The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1911-10-11
INTERSTATE WATER FIGHT
State Attacked on -Four Sides For
Tapping Streams That Gross
Line


yer Times is one of the best we
have seen on the controversy be-
tween Kansas and Colorado. If we
except the allusions in one or two
places to the pot hunters" bill and
the wasting of the fund. These
illusions are best answered by the
article itself. as 1t forcibly shows
that Colorado has four suits to
defend involving the very life of
a billion dollar industry. For the
defense of these cases the commit
tee has employed seven of the lead
ing attorneys of the state at a total
cost of $4,000. When the big
steel corporation had a billion dol
lars at stake 1t hired one attorney
at one million dollars and he had
a dozen high priced assistants. The
opponents of Colorado in this suit
have one attorney that draws as
much as the entire Colorado de-
fense fund. Any one who will read
this article showing what is involv-
ed and then consider what the at
torneys of Colorado are expected
to do. will be forced to admit that
they are very modestly paid.
(Contributed)
In the furry that arises over the
Pot hunters BILL" or the irriga-
ton defense appropriation. there
are some fundamental. rock-bottom
facts that the man-on-the-street
is likely to forget. As n matter of
fact. Colorado is just parking its
battle in its history: and beyond
any question of wasted public funds.
or how well or ia we manage the
finances of the campaign. stands
the fact that the campaign must
be managed. fought and won. Here
is the story in brief:
The waters OF Colorado. and
most of the irrigating states are
divided by the state officers among
the bitches along the streams ac-
cording to the familiar maxim.
First in time. first in right. That
is to say. 1t has been the rule with
in Colorado and most but not all
its neighbors to give water, in
times of scarcity. first to the ditch
that was first constructed, and
and after that to later bitches. or.
as We say. Junior priorities.' in
their order. II happens that Colo
RADIO has carried Irrigation to an
extremely high point of develop
ment. At the present time there
is practically no water leaving the
state in the Platte or the Arkansas
that the real agriculture of the
state has found a foothold. Every
ounce of water Is in demand.
Irrigation in Colorado was soon
followed by irrigation in the neigh
boring states lower down on the
stream. Notwithstanding this. Col
orado has used the waters to the
fullest extent and stood firmly on
the footing that the waters belong
ed to the state and were subject
only to its Jurisdiction. In the
= closing years OF the last century
the great and successful growth OF
irrigation in Colorado began to de-
crease the waters available for the
Kansas bitches. As a result the
state of Kansas invoked the au-
thority of the supreme court of
the United States. and asked the
court to announce that Colorado
was in the wrong. Kansas declared
that she enforced inside her own
boundaries the old riparian law.
which had its origin in England.
and obtains now in the eastern
states, where water is plentiful
and no one thinks of taking 1t from
the streams. This old riparian law
prescribes that the streams must
flow undisturbed. as they have al
ways flowed: real irrigation is a
thing unknown to 1t; the taking of
water is almost high treason.
Kansas declared. This is the