Arizona republican., 1901-12-04

ed rights. The policy of the national government should be to aid irrigation in the several states and territories In such manner as will enable the people in the local communities to help them selves, and as wifi stimulate needed reforms In the state laws and regula- tions governing irrigation.
 The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands wil enrich every portion of the country. just as the settlement of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys brought prosperity to the Atlantic states. The increased demand for manufactured articles will stimulate in dustrial production. while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will consume the larger food supplies and effectually prevent western competi- tion with eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products of irrigation will be con- stunned chiefly in upbuilding local cen ters of mining and other industries. which would otherwise not come into existence at all. Our people as whole will profit, for successful home-making is but another name for the upbuilding of the nation.
 THE BEGINNING.
 The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of the policy just described. It would be un- wise to begin by doing too much, for q great deal will doubtless be learned. both as to what can and what can not be safely attempted, by the early efforts, which must of necessity be partly experimental in character. At the very beginning the government should make clear. beyond shadow of doubt its intention to pursue this policy on lines of the broadest public interest. No reservoir or canal should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal or local interests :but only in accordance with the advice of trained experts, after long investigation has shown the locality wnere all the conditions combine to make the work most needed and fraught with the greatest usefulness 10 the community as a whole. There should be no extravaganza. and the be- leivers in the need of irrigation will most benefit their cause by seeing to it that it is free from the least taint of excessive or reckless expenditure of the public moneys.
 Whatever the nation does for the ex- tension of irrigation should harmoniza with. and tend to improve, the condi- ton of those now living on irrigated land. We are not at the starting point of this development. Over two hum dred millions of private capital has ai- ready been expended in the construc- tion of irrigation works. and many mill lion acres of arid land reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and ability has been shown in the work itself; but as much cannot be said in reference to the laws relating thereto. The secur ity and value of the homes created de- pend largely on the stability of titles to water :but the majority of these rest on the uncertain foundation of court decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. With few creditable ex- captions, the arid states have failed to provide for the certain and just divis- ion of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws have made 1t possible to establish rights to water in excess of actual uses or necessities. and many streams have already passed into private ownership. or control equivalent to ownership.
 Whoever controls a stream practical ly controls the land it renders produc- tive, and the doctrine of private owner ship of water apart from land cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong The recognition of such owner ship. which has been permitted to grow up in arid regions, should give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition of the rights of the public in the control and disposal of the public water supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in humid regions. where water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, have no proper application in dry country
 In the arid states the only right to water which should be recognized is that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water rights to others than users, without compensation to the public, is open to all the objections which apply to giving away perpetual franchises to the public utilities of cities A few of the western states have already recognized this, and have in- corporated in their constitutions the doctrine of perpetual state ownership of water.
 The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past justify the nations aid and co-opera- tion in the more difficult and important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting homes as those which control the water supply will only be effective when they have the sanction of the irrigators: reforms can only be final and satisfactory when they comes through the enlightenment of the peo- pie most concerned. The larger devel- opment which national aid insures. should. however, awaken in every arid state the determination to make it's ir- rigation system equal in justice and eff fectiyeness that of any country in the civilized world. Nothing could be more unwise than for isolated communities to continue to learn everything experi- mentally, instead Of profiting by what Is already known elsewhere. We are dealing with a new and momentous question. in the pregnant years while institutions are forming. and what we do will effect not only the present but future generations.
 Our aim should be not simply to re- claim the largest area of land and pro- vide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this new in dustry the best possible social and in dustrial conditions: and this requires