December 13, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



923 



One of the great questions now before the 

 people of the country is how to dispose of 

 the crowded and surplus population around 

 the great manufacturing centers and to 

 render the idle laborers producers of wealth 

 instead of helpless consumers. The public 

 lands in the past have proved the great out- 

 let for superfluous labor, especially at the 

 periodical occurrence of hard times. Vast 

 areas of fertile public lands still remain, 

 but these cannot be utilized until the prob- 

 lem of supplementing the deficient water 

 supply can be solved. This problem of 

 water supply for the arid lands is one which 

 must be taken up by the publicist and 

 statesman. The engineering features are 

 comparatively simple, but the great question 

 to be solved is as to who is to pay for the 

 original outlay. The public at large is un- 

 doubtedly the gainer, since by the creation of 

 prosperous homes upon the public domain 

 the commonwealth is strengthened, and 

 commerce and manufacture increased. A 

 similar question with regard to the building 

 of light-houses and the improvement of 

 harbors has been answered by the national 

 government taking charge of the matter, 

 and it is urged by many who have studied 

 the matter thoroughly that Congress, the 

 custodian of the public lands, must take 

 cognizance of present conditions and not 

 only modify the land laws to suit the con- 

 ditions of the arid West, but also provide 

 means by which large rivers may be made 

 available and floods held so that the farm- 

 ers by their own work may be able to util- 

 ize the waters, as has been done by their 

 predecessors. 



' The Scope of National Aid for Irriga- 

 tion ' : Fred Bond, State Irrigation Engi- 

 neer, Cheyenne, Wyo. 



Irrigation laws are a necessary part of 

 the statutes of every state any portion of 

 which lies west of the 100th meridian, and 

 they form a part of the statutes of those 

 states. These laws are enacted for the 



purpose of governing the diversion and ap- 

 propriation of water and its use, and state 

 codes and state statutes alone define water 

 rights and provide for their determination 

 and administration. The general govern- 

 ment has never undertaken to exercise any 

 authority over water used in irrigation, but 

 has left the control of the water in the arid 

 region entirely to the states wherein found. 

 Whatever might have been originally un- 

 dertaken with advantage hj the nation does 

 not change present conditions, and it is now 

 too late, even were such action desirable, to 

 undertake the enactment of laws which will 

 come into conflict with the long-conceded 

 rights of the states to regulate and control 

 these matters ; nor can the government de- 

 termine future rights or undertake their 

 administration without creating a conflict 

 between those state and national authori- 

 ties which have the diversion of water di- 

 rectly in charge. The funds for irrigation 

 development must come from some national 

 resource, for the states are financially un- 

 able to raise them, and no matter how will- 

 ing many of them might be, thej'^ are pre- 

 cluded from the undertaking because the 

 limits of taxation permitted by their re- 

 spective constitutions has been reached in 

 providing means to meet ordinary state ex- 

 penses. They are, however, not only ready 

 and willing, but entirely capable of prose- 

 cuting the work to a successful conclusion, 

 the means being found. The funds should 

 come from such a source as would bring 

 about the least possible interference with 

 present conditions, and the appropriation or 

 setting apart of the receipts from the sale 

 of arid lands seems most completely to fill 

 these requirements. The volume of work 

 undertaken in any state each j^ear may be 

 limited by the receipts from the sale of pub- 

 lic lands in such state for the year previous, 

 a plan commendable in that interests not 

 benefited are not required to render any 

 assistance in the work. The amount ob- 



