284 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
feasible than the common title to sunlight and air, or indeed the equal 
rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and three great 
conventions during last year adopted in substance the water plank made 
public by the senate committee on the conservation of natural resources. 
We adhere to the principle arising in our constitution and incorporated in 
statutes recently enacted in several states that the waters belong to the people, 
and maintain that this right of the people is inherent and indefeasible; and 
while recognizing the necessity of administering this invaluable possession of 
the people by state and federal agencies, each within its appropriate jurisdiction, 
we deny the right of municipalities or of state and federal governments to 
alienate or convey water by perpetual franchises or without just consideration 
in the interests of the people. 
With the sense of power and the realization of rights, the conscious- 
ness of duty is spreading. Until recently, provision for waterway im- 
provement or other public works otherwise than by direct appropriation 
was commonly deemed chimerical; and citizens were led by advice of 
their representatives and the policy of congress to look on local appro- 
priations as spoils of conquest rather than general contributions to the 
public good—whereby the “ pork-barrel” was kept open and the appro- 
priations went for “ works” with little regard for actual navigation of 
the waters. Now, seeing that despite the expenditure of hundreds of 
millions on waterway “works” navigation of the rivers has declined, 
the people demand business-like methods whereby public funds shall be 
expended only for commensurate public benefits; and since the people 
have spoken, presidents, governors and probably a majority of the con- 
gress are concurring in the wisdom of issuing bonds to cover the cost 
of continuously and increasingly beneficial public improvements. 
Almost never before has the issue of bonds been contemplated without 
more or less open guarantee from Wall Street; but now legion citizens 
clamor for opportunity to share public burdens directly on a patriotic 
basis rather than indirectly through the expensive medium of special 
interests—for in the end the people pay. Under this pressure bills 
have already been introduced in the congress providing for waterway 
improvement on the basis of bonds issued in small denominations 
bearing interest too low to tempt bankers and brokers; and the adoption 
of this popular policy promises to mark America’s most definite step 
toward making her citizens joint owners rather than passive tenants 
of their common country, and thereby at once raising patriotism to a 
higher plane and insuring stability of the nation. 
The recognition of rights and duties respecting the waters leads 
to juster appreciation of other resources, which were of no account when 
the constitution was framed but have acquired value through the natural 
growth and orderly development of our population and industries; and 
to-day several of our forty-odd state conservation commissions hold that 
in legislative or other action looking toward wiser use and conservation 
