IRRIGATION WATER 71 



tained, and grants should be in the nature of 

 terminable franchises. 



The irrigation water should be protected. 

 Farm life in the irrigated regions is usually of an 

 advanced type, due principally to the small size 

 of farms and the resulting social and educational 

 advantages, and to intensive agriculture. Be- 

 cause of these facts, the development of the arid 

 regions by irrigation may be a distinct contribu- 

 tion to the improvement of the country life of the 

 nation. In the use of streams for irrigation, as 

 in other uses, monopoly should be discouraged. 

 The ownership of water for irrigation is no less 

 important than the ownership of land; water- 

 lordism is as much to be feared as landlordism. 

 In the irrigated regions, the water is more valu- 

 able than the land to which it is applied; the 

 availability of the water supply often gives to the 

 land all the value that it has, and when this is 

 true it must follow that the farmer must own 

 both the water and the land if he is to be master 

 of his own fortunes. One of the very best ele- 

 ments of any population is the independent 

 home-owning farmer, and the tendency of govern- 

 ment, so far as may be practicable, should be to- 



