Show A PROPER FAILURE the big land sale in ia merced munty county california recorded in the NEWS of the inett dinst is the culminating point in the overthrow of scheme which practically sought to make laud land the chattel of irrigating water instead ot of having the water right belong to the land it la Is 9 matter of commendation iu in toe west that every scheme of adja kind no matter how strongly it may be backed by capital has been reduced to failure by independence of the mass of the people cultivators and small email laud land holders have in the main refused to 10 enter into a perpetual servitude to great water monopolies mono the land sale referrer refer to was of acres ot of land and the interest of C H huffman in huffman laud and water company ot of california Californi aThis this company owned acres of land and an immense canal the total cost of which was wag over ath the retirement of mr huffman who received for bis bia share the policy of the company will undergo a radical change when the company was organized the idea was wai to create a permanent water holding for ir rit ri Kation tation purposes to which the land would be always tribute an immense canal extending for twenty four mile swaB constructed and enough water was diverted from the merced river to irrigate acres of landau landan immense reservoir was constructed from which many miles ot of distributing canals radiated through the tur rounding round ing country the plan of mr huffman was never to sell the water outright but to make the landowner land owner sign a contract to take the water perpetually at a fixed rental ufa of 1 an acre annually this contract was waa a perpetual incumbrance upon epou the aind and not be abrogated whether the tiller of the soil wanted the water or ut not he was compelled to pay for it but bad as the people ante dueled jed the irrigating bey boy would not take it on such terms and comparatively few sales were made the company had also acquired the tract of acres and made great efforts to sell it with the water rental attached local buyers would not take it so a great boom was got up and people came all the way from new england to take in what aside from the rental would have been good bargains they liked the lands admired he prospect and praised the abundance of the water supply but they refused to buy on the terms offered the sale eale was waa a failure and the land remained on the market without buyers in this situation the water flowed peacefully through the great canal without profit to the or benefit to the land the magnificent irrigation system was there but it was almost in a state of disuse it was a hindrance to the prosperity of that section of the country a bort of oppressive nightmare the present owners announce however that they will proceed upon entirely different lines the land will be divided into small holdings and sold with inalienable ili alienable enable water rights attached holders of the other land will be b able to purchase water rights in fee simple so that the land owners will become owners of the canal the latter is the only scheme that can be operated in an irrigating country for the success of the farmer the natural arid and equitable method lie is that the land owner may acquire title to the water if ownership by a monopoly is an enforced condition so that u users aers must pay a rental it follows of necessity that water takers are subjected to a measure of slavery in this part of the country though schemes have not been quite so elaborate as the crocker huttman huffman enterprise where they have been of the same nature they either lave have failed or are doomed to do so it is a matter of satisfaction and justice that those who engage to in great enterprises should receive due reward for their energy but there in ig a limit to their prerogatives and that la is reached when the perpetual water rental is in slated upon at this point the crocker huffman plan failed and so should others the people in this section of the country whether in ID cities towns or irrigation districts should own or should at least have the privilege of owning the water right for their lands do and not be enforced renters of that without which their lands would be valueless |