84 THE 1 1! 111 GAUON A GE. 



Nor is this to be wondered at. He is defending his home. The com- 

 fort and happiness of those who form his home circle are dependent 

 in no small degree upon the irrigating stream. Delay may mean par- 

 tial ruin. The wheat field, which if watered at the proper time would 

 yield fifty bushels to the acre, may hardly pay the expenses of culti- 

 vating and reaping. It is a pardonable offense to seek to defend one's 

 just claim to water from the upper valley thieves and the low land ir- 

 rigating hogs, but the long-handled shovel or the Winchester rifle is 

 not the best weapon to use. 



A water controversy which affects the interests of a large number 

 of irrigators is civil war in miniature. The decision of the court like 

 the decisive battle is only the culminating feature. There may te 

 years of estrangement, ill-feeling and disputes as well as hardships 

 and sufferings before a decision is reached, and many years are neces- 

 sary to reunite a community, once arrayed against each other. 



The cost in money to each litigant, although usually great, is 

 small compared to his other losses. Peace and contentment no longer 

 dwell in his home. The friendships of a lifetime are severed. Sociel 

 duties and customs are abandoned and all united efforts in behalf of 

 the community are no longer possible. To the occupants of the 

 farmers' dwellings which dot the quarter sections of this land, friendly 

 neighbors mean much. They are isolated from the rest of mank ini 

 and when they quarrel among themselves then are they lonely indeed. 



I have intimated that the loss to the irrigator through disputes 

 over the divisions of water and the interminable law suits which fel- 

 low in their train, cannot be estimated in dollars. The loss to the 

 fever stricken household cannot be measured by the doctor's bill. 

 But these unexpected payments are nevertheless a drain upon his re- 

 sources. The profits of the farmer, even in a region like the West, 

 where the soil is prolific and the prices of farm products high, are 

 comparatively small. If it costs him, therefore, as Professor Mead 

 told us yesterday, as much for litigation in defending his claims 

 against later appropriations and users as it does for the construction 

 and maintenance of his entire system of ditches, he cannot but feel 

 this additional burden, this double taxation. 



Furthermore, after having experienced for years the evil effects 

 of water disputes, and the excessive costs of a court decision, the irri- 

 gator has no assurance that this decision will be final. If by the in- 

 troduction of grossly exaggerated testimony regarding the actual 

 volumes of water diverted from a stream and the land surface whioh 

 each waters, the court, through the absence of all reliable data, grants 

 to some particular ditch many times more water than the owners can 

 use and much more than the ditch can convey; such a decision cannot 

 stand the test of time. It is neither respected nor complied with, and 

 serves but one purpose, it paves the way for future litigation. 



Such decisions cannot be final for another reason. It is seldom 



