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<br />-11- <br /> <br />anywhere wi thin the basins of the ArkNlsas and . "11i te ri vera would jeopardize <br />every water right on the Arkansas. If' water is so badly needed for navigation <br />that it justifies the oonstruotion of' a great dim, then that additional water <br />wouldoome from just one plaoe--a.nd with an Aot of' CongJ'ess authorizing its Wle <br />for navigation \mder the Canmoro. ClaulSe of' the Constitution, with no right of <br />review by the oourt-s, irrigators would see their headgatea olosed while their <br />crops dried up and burned. . <br /> <br />At a meeting in late Ootober the people of seventeen semi.....r1d western states <br />through their of'f'icial representatives announoed a declaration of rights whioh <br />will live as long as irrigation practioes are followed in the West and Federal <br />agenoies do not substitute some new authority O'f'er our oountry. <br /> <br />In that deolaration it was said that the oontrol, regulation, and utilization <br />of water in the semi-arid states pla.oe the highest uses of water for dcmestio <br />oonsumption and growing oropsl On projeots designed to pranote multiple uses of <br />water, domestio and irrigation needs are paramoUnt to hydroelectric energy pro- <br />duotion. <br /> <br />And finally it was announoed that attempted regulation UDder the Commer08 <br />Clause of the United States Constitution to maintain navigable oapaoityand to <br />regulate f'loods an the lower reaches of rivers having their origin in arid J'8gions <br />is subjeot to a maximum use of suoh water eor irrigation purposes. This is the <br />studied oonolusion of the men who irrigate lands in the West. <br /> <br />In view of the introduction of' Senate Bill No. 1519 immediately atter that <br />meeting, it may be seen thl.t irrigators sensed the danger. <br /> <br />There is no reason why legislation to proteot the people on the lower rivers <br />should strangle and hinder those who reolaimed the lands and built their hClll8s <br />and are now engaged in feeding a large part of a nation. The flow of this _ter <br />into the lower sections would merely add to the flood menaoe. It would be insut- <br />ficient to materially aid navigation. <br /> <br />On Monday of this week the Supreme Court of the United States ended liti- <br />gation whioh has oontinued for more than forty years between the states of Kansas <br />and Colorado over the ri ght to use the water of this same stream whioh is _de <br />the objeoti ve of' Senate Bill 15l9. That deoidon reoognizes the right of the <br />" . <br />states to distribute and oontrol the use of the water in the semi.....rid West. <br />That deoision oonstitutes a triumph for western irrigation interests, <br /> <br />But the rejoicing over that deoision will be shortlived when this bill aDd <br />its possible objeotives are analyzed. Under the Canmeroe Clause of the Consti- <br />tution, action by Congress would probably ~ul1i1'y all the benefits derived from <br />'the oourt. s statemeut. <br /> <br />Through a hundred years the Congress had not seen fit to legislate directly <br />with respeot to these questions under that power. Throughout all this time the <br />states have oontended o~r the division of' the meager flow of western streams <br />and interpretations of' law ha:ve been announoed whioh reoognized these right. <br />and have denied the olaims of Federal agenoies to the ownership and. oontrol of <br />western river f'lows. Let it be understood now that we shall always oontend that <br /> <br />