72 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



wards securing the ownership of the land by the 

 man who lives on it and tills it. It should seek 

 to vest in the farmer of the irrigated region the 

 title to his water supply and to protect his tenure 

 of it. The national reclamation act under which 

 large areas of arid land are now being placed 

 under irrigation, is commended as a contribution 

 to the development of a good country life in the 

 West, not alone because it renders available for 

 settlement large areas of previously worthless 

 land, but still more because it insures to settlers 

 the ownership of both the land and the water. 



The need to utilize the streams is to be con- 

 sidered in the East as well as in the West. 



The Commission suggests that a special in- 

 quiry be made of the control of stream resources 

 of the United States, with the object of protecting 

 the people in their ownership and of reserving to 

 agricultural uses such benefits as should be re- 

 served for these purposes. 



(c) WASTAGE AND CONTROL OF FORESTS. 



The forests have been exploited for private 

 gain until not only has the timber been seriously 

 reduced, but until streams have been ruined for 



