Arizona republican., 1907-09-05
Carefully Prepared Paper on the Subject of
 Water Users Associations
Principles Involved in the use by the People of Water served by the Government with proper Adjustment personal and vested rights and the securing of the Governments Investment.

| courts of any state or territory would
 adjudge an agreement among a larg,
 number of water users, made for tn, express purpose of securing the co. operation of the federal government
 to develop, increase and make available
 supply of water not hitherto avail able, to be ineffective upon the ground
 that it is against the policy of tha' particular state or territory.
 It would be unfortunate. indeed. il 1t should be otherwise. for If 1t were
 otherwise it would be impracticablt
 for the government to undertake the
 construction of irrigation works in suci states or territories.
 In those states and territories wher,
 the legal attributes of the right to ap. propriate water are identical with thos,
 assigned by the national irrigation act
 no agreement in that respect is needed
 But in some of the states and terri.
 tories there is difference-within tht
 states and territories themselves ther,
 is dispute, contrariety of opinion anC
 uncertainty. It is essential that where
 disputes. contrary opinions or uncer. tainty prevail. they may be settled and made certain Neither local nor feder- al legislation are wholly adequate tc this: the vested right Is stil to be disposed of. If there be one.-and
 where there is a claim of one however unfounded it might eventually be held to be. 1t should be got out of the way
 before the government can safely un-
 laF tal- h.. .f
 tion works.
 Legislation on the subject. where either contrariety of opinion or uncer-
 tainty exists. is desirable 1t Is true, bu;
 the desired transformation is not com plete until the assent of the claimants
 is secured.
 It k d condition of the national irri gation act that water rights acquired under its provisions shall conform fin their legal characteristics to the defi- milton we have given. It practically becomes d condition precedent to the construction of irrigation works under the act that where these differences exist the.' be readjusted. for the gov ernment would hardl:- be so improvi- dent as to construct works under which. upon their completion, there might be no one qualified to acquire the rights. and hence none to repay the cost of construction. Hence the ne- cessity for the precedent arrangement. In what form that shall be made: by and between whom; the evidence of it. etc, etc, become at once subjects of inquiry. A casual view will disclose the impracticability of the government. as preliminary to any project. enter ing into a tentstiVe-it could only be entative-agreemcnt with every land owner or occupant who might. under conditions to be determined later. be q beneficiary of the projected undertak- ing. I need hardly elaborate upon this it is obvious upon even slight re- flection. 4 moments consideration will suggest that this must be bv the united mutual action of all or prac- ticallv all. of the land owners pr oc- cUpants of the given community to be benefited by q proposed project. and not by the individual. independent ac- tion ot each of them
 RIGHTS OF PUBLIC LANDS.
 What We have said concerning the adjustment of water rights by the own fTS o. itIttl III MDfll llltTt lS dlTtduN a vested right to appropriate water applies. to some extent at least tV the entrymen of public lands: to an ex- tent that it Is dasirah hle that the.- too shah consent along with the owners of lenCs 'in private ownsrsniD" ro the fixing of the legal status of their rights When in 6 given pr"i-,,.t there viil be incirdeJ d considerable rel;t- tive extent ot the two classes Of lands those in private ownership and the public lands,-it is almost essential that the owners os the one class and the entrymen Of the other shall agree as to the extent of the right and it's appurtenancy to land. 10 make them uniform: and. as we'll. upon the rules that shall be adopted for administra- tion.
 There are vet other reasons for se- the rights to use water. to be enjoyed by the users under any given govern nent project. It would result in great if a 9art of the users of water under any given project were governed by one set of rules and reg Ilations devised for administration purposes, and another part of them by | different set of rules. This differ .nce in administration, and hence con- fusion. would necessarily result. unless here were a practical uniformity of he rights themselves, at least so far IS they relate to their enjoyment and transfer.
 The irrigation act contemplates and provides for the return to the reclama- | ion fund of the estimated cost of the | of every project under aken under its provisions. by the wa CT users supplied by it, by annual in 'tallments apportioned amongst them ,quitably. In the case of public lands. | he government has as security for hese payments the retention of the itle to the land until full payment by | he entryman of the annual istallments las been made. with the still further means of enforcing the payments by a