PRIVATE VS. PUBLIC INTEREST.

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ness men of the Coast have given this subject a start in the right direction. They have, with the usual forethought and care of large moneyed interests, examined every side of it here presented for consideration, and have thus early mapped off a system of irrigation for at least one of the great valleys of the State (the San Joaquin), of the most comprehensive character. This has been contemplated simply as an investment. Money is rarely public spirited or patriotic. It moves in the channels of good investments and large interests. It is a mistake of its possessor if it gets out of these channels. You may therefore rest assured that these capitalists knew the value of this enterprise before they embarked in it.

As before stated, in Northern Italy, as in India, the government possesses the rigbt of property in all running waters. In Lombardy, grants of the water in perpetuity have been made; but, says Captain Baird Smith, who is a standard authority on irrigation, "The grant of such material as water, the value of which must necessarily go on augmenting with the progress of agriculture, is an injustice toward the government and people.

Hence I am distinctly of the opinion that for the government of India to follow the example of Lombardy in parting forever with its right of property in the waters of the country, on the receipt of sums wbich cannot possibly represent the real value of the article, would be unwise, not only as regards its own interests, but also those of the irrigating community. For there is no point better established by experience in Northern Italy, and particularly in Lombardy, than that the selfishness of the grantees of water in perpetuity has been one of the most serious obstacles to the development of irrigation.”

“Acting on the principle that they had the right to do what they liked with their own, they were in the habit of arbitrarily suspending the supplies of water to some, of increasing as they saw fit the prices to be paid by others, and in a word pushing to its utmost limits the right of absolute property purchased by them from the State.”

“But an agriculture,” continues our authority, “founded under such an arbitrary system, cannot advance."

M. Giovanetti, à distinguished Italian lawyer and statesman, traces with a master hand the history of property in water in Italy; and after showing that the State claimed no property as such, in the bed of the river or islands, he says: “Nor does the State claim the water as a patrimony for the community, but simply to place beyond the reach of private appropriation all that was naturally designed for the common good.”

As respects California irrigation, this in time will be another of the problems of doubtful solution. Here under our laws the ownership of the water of the unnavigable streams of the State can be acquired by the first appropriator. No legislation at this time could change this rule, or afford an ample remedy, for much of the water is already in private hands.

The only power, then, left in the State, and one which sooner or later it must exercise, is to regulate the use and the price of water for irrigation, not with t'e view of making the property in water less valuable, but to avoid oppression and discrimination, and thus make it, like all public enterprises, of value to the whole people.

It has recently been held, by the highest judicial tribunal in Italy, " that canals of irrigation are not to be regarded as works designed solely for the benefit of their original constructors, but that the general good of the community has to be considered, as well as the benefit of the individuals running them.”

No sensible man will countenance the lawless idea that wbat a inan owns is not his to enjoy, be it much or little, but is the part of wisdom to profit by the experience of the past, and so far as possible protect by law those who cannot protect themselves, and thus guard with a jealous eye the best interests of the producers of the State.

In this State and in this climate, if we should give to any one set of individuals the fee of the waters of the State for irrigation, whether such persons live upon the banks of rivers or remote from them, and the State have no right to regulate their use, although it would be of small value and little importance now, in a few years it would be of immense value and of the greatest importance to the farming community. It would give to the men who controlled the water or owned the canals the power, should they choose to exercise it, of controlling every farmer who depended on irrigation for his crops, or upon a water ditch for his stock. It would soon have a relation to public affairs that no power but revolution could conquer or control. It would imperil the great future already marked out for us, and set us back on the scale of advancement a quarter of a century.

The magnitude of the questions involved in the water supply of the San Joaquin Valley, and the probability that it will be one of the most prominent before future Legislatures, warrants a careful and critical examination of all sides of this subject. The Granges desire equity to all, and the good of all, and will be guided by these principles through the mazes of conflicting interests which harass the limitation of powers already in the hands of strong and skillful combinations. Dr. M. W. Ryer, (in the Rural Press of May 1st, 1875,) has, it appears to us, come most nearly to a solution of the irrigation problem. He says:

The question how to frame a law of association so that the ownership of the water and the land may go together, should be considered by every politician in the State, and no candidate for legislative office should be considered competent until he presents to his constituents the draft of a law covering land and water ownership.

We have found that, by association, lands may be reclaimed from overflow. Wliy, by the application of similar laws, may not lands be irrigated ?

To the question, Why has not reclamation been more successful? the answer is, California engineers have tried to exclude water from lands by building levees of turf and spongy soil, upon land which floats on a bed of mud and water. The most insane engireer in ex

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istence will still retain sense enough to tell you that the first rule of leveeing, is to ditch through the turf, and then get solid earth from the bottom of the river by dredging machines, or earth containing no vegetation, from the nearest practical place, and to base the levee upon the hard pan or solid earth beneath; for levees, as buildings, require unyielding foundations.

The law of 1868 sets forth that the owners of a majority of the land in any district, may associate, and then elect trustees. These trustees may appoint engineers to make plans and estimate the cost of the work necessary to reclamation. Upon these plans and estimates, the Board of Supervisors, if they approve them, direct three commissioners to jointly view the land, and assess upon each and every acre to be reclaimed or benefited thereby, a tax proportionate to the whole expense, and to the benefits which will result from such work; said tax to be collected and paid into the county treasury, and shall be paid out for works of reclamation, upon the order of the Board of Trustees, when approved by the Board of Supervisors. This tax is enforced by the District Attorney of the county, in a manner similar to the enforcement of the collection of State and county taxes. With a few amendments, the reclamation laws are sufficient to reclaim the lands, and keep the control and ownership cf the levees within the hands of the owners of the land.

Two incomplete and inefficient acts were passed upon irrigation at the last session of the Legislature. These acts may be so alterod and amended as to render irrigation by association entirely practicable. The legislation needed should cover the following points:

1. The Surveyor-General of the State should lay off the land of the State with reference to irrigation, and set forth the proper water supply to each district, and the place and manner of taking it.

2. The owners of a majority of land susceptible of irrigation, should be enabled to form a district.

3. Trustees should be elected by the owners of the majority of the land in the district.

4. Trustees shall apply to the Surveyor-General of the State to designate the water supply proper to the district, and the land outside of the district necessary for canals or other work. As soon as the land and water is thus designated, the trustees shall immediately take possession of the same and hold them as property of the district.

The trustees shall employ an engineer to make plans, surveys, and estimates of the works, necessary to irrigation.

5. The Attorney-General of the State shall immediately seize, condemn and appropriate such water and land, as the SurveyorGeneral shall designate as necessary to the district, when the owners of such water-sources or land shall establish in Court the amount they have actually expended in works connected with such water supply or land, and the actual value at the time of seizure, without reference to any future or prospective values. Then the ætrustees of the district, approved by the Board of Supervisors, may order the amount paid out of funds belonging to the district. But no prospective damages to the owners of water or land shall be allowed by the Courts, or paid by order of the trustees. The appropriation of the water and land should be immediate and irrevocable; the litigation for damages may take place afterward.

6. To furnish the money necessary to works of irrigation, chere should be commissioners appointed by the Board of Supervisors, or, when in two or more countries, by the joint action of the Supervisors of the counties; these commissioners to assess upon each and every acre a tax proportionate to the whole expense as estimated by the engineers employed by the trustees, and to the benefits, either directly or indirectly, which will result from such works.

7. These assessments to be collected by the District Attorney of the county in which the land lies, or by some State officer appointed for the purpose, and the amount collected to be immediately paid into the county treasury and there subject to the order of the trustees when appointed by the Supervisors. But no order to be paid except for work actually done or in compliance with the judgment and orders of a court. Warrants drawn by the trustees to draw interest at ten per cent. per annum until paid.

8. Assessment to the full amount necessary should be made by the commissioners upon the estimates formed by the engineers employed by the trustees of the district; but the trustees shall call in only installments of this tax large enough to cover the works which must be completed within six months from date of call. All assessments to be a lien upon the land and work its forfeiture unless paid.

9. All contracts to be let to the lowest bidder for cash, and all contracts to be let in small sections, after due advertisement. Thus giving the poor man an opportunity of paying his assessment by his own labor.

10. The district thus formed shall own the water forever, and no land not included in the district, and which has not paid for the works of irrigation at the time the works are constructed, shall have the use of this water, except on such terms as the officers of the district

may dictate; for the land-owner who will not assist in the enterprise should have none of its privileges,

If the State should actually own and build canals for irrigation, canal rings, as in New York, may be formed. And if it is proper to construct them in one place, why not in fifty places? The owners of gravel and placer claims will not understand why the land speculator should have State bonds to assist him, when other great interests of the State require assistance. The tule land-owner will equally demand assistance, and thus, when the State begins to issue bonds, who can tell the stopping place?

Few farmers on these plains count their acres by less than hundreds, and speculators count by thousands. If they form districts and prove to the world that they intend to irrigate, their lands will rapidly advance in value, and thus before they have to pay their first assessment they can sell one half their land for enough to pay for irrigating the other half. Now, as one acre irrigated is worth ten not irrigated, it seems a fair proposition that they should, if necessary, sell a portion to improve the other. State aid, except to assist in the formation of districts and the condemning to their use the waters of the rivers, sbould not be extended to the owners of the land

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The entangling alliance of State with land sharps will be fruitful of no public good. As almost all have more land than they can properly work after irrigation, let them sell a part to enhance the value of the remainder.

Let it be understood by all who read this article that it is written for the purpose of urging men of legislative capacity to frame an effective law upon a most difficult subject, as the above is but a crude and unfinished sketch.

How to wrest from the water-grabbers the waters of the State will puzzle many able men, and the legislator who can frame an act to do so should be well appreciated by his fellow-men. It may save much trouble in the Legislature, and enable our law makers to approach the subject with more intelligence if some of the legal minds of the State would publish in the journals of the day the outline or draft of a law applicable to the case, for no hasty legislation can properly encompass the great questions involved.

Another relation of irrigation to the public welfare must not be overlooked in our attention to its vast material benefits.

At a meeting of the California State Medical Society, Dr. Carr introduced the following resolution, which was adopted:

Whereas, The matter of irrigation is one of vital importance to the agricultural interests of California; and,

Whereas, The same is more or less connected with the health of the whole community; therefore,

Resolved, That each member of this society be earnestly requested to gather all the statistics and information in their several localities in regard to the effect of mining and irrigating ditches or canals upon the public health, and report the same to the Chairman of the Committee on Hygiene, at their earliest convenience.

CHAPTER XXI.

TRANSPORTATION.

“ Transportation is King." RestLTS OF RAILROAD INVESTIGATION BY CONGRESS—COMMITTEE, How FORMED—

EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCHES-MAGNITUDE OF INTERESTS INVOLVED-INADEQUACY OF MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION-DEFECTS AND ABUSES--DISCRIMINATIONS AND EXTORTIONS-Srock WATERING-CAPITALIZATION OF EARNINGS-CONSTRUCTION Rings--UNJOST DISCRIMINATIONS--GENERAL EXTRAVAGANCE AND CORRUPTION of RAILWAY MANAGEMENT--COMBINATIONS AND CONSOLIDATIONS-NOMINAL CAPITAL AND FICTITIOUS STOCK--Excess OF CAPITAL OVER ACTUAL STOCK-ILLUSTRATIONS--How Evils MAY BE REMEDIED—SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS--CONGRESS MAY REGULATE INTER-STATE TRANSPORTATION.

The greatest drawback to the development of agriculture in California is the distance of our markets, and the lack of stim