Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-20
MISTAKES MADE BY MAXWELL
Some of the Points Overlooked by
the Great Irrigation
AGitatOr.

LINCOLN, Neb., Nov. 19.-To the Editor
of TIL Bee: Omaha seems to have
been chosen by Mr.. George II. Maxwell,
otherwise the National Irrigation a~ssocla-
ton, as a center from which he will hurl
his thunderbolts. An address delivered by
him there not long ago has been placed in
the hands Of western editors and has to
some extent been quoted. This address at
tacks the system of state control and ad-
ministration of public waters which is
In force in our own and some %neighbor-
ing states. In making this attack, he abso-
lutely ignores the facts which serve to in
trench those laws in the favor OF those
who have acquired or who expect to ac-
quire water rights under them. He under
takes to prejudice the minds Of those who
may not be fully informed, using to this
end such terms as "a corps OF state ditch
tenders appointed by state officials" He
states that the system in force puts the
control OF the distribution Of the waters
of a state in the hands Of a great political
irrigation machine, controlled by the state
politicians" and presumably expects no
one to recognize the fact that a similar
statement might be framed in regard to
any of our affairs the administration of
which is intrusted to state or national au-
thority.
He takes up home rule in irrigation"
as a slogan" and with the same abandon
which he assumes when he assured the
delegates to the irrigation congress at
Colorado Springs that when the govern
ment built its reservoirs and irrigation
works. there would be plenty of water
for everybody" he now brushes aside all
difficulties in the way of a system Of water
od-lngoAroktan uyhtnh uyould narunit fayarV
drainage basin, every irrigated community,
every canal system, and the whole body OF
lrrigators on any stream to control it's
or their affairs independent of any cen
! trail state authority. On this point, does
it seems that the local control Of the North
Platte and Platte rivers would be simpler
than the present state control? Mr.. Max
we'll must imagine that nothing would
be easier than for the people Of Scots
Bluff county and those living several hun
bred miles nearer to the mouth OF thu
river to get together in the town meeting
and fix up their affairs. o.
He speaks Of the Complicated code o
state laws" in the face of the fact tina
the more completely the element o
state control of streams has been embed
led in the constitution and statutes Of tn
irrigation states, the more simple and in
expensive is the process Of adjudication o
priorities Of right to the use Of water an
the more definite and secure are thos
rights.
Mr.. Maxwell says that the codes Of stat
water laws would complicate and retar'
beyond calculation the operations under tn
national irrigation act" and, further, h
limits what the states should do in thi
matter to the establishment Of "a few fun
damental principles by constitutions
amendment and judicial decision"
President Roosevelt says that a majorit
of titles to water in the west already "res
on the uncertain foundation Of court de
cisions rendered in ordinary suits at Law
With a few creditable exceptions the arr
states have failed to provide for the Ger
tain and Just division of streams in time @
scarcity"
Note the radical departure OF Mr.. Max
we'll from the opinion entertained by tn
president in regard to the desirability {
judicial decisions as a foundation for waite
rights. Moreover, who can doubt that NJ
braska and Wyoming we're foremost in tn
mind Of the president when he noted this
there were creditable exceptions TO tn