Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-11-05
LAWS ON USE OF WATER.
Government Complies Timely Vol
umen on This Subject.

]
Washington, Nov. 1.-THE national
conservation commission is compiling
! for publication in a single volume all
! the laws and court decisions. both
state and federal, which relate to the
use of water in the United States.
This manual will be of immense prac-
teal value and it is somewhat re
markable, considering the wide mum
Der of interests which are touched by
these laws, that no such compilation
has been made before this With
the constantly growing demand for
interstate waterways, the increasing
utilization of water power for the de.
yelOpment Of electricity, and the
widening areas of semiarid western
plains are being made arabic through
irrigation, those laws at the present
time affect the interests of a wide
variety of individuals and corpora
lions, and in the immediate future
the number whose business is directly
touched will beyond doubt be grl atty
| increased.
The work which the conservation
commission is doing along this line is
extremely thorough and the compila.
/ ton win be complete. It will include
all state and national statutes and all
court decisions which concern water
rights and kindred questions on both
navigable and nonnavigable streams
and lakes. The citations will in
clude all acts which relate to riparian
rights, and public usufruct Of water,
and all statutes which concern mills,
pollution of water, interference with
navigation or the use of streams for
power, damming Of streams, diYerting
StreamflOw, and so on-in short, all
acts which affect the use of waters
and their private appropriation to
power or other purposes. In the book
will be included also some authOrita-
tive discussion of the principles in
volved in those laws.
The commission in its endeavor to
make the compilation absolutely com
plete and accurate has called upon
the governors of all the states for as
sistance and the replies in every in
stance have promised support. Con
siderably more than half the states
have already appointed state conser,
walton commissioners for the specifi"
purpose Of cooperating with the ma,
tional commission in it's work of gath,
ering the material which will be EN-
bodied in the report to the president
! the first of the year. In the other
states the state officials whose work
most nearly touches this projec+ are
at work
! A single volume containing all the
/ laws which bear upon the use of wa,
1 tiers in the various parts Of the coun-
/ try, will be an exceedingly useful
reference handbook. 1t holds posi-
Utilities of an even greater usefulness
4 in that it will exhibit within limits
make ready omparison possible, not
/ only the general tendencies of the
laws and decisions on his subject,
| but the discrepancies that exist be-
/ tween the regulations Of different
states.
The fear is frequently expressed
/ that the tendency towards monopoli-
cation of water power, which has al
ready made very great progress in
some parts of the country, will re-
suit in practically all of this extreme
/ " valuable natural resource passing
| from the people as a whole into the
hands of comparatively few men,
with resulting higher cost Of water
power and water-developed electric
/ ity to consumers and a tremendous
advantage to the few possessors. If
this danger is justified by the pres
ent laws, it is a matter Of great i'm
portance to make this fact apparent