XCII REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OP AGRICULTURE. 



just and effective system which would operate everywhere alike, the 

 unsettling of existing conditions might not be so objectionable, but 

 there is no such assurance. All who have studied the subject agree 

 that, notwithstanding the imperfections of State laws, it would be a 

 mistake to attempt reforms by an arbitrary exercise of power from 

 without, but that the true solution is to educate irrigators as to their 

 highest interests. 



If the States are to control the water supplies, there should be 

 satisfactory assurance that whatever is made available by public funds 

 shall benefit the actual users of water and not enrich the holders of 

 speculative rights. In some States there is such assurance. These 

 States are entitled to national aid, because it is known from present 

 conditions that such aid would be clearly beneficial. But there are 

 other arid States where the doctrine of riparian rights jeopardizes the 

 success of every irrigation work now built, as well as any works which 

 the Government might build. In other States rights have been estab- 

 lished to many times the existing supply, yet there is nothing to pre- 

 vent new claims being filed, new diversions made, and unending 

 litigation over the conflicts thus created. For the Government to pro- 

 vide an additional supply on these streams before existing controver- 

 sies are settled would simply aggravate and intensify the evils of the 

 present situation. Whatever aid Congress extends should be condi- 

 tioned on the enactment of proper irrigation codes by the States, and 

 be made to promote the greater efficiency and success of such laws 

 rather than interfere with their operation. 



INFLUENCE OF LAND LAWS ON IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT. 



The irrigation problem of the arid West is not, however, one of water 

 alone, but of land and water. The character of the laws which con- 

 trol the disposal of the 500,000,000 acres of arid public land can not but 

 have a vital influence on the rapidity and success with which irrigated 

 agriculture is extended. The management of these lands is a great 

 economic trust of the nation and affords one of the highest tests of the 

 capacity of the Republic to deal with problems of this character. 



There are several directions in which land legislation can be made 

 to promote agricultural development. Laws to protect investments 

 of private capital in irrigation works are urgently needed. Many of 

 the losses experienced in the past by the builders of large canals have 

 been due to misfit land laws. The reasons for this are well under- 

 stood in the West, but apparently not realized elsewhere. One has 

 been the injury wrought by speculative filings on the land to be irri- 

 gated. The building of a canal enhances the value of the land it 

 covers from that of grazing land to that of farming land. With a few 

 exceptions this increase in value is at least tenfold. Under former 

 public land laws it was possible to make filings without any outlay 



