Show irrigation tile subject ably discussed the now york ann THE california CALIr ORNIA DECISION 1 tho the bilings of eminent american jurists overruled in favor of english Rip the committee on public land of the house of representatives iri id a recent report announce the start jing fact that the arid region of the united state states whereon agrical ture ia is not successful without irrigation measures i 46 beneral terms that portion odthe of the public domain which yet remains of according Accor to professor powell this region embraces something more than four tenths of the whole country excluding alaska he defines as arid and lands lauds those whereon the an nual mean 13 ia less than twenty inches but kutsaya says that at twenty hinchee agriculture will not be uniformly successful from season to season many seasons in a long series will be fruitless fruit lus this rec region riou which can only be made productive by irrigation em braces the whole of the states of colorado and nevada and the territories ri of wyoming montana idaho utah arizona and new mexico Al exico with large portions of southern california and eastern and portions of Wasl washing ling ton dmd and i dakota territories to maee thia thie bast vast region productive the water must bo be taken from the streams which are distant from each other othe rabid and carried many miles 1 through canals and thence through cross ditches from the latter the water is distributed by artificia lund skillfully regulated overflow finally doing its vis work by the various various pro cessie of hooding flooding lateral percolation and absorption artor ART or OP irrigation I 1 ft T ri t ne ot 04 the t e experiences of india 6 china ana 13 japan n 2 egypt galt france spain italy italy australia chili and I 1 peru eru take a email small example in southern california fifteen f canals and ditches aggregating milen length and with a it surface width of n f fifty feet convey waste from kings river through 1000 1600 farms containing I 1 all ill told acres other great great irrig irrigation Lion works aro are now in construction and still others aro are constant projected the land water must together by these artificial means or they must in us t remain separate and worthless the right to appropriator the waters of IID able streams and to conduce them through canals apa ditches to different places where they can ho be beneficially ly used lap hag been a privilege enjoyed in california Californi ft from frog its earliest american settlement I 1 it has bas had tion tiou of the le legislature i slature and of ortho the courts of that s state tate for thirty arty five year years this example has been the foundation of the tile statutes and decisions of other states and of the territories having similar climatic and physical conditions tholon the con press gross of the cuite haa hits adopted I 1 tho tile same policy and haa had legislated in the interest of at prior appropriator appropriator of ortho the water waters of vi t 0 streams for ditches and find both for mining and anti irrigating tiu purposes ju subject biece only to the laws of the states but on the of april last the supreme court of california disturbed the existing condition by a decision uprooting apko OF 4 apil sustaining tho tile old 1 english UR 1811 commod comi flon uw v riper riparian I 1 all rig righta lits law forbins for bilS any di dr of tue waters of au un navi gable stream except fur for the most common ne necessities of tho owners of the he land arid lying immediately along ita its banks bhago owners are entitled to tl ita customary cuto roary flow without diminution in iu ita its natural channel vf bether they make any use of it or not it cannot be diverted without the consent of every ono one of them even aa as to a stream in the public lands of the tile united slates states after the recognition by congress of 0 the right of pr prior OT oa 08 of it its 8 a su subsequent i sequent purchaser in may ay ignore C ap 0 re tho the cession bj by tia iia grantor and aria assert his rights as a riparian I 1 ow owner tier the court based its decision on on an art not of the Cali furma 41 legislature I 1 af v bf eldont dope the aa val law aw Q of england ats the rule 0 of f decision casion in qui al courts of tho the state judge tharman in ohio judge iu in new e york judas of iowa ovo J justice story of the supreme bourt of the I 1 united states and aider were quoted iu III vain us alt that the common law of wherever adopted d in I 1 this country must be po so mod modified if vo aa as to suit TUU NEW FOUND round of coarse his this decision has created a great gre at disturbance it bm ha I 1 I 1 troubled the political waters WV of california to an extent exceeding that of the th e chinese question the th 0 have field a diate S lat convention and formulated formula tv 1 a platform of brincil principles iles which includes include a amendments to the constitution of the state declaring the water of its streams to be the property of the tile people and not of the landowners land owners along these streams and providing for legislative regulation of the question of irrigation irrig atio n they tn ae Y go 9 0 further and to guard against g S t any ny pretense that rights 1 have vested in riparian ri owners which cannot be disturbed by a new constitution they aim at the creation of a new nev supreme court which shall re reverse erse the recent decision deci eion it is is purely a state question and no attempt seems likely to be made to seek the interference of the fed eral court whatever may be b the outcome it will be a warning to the people of the territories when they become states to beware of importing ino into t them the english yaw common taw without qualification the water problem is one of severe importance to those who in the lime time to come arc are to make their homes in the arid and region the common law of england where re the question is how to maintain the free flow of water and thus prevent the injurious overflow is not ai all nil adapted to a country where artificial rivers rivers scores of milea miles long fifty feet wide and ten feet deep must be created by man to enable him to reclaim the desert and make it fruitful new york sun stin june |