OBSTACLES TO DEVELOPMENT. 39 



abuses abound. There is no exception. The situation in Wyoming as con- 

 trasted with that in California shows that the arid West is not destined to 

 furnish one. If human experience has any vakie we ought to heed its 

 lessons, and the following extracts from official reports dealing with this 

 issue are so pertinent as to be worthy of insertion: 



A recognition of the danger of allowing water to be monopolized without regard to the land ha.« 

 led a commission appointed to inquire into Californian irrigation to declare that "as a matter of public 

 policy it is desirable that the land and water be joined never to l>e cut asunder; that the farmers should 

 enjoy in jierpetuity the use of the water necessary for the irrigation of their respective lands; that 

 when the land is sold the right to water shall also be sold with it, and that neither shall be sold sepa- 

 rately. — Australian Report on American Irrigation. 



Italian experience, French experience, and Spanish experience all go to show that the interests 

 to be studied in relation to irrigation schemes are so many and so various, and so intimately bound up 

 with the public welfare, that .State control is imperatively necessary, and that for the protection of its 

 citizens no monopoly can l)e permitted which would separate property in water from property in the 

 land to which it is applied. — Fourth Progress Report, Royal Commission on Water Supply, Victoria, 

 Australia. 



European experience shows * * * that where waters belonging to the State are farmed and 

 relet by private individuals water rights are a constant source of gross injustice and endless litigation. 

 The consequence of these interminable vexations is that the poorer or more peaceably disposed land- 

 holder is obliged to sell his pos.sessions to a richer or more litigious proprietor, and the whole district 

 gradually passes into the hands of a single holder. — G. P. Marsh, formerly United States minister to 

 Italy. 



The ancient principles of common law applying to the use of natural streams, so wise and equi- 

 table in a humid region, would, if applied to the arid region, practically prohibit the growth of its most 

 im{X)rtant industries. Thus it is that a custom is springing up in the arid region which may or may 

 not have color of authority in statutory or common law; on this I do not wish to express an opinion, 

 but certain it is that water rights are practically being severed from the natural channels Cf the streams, 

 and this must be done. In the change it is to be feared that water rights will in many cases be sepa- 

 rated from all land rights as the system is now forming. If this fear is not groundless, to the extent 

 that such a separation is secured water will become a property independent of the land, and this 

 property will be gradually absorbed by a few. Monopolies of water will be secured, and the whole 

 agriculture of the country will be tributary thereto — a condition of affairs which an American citizen 

 having in view the interests of the largest number of people can not contemplate with favor. 



Practically in that country the right to water is acquired by priority of utilization, and this is as 

 it should be from the necessities of the country. But two important qualifications are needed. The 

 user right should attach to the land where used, not to the individual or company constructing the 

 canals by which it is used. The right to the water should inhere in the land where it is used; the 

 priority of usage should secure the right. But this needs some slight modification. A farmer settling 

 on a small tract, to be redeemed by irrigation, should be given a reasonable length of time in which to 

 secure his water right by utilization, that he may secure it by his own labor, either directly by con- 

 structing the waterways himself or indirectly by cooperating with his neighbors in constructing systems 

 of waterways. Without this provision there is little inducement for poor men to commence farming 

 operations, and men of ready capital only will engage in such enterprises. * * * The right to use 

 water should inhere in the land to be irrigated, and water rights should go with land titles. — Land of the Arid 

 Region, by J. W. Powell. 



The European country which most nearly resembles California is 

 southern Spain. The rainfall in Spain is less than that of California, and 

 irrigation is indispensable. Spanish water laws are the outcome of a thou- 

 sand years' experience, in which local customs widely different in character 



