any
franchise upon a corporation, under whatever conditions, the right of
supreme control still remains with the natural owner, the public; and
when the need arises, this control may be exercised. The rights of the
owners and the contract obligations into which the public has entered
should be regarded so far as possible; but when the public necessity
demands, control on its behalf can always be exercised.

This may seem like a formidable and revolutionary doctrine, but, in
reality, it is based on every-day acts of the public representatives,
with which every one is familiar. Suppose it is conceived to be for the
public interest that a certain railway shall be built. To do this it is
necessary to cross many hundred tracts of land, the title to which was
many years ago transferred by the public to private owners who have
bought and sold since then as they pleased, as if their control were
absolute. Many of the owners of these lands may be opposed to parting
with the right of way necessary for a railroad, but their private wishes
must not stop the progress of improvements necessary to the general
welfare. The State, which has the natural title, asserts its right to
supreme control; and, if necessary, will use all its power to force
these private owners to relinquish their land for the public good. This
is the commonest example of the exercise of the right of eminent domain,
but other cases frequently occur. The laying out of city streets,
building public bridges, and, in fact, highways of every class, furnish
a similar example. Provision of public water supply often requires an
exercise of this power even more positive than in the cases just cited.
By the construction of one great reservoir to store the flow of the
Croton water-shed for the supply of New York City, it is proposed to
condemn the dwellings and lands now owned and occupied by several
thousand people. It is to be noted that, in every case, the rights of
the private owners are observed, and compensation is made them for the
damage done.

Under the common law the owner of lands bordering a running stream has
certain rights to its use; and these riparian rights, as they are
called, have been established by precedent for centuries. But, in the
State of Colorado, it was found that the water in the streams was of
such value for irrigation that the old system of permitting private
ownership of these riparian rights led to grave abuses. The State
Constitution, ther