THE IERIGA TION A GE 85 



ability has been shown in the work itself; but as much cannot be said 

 in reference to the laws relating thereto. The security and value of 

 the homes created depend largely on the stability of titles to water; 

 but the majority of these rest on the uncertain foundation of court de- 

 cisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. With a few creditable ex- 

 ceptions, the arid states have failed to provide for the certain and just 

 division of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws have 

 made it possible to establish rights to water in excess of actual uses 

 or necessities, and many streams have already passed into private 

 ownership, or a control equivalent to ownership. 



Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders 

 productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from 

 land cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recogni- 

 tion of such ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the 

 arid regions, should give way to a more enlightened and larger recog- 

 nition of the rights of the public in "the control and disposal of the 

 public water supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in 

 humid regions, where water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, 

 have no proper application in a dry country. 



In the arid states the only right to water which should be re.cog- 

 nized is that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land 

 reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water 

 rights to others than users, without compensation to the public, is 

 open to all the objections which apply to giving away perpetual fran- 

 chises to the public utilities of cities. A few of the Western states 

 have already recognized this and have incorporated in their constitu- 

 tion the doctrine of perpetual state ownership of water. 



The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the 

 past justify the nation's aid and co-operation in the more difficult and 

 important works yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting 

 homes as those which control the water supply will only be effective 

 when they have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be 

 final and satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of 

 the people most concerned. The larger development which national 

 aid insures should, however, awaken in every arid state the determin- 

 ation to make its irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness 

 that of any country in the civilized world. Nothing could be more 

 unwise than for isolated communities to continue to learn everything 

 experimentally, instead of profiting by what is already known else- 

 where. We are dealing with a new and momentous question, in the 

 pregnant years while institutions are forming, and what we do will 

 affect not only the present but future generations. 



Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land 

 and provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for 



