The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-30

and the one on which the reward of
their industry and the value of their
farms ultimately depend
The present situation in the states in
cluded in the discussion is thus set
forth: For every acre of irrigated
land there has to be a right to water.
The title to the latter is of as much i'm
portance as the deed to the land. 1t is
much harder to establish. These rights
take more forms than the rivers they
control and are acquired by as many
methods as there are states to frame
laws. In one respect they are alike:
no matter whether the user of water de-
rives his title direct from the state,
buys it from a ditch company which
furnishes water for hire, or from the
| holder of a speculative claim it is A
| source of more perplexity at the outset
| and of more hours of anxious thought
afterwards, than all the other prob
| lens of irrigation combined.
Because of uncertainty of what
| these rights should be, or differences of
| opinion on that question, the irrigation
| laws of many states have been so am
| biguous and contradictory that the
| finite intellect is not able to interpret
| their meaning. AS a result there are
laws and court decisions to sustain
| about every view of stream ownership
| of which the mind of man can conceive,
and in some cases they are all found in
| the statutes and decisions of a single
| state. The growing volume of litiga-
| ton, the uncertain and contradictory
character of many of the decisions, IS
making it a heavy burden to irrigators
| and a serious menace to progress. I'm
| less it can in some way be restricted it
threatens to impair the value of invest
ments in bitches and the success of
this form of agriculture.
mo one subject is a source of greater
30 t1,n hao Inn har hQn &c
Establishment of a priority of right in the
stream he diverts and nothing has
caused greater hardship or loss than
failure through lack of knowledge TO
conform to existing laws. The explana-
tons of state systems are given In de-
tail, so that the bulletins constitute
manual of forms as well as discussion
of principles.
IN pursuance of the second line of
work determined upon, extensive inves-
LEGATIONS on the duty of water, as
measured by the actual amounts of
water used by successful farmers ON
different soils in growing different
crops, are being inaugurated with the
cooperation of the experiment sta
| tons, irrigation engineers and practical
| irrigators in different parts of the arid
| region. 1t is believed that these investi-
cations will furnish the inclination re-
| gardng the quantity of water required
| to irrigate an acre of land, which is a
| necessity in every irrigated district in
| the making of water compacts, the
! planning of works and the determ.n-
| alton and protection of rights in
| stream, and without which all these i'm
portant transactions have to be based
| largely on conjecture"
| Mrs. Ellen NJ. Henrotin has compiled
| for the commissioner of labor a COM
| prehensive review of the women's clubs
M Of ba a1
and their attitude toward social econo-
mics" Colorado is well to the front
among the states of the Union, having
| nearly four times as many women's
clubs as the city of Chicago, and more
| than all New England except Massa-
| chusetts. The other mountain states
are represented as follows in the list
prepared by Mrs. Henrotin: Utah, 20;
| Idaho 5, and Montana, 5. Her Montana
| list is by no means complete, as it in
| cludes only the Atlas and Homer clubs
| of Butte, the State Housekeepers' So
| ciety of Bozeman and the Woman's
| and Nineteenth century clubs of Kalis-
| pell
The author says: Replies to inquiries
| by the commissioner of labor disclose
| two specially interesting facts, among
| many others, first, the difficulty OK
| perienced by the womans clubs in
| keeping any one department of club
| work separate from another, as educa-
| ton from civics or philanthropy from
| reform; second. the growing interest
| felt everywhere in social economic
| questions The club members seem to
| have become convinced that the science
| of economics is at the bottom of nearly
| all their problems. Resolving to ac-
| quaint themselves with existing eco
! nomic conditions, the women formed
| study classes and invited experts and
| practical workers in the realms of phil
! l. TlNa ,.tt duo low rto
| tistical science to present the newest
| views and results. BY the interest thus
aroused among large and influential
| memberships much has been done to
| raise civic standards, to remedy abuses,
| to improve sanitary conditions and re-
lieVe the hardshipS of the industrial
| pursuits as now carried on by women
and children. Since the investigation
| of the department of labor was made
| clubs once purely literary in scope have
| branched into the study of educational
| and civic conditions. Other clubs, avow-
| eddy for social purposes only, have been
| led into public work of many kinds,
| and now boldly advocate industrial re-
| forms. Education and the betterment
| and extension of the public school sys-
| TEN throughout the country receive
| earnest attention from nearly all clubs
that belong to the general and state
| declarations.
| I'm the trans Mississippi states the
woman's club of any locality is of ne
| cessity an important factor in the de-
/ velopment of the community. Most CT
| the clubs in these states are organized
| to deal with local needs. The problems
! that confront large and thlckly settled
| communities do not occupy the atten-
ton of clubs in sparsely populated dis
| tricts. Effort is directed chiefly to-
| ward public education, town and village
| improvement associations, libraries
and the broadening of civic and social
| life." HOSFORD.