176 



THE IREIOATION AGE. 



case. The bitterness of failure, the expense and uncer- 

 tainty inseparable from litigation, is all avoided in this 

 way. No irrigator is brought into conflict with his 

 neighbor in the protection of his legitimate rights. 



The improvement of our water rights and the bet- 

 terment of the condition of the irrigator has been aided 

 more by the work of the state engineer than by any other 

 single influence. No one, except those who have held 

 this position, can understand the amount of time, cour- 

 age and patience required to make the beginners in 

 irrigation understand the need of regulations which are 

 new to them, and to submit to the acts of officials when 

 it often means the loss of their year's work. Even 

 if this distribution of water is not affected by this human 

 problem it can only be carried out successfully by men 

 having administrative ability of a high order. To di- 

 vide the water of hundreds of streams in the state so 

 that the share of each irrigator shall go to him with 

 the same certainty that a shipment of freight goes over 

 a railroad to the man to whom it is consigned, requires 

 as much ability as it does to manage a railway. To the 

 state engineer and water commissioner belongs the chief 

 credit for the fact that our improved laws are being 

 successfully put in operation. 



Minidoka Dam and Regulating Devices. View from north end. August 

 29, 1906. Minidoka Project, Idaho. Photo by F. C. Horn. 



In the last five years a number of states have en- 

 acted enlightened codes which have been framed in 

 whole or in part by the officers of the National Keclama- 

 tion Service. These men have been in the position to 

 deal with this question from a broad standpoint rather 

 than from that of the individual, community or state. 

 The vital interest of the federal government in this 

 question warrants such study and influence, and it must 

 in time be an increasingly potent factor in shaping the 

 principles which are to govern streams. The passage of 

 the reclamation act is to have, I believe, one very bene- 

 ficial effect upon this region. It is to compel the con- 

 sideration of problems which we must sooner or later 

 face and which demand an immediate solution. The 

 criticism of our irrigation system is that we have 

 never made sufficient provision for future requirements. 

 All we have done has been of an emergency character, 

 made to meet present needs. We began by treating the 

 country as a unit and then we divided streams in a 

 half dozen sections in a state and attempted to treat 

 each section as a unit. We have had to abandon that 



and we now treat the drainage basin within a state as 

 a unit. We must soon go one step farther and treat 

 an entire stream regardless of state lines as a unit, 

 and we should begin at an early date to work out a 

 method by which the priorities across state lines are 

 to be established and protected. We cannot avoid this 

 problem by refusing to consider as vital the welfare of 

 individuals when property rights are concerned in_ its 

 just solutions. 



Within the past quarter of a century the value of 

 water rights in the older irrigated districts has doubled, 

 trebled and quadrupled. This is for irrigation alone. 

 Within this period there has been such a noticeable in- 

 crease in the importance of water as an agent for the 

 acquirement of power for industrial uses that the pro- 

 tection of rights for power is complicating the rights 

 for water for irrigation. The demand for water for 

 domestic uses in cities and towns is in some cases prac- 

 tically absorbing the entire flow of streams once used 

 entirely for irrigation, and with the growth of popula- 

 tion there must be a growth in these demands. All 

 these are creating new problems in legal matters. That 

 which was sufficient yesterday does not suffice for the 

 advanced conditions of today. The security and con- 

 tentment of the people of this region requires that we 

 should not only solve the problems of today but antici- 

 pate, if we can, the problems of the next generation. 

 What we leave undone will only be regained by heavy 

 loss. With a nation as with an individual, it is im- 

 portant that we recognize what should be done and do 

 it without hesitation, and not leave to an uncertain fu- 

 ture that which is necessary to our most rapid and sat- 

 isfactory progress. 



In this connection I have a suggestion to make to 

 this congress. It is that it appoint a committee to serve 

 during the coming year, and to take up and report its 

 conclusions as to the principles which should govern 

 the establishment of water titles and administrative 

 measures necessary for the protection of those rights 

 both within the boundaries of states and across the 

 boundaries of state lines. Such action by this congress 

 has abundant precedent and justification in that of simi- 

 lar bodies. The National Bar Association has from 

 time to time appointed committees to consider and re- 

 port its conclusions as to legislation of special impor- 

 tance and difficulty. A committee was appointed to re- 

 port on a uniform divorce law. A few years ago a simi- 

 lar committee was appointed to report on a uniform 

 bankruptcy law. The appointment of such a committee 

 by this congress would serve to call attention to these 

 questions and to crystallize public sentiment both as 

 to the necessity for adequate limitations of rights and 

 for an adequate protection of rights throughout the en- 

 tire drainage of a stream. 



Send $2*50 for The Irrigation 



Age one year and 

 The Primer of Irrigation 



