The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-11-06
LAWS ON USE OF WATER.

The national conservation commits
sion 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 practical value and it is
somewhat remarkable, considering the
wide number of interests which are
touched by these laws, that no such
compilation has been made before this.
With the constantly growing demand
for inter state waterways, the increas-
ing utilization of water power for the
development of electricity, and the
widening areas of semiarid western
plains that are being made arabic
through irrigation, those laws at the
present time affect the interests of
wide variety of Individuals and cor
porations, and in the immediate flu
ture the number whose business is
directly touched will beyond doubt be
greatly increased.
The work which the national conser-
walton commission is doing along this
line is extremely thorough and the
compilation will be complete. 1t 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
include all acts which relate to riparian
rights, and public usufruct of water,
and all statutes which concern mills,
navigation or the use of streams for
power, daming of streams, diverting
steamiow, and so on-in short all
acts which affect the use. of waters
and their private appropriation to pow
er or other purposes. In the book
will be included also some authorita-
tive discussion of the principles in
volved in these laws.
The national conservation commits.
sion in its endeavor to make the COM
pilation absolutely complete and acu
rate has called upon the governors
of all states for assistance and the
replies in every instance have promised
support. Considerably more than half
the states have already appointed
state conservation commissions for the
specific purpose of cooperating with the
national commission in it's work of
gathering the material which will be
embodied in the report to the presi
dent the first of the year. In the
other states the state officials whose
work most nearly touches this pro-
ject are at work.
A single volumn containing all the
laws which bear upon the use of
waters in the various parts of the
country will be an exceedingly useful
reference handbook. 1t holds possibili-
ties of an even greater usefulness in
that it will exhibit within limits that
make ready comparisons possible, not
only the general tendencies of the
laws and decisions on this subject
but the discrepancies that exist be-
tween the regulations of different
states.
The fear is frequently expressed that
the tendency toward monpoization of
water power, which has already made
very great progress in some parts of
the country, will result in practically
all of this extremely valuable natural
resource passing from the people as a
whole into the hands of comparatively
a few men, with resulting higher cost
of water power and water developed
electricity to consumers and a ire
mendous advantage to the few posses
sors. If this danger is justified by
the present laws, it is matter of
great Importance to make this fact APP
parent at once. For this purpose no.
thing could be more effective then
such a presentation of all the laws on
the subject as that which the commits
sion is preparing.