THE IERIGATION AGE. 



451 



Some Fundamental Principles 

 of Irrigation Law 



Clarence T. Johnstou, Stale Engineer o! Wyoming 



For over forty years the Anglo-Saxon of America has 

 given his time and energy to the reclamation of the arid 

 lands of the West by means of irrigation. As he has 

 conquered Nature wherever his lot has been cast through- 

 out the world, so has he succeeded in building canals and 

 reservoirs and in bringing water to lands that only need 

 -moisture to be productive. His success In a material way 

 has been marked. Unlike his brethren of Egypt, India 

 and Australia, he has not protected the fruits of his con- 

 quest by the enactment of laws and regulations which in- 

 sure perpetual stability and guarantee the peace and pros- 

 perity of the individual water user. We have built wisely 

 on the ground, but we have failed to take those precau- 

 tions which insure lasting security to a rural population. 

 Under the general government, the control of non- 

 navigable streams is reserved to the states and terri- 

 tories. It would be presumed that these states and terri- 

 tories would accept this responsibility in a way that would 

 guarantee protection to all who use water beneficially. 

 The Englishman, the German and the Frenchman natur- 

 ally know but little concerning irrigation and irrigation 

 principles when they are sent by their own governments 

 to restore peace and order commercially in new territory 

 gained by conquest. Wherever irrigation has been neces- 

 sary under the flags of any of these nations, the wisest 

 laws and regulations have been put into effect contempo- 

 raneously with the commencement of irrigation develop- 

 ment on the ground. Italy and Spain have been visited 

 t>y agents of these nations in order that the experience 

 gained in these older irrigated countries might be applied 

 for the protection of the citizens whose livelihood depends 

 upon a wise and just distribution of the available water 

 supply. As a result of this policy, countries that have 

 been irrigated for thousands of years under native rule 

 are, under these new conditions, making remarkable prog- 

 ress. India, Egypt and Australia, as well as the provinces 

 of South Africa, are examples of this kind. All foreign 

 countries which have developed along irrigation lines pro- 

 vide a special administration for determining rights to 

 use water and for protecting such rights after they have 

 been defined. 



Before it is possible to provide an efficient irrigation 

 administration, it is necessary to understand what prin- 

 ciples must be recognized in the law to bring order out 

 of chaos and to furnish the relief sought. After forty 

 years of practical experience in the field, the states and 

 territories of the West have not thus far attempted to 

 come to an understanding or agreement as to a single 

 important principle that should be generally accepted. We 

 attend the Irrigation Congress annually. This is the 

 seventeenth such session. Much of the time of the con- 

 gress is consumed by paid moulders of public sentiment, 

 advertisers and politicians. The majority of the resolu- 

 tions adopted each year by the congress have no direct 

 bearing on the vital questions we should consider. We 

 have been tangled up with the Natinal Irrigation Asso- 



ciation and with forestry organizations in a way that is 

 inexcusable. Neither have anything to do with irrigation. 

 The members of none of these organizations can help 

 us to arrive at conclusions which will benefit the water 

 users. The congress has been used to some extent as 

 a catspaw by those who are employed to attack the public 

 land laws. While such a campaign is based wholly on 

 selfish, mercenary grounds, yet the agents who appear 

 before the congress submit data, evidently having some 

 sanction of government officials, which would lead the 

 uninformed to believe that our land laws are not suited 

 to western conditions. The argument they make is that 

 our public lands are going into private control too rapidly. 

 The truth is that progress along these lines is entirely 

 too "slow. It is possible that a campaign which would 

 result in the restriction of the land laws by rules and regu- 

 lations would add to the value of land scrip held by some 

 of the great corporations of the country. It is possible 

 that those who hold such land scrip are farseeing enough 

 to recognize that it will repay them many fold to hire 

 agents to work up a public sentiment against the land 

 laws. This probably explains the presence of some dele- 

 gates from the east and makes clear the reason for their 

 activity and their great concern in the disposition of 

 the public domain. 



We will be more or less bothered by those who be- 

 lieve that the resources of the country have been nearly 

 exhausted. This class .should be assigned as perpetual 

 delegates and life members of some sanitarium rather than 

 be classed as representing those principles for which the 

 Irrigation Congress should stand. This cry for conserva- 

 tion is as foolish and childlike as are many of the theories 

 of those who have led in movements of the kind. The 

 government employs men to study geology and to ascer- 

 tain as to the visible supply of material on which com- 

 merce and prosperity must, in a large measure, depend. 

 Those who have traveled and have studied extensively in 

 the field are satisfied that the estimates of these compilers 

 of data are as far from the truth as it is possible to be.. 

 The effect of the widespread advertising as to shortage 

 of one commodity or another has been injurious to the 

 nation at large. There is nothing gained by employing men 

 simply to scare the people. Some dependence should be 

 placed on government reports. Many of those issued 

 relative to the conservation movement are nothing but 

 danger signals, without tangible evidence of real danger. 

 Adam could have spent his time worrying as to the water 

 supply. The Pilgrim Fathers could have wasted their 

 energies in campaigns of conservation. It is fortunate 

 that those who have gone before us have given their time 

 to development work, rather than in day dreaming. It 

 is certain that Mother Earth will supply our tables and 

 clothe our children for generations to come. We must 

 be up and doing. Let us conquer the obstacles that Na- 

 ture has imposed, and make ready for a greater popula- 

 tion and a higher civilization. Let us have confidence in 

 the wisdom of the Creator. Let us believe that to date 

 we have just touched the surface of the ground here and 

 there, and that the vast wealth of the Earth lies yet un- 

 known in extent or character. It is remarkable that our 

 scientists have discovered enough coal already to last 

 us for several hundred years. They should not induce a 

 panic, because through their puny efforts the Earth has 

 not been more fully explored. Departments of the gov- 

 ernment, which have time to advertise impending catastrophes 

 and preach conservation only, should be weeded out and bu- 



