1902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



165 



cent, and in Wyoming, 8 1 per cent. The 

 people of the United States own from 

 three-fourths to nine-tenths of all the 

 land in the far West. They have as 

 owners rights in the states there which 

 the states themselves do not possess. 

 The states sometimes have the taxing 

 power over only small fractions of their 

 area. The people of the United States 

 are supreme in their control, and in all 

 patents for lands taken up under any of 

 the land laws of the United States after 

 1890 a reservation is made for a right 

 of way thereon for ditches or canals 

 constructed by authority of the United 

 States. 



This policy of national control has 

 been recognized in foreign countries. 

 From time immemorial Egypt has main- 

 tained her entire population on lands 

 that Egypt reclaimed as a national en- 

 terprise, and by so doing in ages past 

 gained the title of " the granary of the 

 world." In India 26,000,000 acres of 

 land have been reclaimed by the gov- 

 ernment as a national project. 



Having decided that the policy of 

 government aid may be safeh^ begun, 

 the laws enacted should be framed to 

 prevent miscarriage. The money of the 

 people should be spent for the develop- 

 ment of future homes, and not to foster 

 or protect land monopoly, and appro- 

 priations so safeguarded as to secure 

 this result. 



Private proprietorship of water should 

 never be recognized, because ownership 

 thereof virtually carries with it control 

 of the land; but the rights of each per- 

 son who can put a certain amount to use 

 should be clearly defined and guarded 

 in the order of priority' , beneficial use 

 alone being the measure and the limit 

 of the right. 



The primar}' object in asking that 

 action be taken by the federal govern- 

 ment is that land monopoh' may be pre- 

 vented. By limiting holdings to 80 

 acres each as a maximum, it will be 

 extremely difficult to create a monopoly 

 of ownership. 



The requirement of actual settlement 

 and cultivation, coupled with payment 

 of the cost of storing w^ater, will also 

 eliminate the speculative element and 

 reserve the lands for bona fide settlers. 



RIPARIAN RIGHTS. 



The laws and customs governing ri- 

 parian rights in the humid and semi- 

 humid portions of the country have been 

 modified or made of no effect in most of 

 the states and territories lying within 

 the arid region. It is there recognized 

 that water is part of a common stock 

 necessary for life and indu.stry, to be 

 drawn upon by all in accordance with 

 certain orderly procedure. Most of the 

 arid-land states have, therefore, in their 

 constitutions, abrogated the old doctrine 

 of riparian rights ; so that it is no lon- 

 ger the law in those states that a stream 

 shall flow " undiminished in quantity 

 and undefiled in quality" past a man's 

 land. It can all be appropriated and 

 diverted, and he may be left nothing but 

 the channel. That provision of the 

 state constitutions has been upheld by 

 the state courcS and by the Supreme 

 Court of the United States. 



The laws in the different states of the 

 arid region differ widely, but there are 

 certain underlying principles which are 

 being established by court decisions, 

 and through these many of the compli- 

 cations are being satisfactorily solved. 

 The conditions which arise where a 

 stream crosses state lines are, however, 

 beyond the control of local legislatures 

 and must come within the cognizance 

 of Congress. 



In Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, 

 and Montana the waters of streams are 

 under public control, more or less strict, 

 and there is also a practical uniformity 

 in irrigation methods and similarity in 

 the general character of the water 

 suppl}^ climate, and soil. This terri- 

 tory also includes some of the states 

 which have by constitution and statute 

 abrogated the common-law doctrine of 

 riparian rights. 



DIFFICULTIES AND COMPLICATIONS. 



The question of national aid in irri- 

 gation has brought up certain inquiries 

 regarding relations between the indi- 

 viduals who own water rights, the state 

 which has a certain control over these, 

 and the nation the great land-owner 

 and source of titles to the land and of 



