148 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



3. The doctrine that beneficial use is the basis of 

 right. 



These three propositions constitute a very im- 

 portant whole. They are inseparable from and their 

 acceptance will necessarily follow the establishment 

 of irrigation institutions by the general government 



these facts. The theory of economics is that all natural 

 monopolies should be managed for the public good and 

 not for the benefit of special interests, and the con- 

 clusion reached is that while private monopoly applied 

 to this class of subjects is a curse, public monopoly is 

 also a blessing. Undei' the old law of England, which 



Irrigated Truck Farm along the line of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway. Irrigation Scenes Southwest Texas. 



and the several States. The fact that such institutions 

 are established establishes at the same time in the 

 statutory law of the land correct principles of public 

 ownership and of co-operation. The establishment of 

 principles applied at first only to the subject of irri- 



has never been changed, the principle is laid down that 

 "land is public property vested in the Crown" (the 

 government as trustee for the public benefit). In 

 America "the monarch's supreme ownership of the 

 land is replaced by the people's supreme ownership of 



Su'gar Cane Field in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. 



gation will eventually have an influence upon all statu- 

 tory law to which the theory of public control, of co- 

 operation, or of public ownership can be applied, but to 

 no other subject will it have a clearer relation than 

 to that greatest of all economic questions, land. 



Water for irrigation purposes is of the same 

 economic nature as land. This is a very important 



the land." This is fully recognized in irrigation in- 

 stitutions. If we connect water with land for the pur- 

 poses of use and transfer, apply to it the theory of 

 public ownership with co-operative control, and then 

 lay down the rule of law that only beneficial use is the 

 basis of right, and we have not only the main under- 

 lying principles of irrigation institutions, but we also 



Irrigation Scenes in Southwest Texas. 



fact. It is a natural monopoly. Water used for do- 

 mestic purposes in a city or for irrigation purposes in 

 the country is of the same nature. The great economic 

 value of irrigation institutions is that they recognize 



have a recognition of the essential principles that should 

 govern most of the economic discussion of our time. 

 These measures and principles established in statutory 

 law become an object lesson of correct political, social 



