rates cannot be raised on him by any tampering with the 



