262 Cooperation in Agriculture 



theoretically represents the investment or the cost of 

 water rights, water-bearing lands, work done in develop- 

 ing water, and of irrigation works. The companies deliver 

 water to users at fixed rates, the charges sometimes being 

 so much per irrigation per acre with a minimum charge 

 for the season, but more often being in proportion to the 

 quantity of water used. Until the passage of the Public 

 Utilities Act, the law of California made it the duty of 

 county supervisors when properly petitioned by a certain 

 number of taxpaying citizens to fix the rates charged by 

 a public service company to give a fair profit on the value 

 of the system. In many cases no request was made to 

 have the rates fixed according to law, and the water charges 

 have been regulated by contract between company and 

 users, the latter often being dealt with as an incorporated 

 mutual company having its own distributing system. 

 Such contracts are accepted where rates have not been 

 officially established, but cannot be made to conflict with 

 legal rates. Sometimes a bonus or its equivalent has been 

 exacted from the water users in addition to the water 

 charge, but companies of this class can be forced to give 

 reasonable public service without discrimination and with- 

 out collecting a bonus. The Public Utilities Act of 1911 

 gives the State Railroad Commission power to not only 

 fix the rates of public service water companies, but to 

 practically regulate their entire business, including manner 

 of service, measurement, accounting, incurrence of in- 

 debtedness, etc. 



"Cooperative or mutual water companies are organized 

 by land-owners for the purpose of supplying water for the 

 irrigation of their own lands at cost and without profit to 



