FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 313 
created, every additional benefit derived from them is only an addi- 
tional argument in their favor.” 
These disadvantages will adjust themselves in time. 
Such, in the opinion of the writer, must be the basis of any great 
reservoir system in our country—industrial use. Even in the uniquely 
favorable conditions at the head-waters of the Mississippi, no one can 
doubt that the real purpose being served is that of mill power, what- 
ever the theory upon which the reservoirs were built. The great 
system of the Far West is being built for irrigation, power and 
domestic supply. So on the Ohio and other eastern streams, the 
system must rest upon an industrial basis and expand only as indus- 
trial demands justify. The innovation involved in building reservoirs 
with public funds for these uses is admitted; but it is no greater 
than it was ten years ago to build them for irrigation. When the 
writer was investigating that subject in 1896-97, he found a wide- 
spread opposition throughout the arid regions against Government 
control of irrigation works in any way, and in his report he went 
no further than to advise the building of reservoirs for giving the 
people more water, leaving its distribution exactly as it was before. 
Yet in the short space of ten years public sentiment has completely 
changed and, to-day, no one questions the wisdom of the broader plan 
upon which these works are being carried out. So it will surely be 
in regard to reservoirs in all other parts of the country. The prin- 
ciple is the same. It may be accepted that only the General Govern- 
ment can do this work in the comprehensive way in which it ought 
to be done, because only the Government can reap all the benefits; 
only the Government can wait the long periods necessary for full 
returns, and only the Government has the necessary resources to make 
expenditures on the required scale. These points will not be enlarged 
upon, and the many and cogent reasons why this is so will not be given. 
The trend of public thought is all in that direction. The old idea that 
the Government cannot execute great works or small as cheaply, 
efficiently and expeditiously as private agencies is fast being dis- 
pelled, and the vast benefits which the people derive from public 
control of important enterprises are coming into fuller recognition 
all the time. 
The foregoing remarks should not be construed as in any way re 
jecting the idea of local help by states, counties, cities, or even private 
