100 FOREST LANDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 



But when it must be let into a natural stream, where it mingles with the run-off 

 from below, it is impossible to determine what proportion of stored water the 

 mill may be using or to enforce its nonuse if not paid for. But, if such an 

 arrangement is not practicable, that fact does not constitute an argument 

 against the reservoir system. So long as te reservoirs are performing the 

 service for which they were created, every additional benefit derived from them 

 is only an additional argument in their favor." 



These disadvantages will adjust themselves in time. 



Such, in the opinion of the author, must be the basis of any great reservoir 

 system in our country industrial use. Even in the uniquely favorable condi- 

 tions at the headwaters of the Mississippi, no one can doubt that the real pur- 

 pose being served is that of mill power, whatever the theory upon which the 

 reservoirs were built. The great system of the far West is being built for 

 irrigation, power, and domestic supply. So on the Ohio and other eastern 

 streams, the system must rest upon an industrial basis and expand only as 

 industrial demands justify. The innovation involved in building reservoirs 

 with public funds for these uses is admitted; but it is no greater than it was 

 ten years ago to build them for irrigation. When the author was investigating 

 that subject in 1896-97, he found a widespread opposition throughout the arid 

 regions against government control of irrigation works in any way, and in his 

 report he went no further than to advise the building of reservoirs for giving 

 the people more water, leaving its distribution exactly as it was before. Yet in 

 the short space of ten years public sentiment has completely changed, and 

 to-day no one questions the wisdom of the broader plan upon which these works 

 are being carried out. So it will surely be in regard to reservoirs in all other 

 parts of the country. The principle is the same. It may be accepted that only 

 the general Government can do this work in the comprehensive way in which 

 it ought to be done, because only the Government can reap all the benefits ; only 

 the Government can wait the long periods necessary for full returns ; and only 

 the Government has the necessary resources to make expenditures on the re- 

 quired scale. These points will not be enlarged upon, and the many and cogent 

 reasons why this is so will not be given. The trend of public thought is all hi 

 that direction. The old idea that the Government can riot execute great works 

 or small as cheaply, efliciently, and expeditiously as private agencies is fast 

 being dispelled, and the vast benefits which the people derive from public con- 

 trol of important enterprises are coming into fuller recognition all the time. 



The foregoing remarks should not be construed as in any way rejecting the 

 idea of local help by States, counties, cities, or even private agencies. It often 

 happens that public works have a special local importance in addition to their 

 public value. It is just and proper in such cases that local aid be given. This 

 principle is now fully incorporated in river and harbor legislation. For ex- 

 ample, the Lake Washington Canal, which will be of very great importance to 

 the city of Seattle, is a joint enterprise between the Government and the city, 

 the latter paying fully one-third of the cost. The cooperation between the 

 United States Geological Survey and the several States, in preparing a contour 

 map of the country is an example on a large scale. The principle ought to find 

 an extensive application in the establishment of national forests throughout the 

 country. 



CONCLUSION. 



This paper will be closed with some reference to the relation of navigation to 

 other uses of our streams and to certain legal obstacles that stand in the way 

 of comprehensive me.'isures. That the improvement of our inlnnd waterways 

 should be organized upon a more rational system than it has ever been ; 

 that the reciprocal relation between navigation, water power, etc.. should be 

 given practical recognition; above all. that the prosecution of these works 

 .should be placed upon the same sure basis as is the construction of the Panama 

 Canal, with positive assurance that, when once commenced, funds will be 

 forthcoming for their prompt completion, would seem to admit of no doubt. 

 How far navigation should be correlated, in improvement work, with other uses 

 of the streams is an open question. Water power and navigation are in many 

 cases so closely related that they will have to be considered together. In 

 regard to soil wash, no such intimate relation exists. To whatever extent soil 

 .erosion now exceeds that of former times it relates almost exclusively to culti- 

 vation and has no appreciable influence upon the channels. Its control is of 

 far greater importance to agriculture than it is to navigation. This is also 

 true of irrigation, which, so far as it affects navigation at all, affects it in- 



