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beneficial purposes. The members of this association are familiar with <br />the claims made in the petition of the United States to intervene in the <br />case of Nebraska vs. Wyoming, in which Colorado is an impleaded defendant. <br />The federal claim was broadened and becomes more startling than appeared <br />in the petition to intervene when we consider the statement of the govern- <br />ment made at the opening of the introduction of its testimony before the <br />special master appointed by the Court. May I here read a portion of this <br />statement, it is as follows: <br />"The principal function of the Federal Reclamation Act is to unite, <br />by artificial means, the two great natural resources, land and water, <br />to the end that man might be given an opportunity to make himself <br />more secure by expending his labor in the development and maintenance <br />of a home. This function could not be accomplished without the ex- <br />penditure of sums of money beyond the financial ability of private <br />enterprise. Unqualified control of the water to accomplish this <br />purpose is and was as necessary as the ownership and control of the <br />public land. <br />"The Reclamation Act of 1902, when considered in its entirety, <br />shows that the Congress intended that the Secretary of the Interior <br />should have complete and unrestricted control of the waters of any <br />stream which the Secretary determined to be necessary in the recl- <br />amation of semi -arid and arid lands in any project which he found <br />practicable under that Act. Under the Reclamation Act, the primary <br />concern of the United States was the settlement and irrigation of <br />public lands, The Congress recognized, however, that lands in <br />private ownership could be benefitted by the program, and, accord.• <br />ingly, provision was made originally for the full irrigation of such <br />lands by the waters of the Federal project; and subsequently, in <br />1911 by the Warren Act, provision was made for the sale of surplus <br />waters to' private corporations„ companies, or individuals having <br />inadequate supplies to serve properly the private lands under the <br />then systems. Such private lands, however, were required as a con» <br />dition to participation in the water supply made available by the <br />United States under the Reclamation Act to agree to comply with all <br />the terms, conditions, and limitations of the Act, and also with all <br />the rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior <br />under the Act. This intention has been expressed repeatedly in <br />supplemental and amendatory Acts, <br />-7- <br />