The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-11-02
LAWS ON USE OF WATER
ALL in A SINGLE VOLUME
New Volume Being Prepared by the
National Conservation Commits
Sim

Washington, Oct. 3l.--The National
Conservation Commission is compiling
for publication in single volume al
the laws and courts decisions, both state
aud federal, which relate to the use OF
water in The United States. This man.
ual win be of immense practical value
and il is somewhat remarkable, con.
! sidering the wide number of interests
which are touched by these laws, that nc
such compilation has been made before
this. With the constantly growing de-
mand for interstate waterways, the in
ereasing utilization OF water power for
the development Of electricity, and the
widening areas of semi-arid Western
plains that are being made arabic
through irrigation, these 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 touch.
ed will beyond doubt be greatly in
creased.
The work which the National Conser-
walton Commission is doing along this
hnc is extremely thorough and the com
pilation will be complete II will in
clude all state and national statutes,
and all court decisions which concern
water rights and kindred questions on
both nayigable and non-nayigable
streams and lakes. The citations will
include all acts which relate to riparian
rights, and public usufruct Of water, and
oil statutes which concern mills, pollu-
tion OF water. interference with navi
cation or the use of streams for power,
damning of streams, diverting stream.
flow, and so on--in short, all acts which
affect the use of waters and their pri.
waite appropriation to power or other
purposes. In the book will be included
also some authoritative discussion OF
the principles involved in these laws.
The National Conservation Commits
sion in its endeavor to make the com
pilation absolutely complete and accur
ate has called upon the governors Of
all the 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 spe-
cfie purpose of cooperating with the ma.
tional commission in its work of gath.
ering the material which will be embod
led in the report to the president the
first of the year. In the other states
the state officials whose work most near
ly touches this project are at work,
A single volume containing all the
laws which bear upon the use of waters
in the various parts Of the country, win
be an exceedingly useful reference hand
book. 1t holds possibilities of an even
greater usefulness in that it win exhibit
within limits that make ready eompari
son possible, not only the general tenden.
cies of the laws and decisions on this
subject, but the discrepancies that exist
between the regulations of different
states.
The fear is frequently expressed that
the tendency towards monopolization 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 whole into
the hands of comparatively few men,
with resulting higher cast of water pow
err and water-developed electricity to con-
sumers and tremendous advantage to |
the few possessors. If this danger is |
justified by the present laws, it is a |
matter of great Importance to make this |
fact apparent at once. For Thu purpose
nothing could be more effective than |
such presentation of all the laws on
the subject as that which the commits
sion is preparing.