42 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



then transfer one share of the water company stock with each acre of 

 land sold, and when the land was all sold the water stock would 

 all be in the hands of the land-owners, who would manage it to suit 

 themselves. 



The fourth and last step in the construction of the legal machinery 

 for the ownership and management of irrigation systems in this State 

 was the enactment of the Wright irrigation district law in the spring of 

 1887, during the great financial and real estate boom that swept over 

 the State in general, and vigorously swept over Southern California in 

 particular, as many of our people have occasion to remember, because 

 of the fortunes made or lost, or because of the fortunes both made and 

 lost. 



This district law was built on a solid foundation, after years of study 

 by some of the most competent irrigationists of the State, who had given 

 irrigation laws careful consideration. But a building may be erected 

 on a solid foundation and still be so poorly constructed as to be abso- 

 lutely worthless. 



Mr. Wright presented to the Legislature the best district bill that 

 could be passed by that dual body — a bill that was made weak in spots 

 by the requirements of the State Constitution, and made weak at other 

 points by the unwillingness of the Legislature, backed by the people, to 

 have the State itself take any financial responsibility in assisting the 

 people of the arid sections to create wealth where theretofore there had 

 been nothing but desolation. 



One of the weak points of the law permitted unscrupulous speculators 

 to take advantage of the system to enrich themselves at the expense of 

 the public, and this kind of work was extensively done. 



If the law had provided that the State should supervise the formation 

 of irrigation districts great good might have been accomplished and the 

 law might have been a blessing to the State instead of a curse. The 

 law might have created a State Board of Irrigation, composed of, say, 

 the Governor, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of State, the State 

 Treasurer, and a State Engineer. The duty of this board should have 

 been to examine carefully all applications for the formation of irrigation 

 districts. Such a board could have passed upon the character of the 

 land to be reclaimed, the water-supply, the cost of constructing the 

 works, the engineering questions connected with such construction, and 

 the advisability of such works from a business point of view. If the 

 application were approved, the voters of the district could vote on the 

 question of forming the district. A qualified voter for such an election 

 should be a land-owner in the proposed district, and he should be 

 allowed to cast one vote for each acre of land owned by him within the 

 proposed district. When it comes to the issuance of bonds, the State 

 Board should fix the amount and then submit the question to the voters 

 of the district, the same as the question of organization was submitted. 



