7 HE IRR1 G AllOy A GE. 383 



horses. The irrigated farm has back of it the mine, the furnace, the 

 factory and the civilization of Western America can not fail, to have a 

 prosperous and varied industrial life. Here there can be no one-sided 

 development, no community exclusively devoted to the production of 

 <iorn, wheat, or cotton, to manufactures, or to commence. The farm, 

 the stock ranch, the lumber camp, the mine, the factory and the store 

 are destined to grow up and flourish side by side, each drawing sup- 

 port and furnishing sustenance to the others. 



It is well to consider by what methods and by what measures of 

 legislation the splendid resources of the arid region may be opened to 

 development. 



The first step is to determine the proper control and just distri- 

 bution of the water supply. The problem varies with the different 

 portions of the arid region. In the South streams are generally tor- 

 rential in character, furnishing the bulk of their waters in heavy 

 floods, which must be stored in the many natural sites available in the 

 mountains at a distance from the places where thf water is to be sup- 

 plied to the soil. In the North, on the other hand, the problem is not 

 that of storage, but of the diversion of great rivers like the Yellow- 

 stone, the Snake, the Columbia and the Missouri. Here works ade- 

 quate to the reclamation of the areas of arid land which remain can 

 only be built at great cost, rivaling those along the Ganges and the 

 Nile. 



Before such development proceeds further it is desirable that 

 ome common agreement should be reached concerning the true char- 

 acter of water rights. The idea of private ownership of water apart 

 from the land canmot prevail without creating institutions essentially 

 feudal in character. A water lord is even more undesirable than a 

 landlord as the dominant element in society. It is indisputable, as has 

 already been said, that the man who ownes the water practically owns 

 the land. A proposition which contemplates the turning over of all 

 the land to a private monopoly, thus making a tenantry of those who 

 may have their homes upon it in the future, could not hope to com- 

 mand popular support. But the idea of a private ownership of water, 

 amounting to a virtual monopoly of this vita! element, has been per- 

 mitted to grow up in the West. To a certain extent it has obtained 

 recognition in legislation and protection in judicial decrees and decis- 

 ions. In other countries the doctrine has largely disappeared, and in 

 our country it should give place to a more enlightened conception, and 

 to the only principle that can safely be adopted as the foundation of 

 the agricultural industry in the West. 



The right to water which should be recognized in an arid land is 

 the right of use, and even this must be restricted to beneficial and 

 economical use in order that the water supply may serve the needs of 

 the largest possible number. Ownership of water shqald be vested, 

 not in companies or individuals, but in the land itself. When this. 



