control of all water works property, real and personal, and exercise any and all powers granted to cities and villages by the general statutes of the state relating to water works. In each such district a board of directors is provided, consisting of six members, two of whom are chosen at large by electors at the time of the general state election, not more than one of the two members so elected being of the same political party. Members of the board hold office for a period of six years. This board has general charge of supervision and control of all matters pertaining to the water supply of said district for domestic, mechanical, public and fire purposes, including the general charge, supervision and control of the design, construction, operation, maintenance and extension or improvement of the necessary plant to develop power, pump water, etc. The water fund consists of all monies received on account of the water plant owned and operated by the district for water service, or otherwise together with a water tax to be levied by the authorities of every municipality forming such district. It is used only for the purpose of paying for water for public use and hydrant rentals, interest on water bonds, cost of operation, maintenance, extension or improvement of the plant; the balance being placed in a sinking fund provided for the payment of any outstanding water bonds, or for extraordinary improvements. When a metropolitan water district assumes control over the operation of any other public utility in addition to the water works system, the name of the district becomes the metropolitan utility district. These districts control all matters pertaining to water, gas or other public utilities supplied for domestic, mechanical, public or other purposes; can create utility. districts and assess the certified cost of extensions and improvements of a utility service. The board of directors are impowered to issue bonds when voted by the electors of the district, and sell such bonds on the open market to the highest bidder at not less than par. Regarding the right to divert unappropriated water, Section 6, Article 15, of the Constitution of Nebraska, states that priority of appropriation is given the better right as between those using the water for the same purpose, but when the waters of any natural stream are not sufficient for the use of all those desiring to use the samc, the water for domestic purposes shall have preference over those claiming it for any other purpose. PRIVATE VS. PUBLIC MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC AND Prognostication must be governed largely by a study of trends. There seems to be a steadily increasing tendency in favor of the development and management, under suitable public regulation, of the great natural resources by private initiative and enterprise. Un der such conditions it is believed that science will create improved methods, and industry will bring about higher efficiency of production. When the ownership of a utility is vested in the political unit, such as the town or city served by that utility, a large percentage of the people who cannot use the service are taxed to meet any deficit, and their real and personal property is included in the mortgage created by the issuance of bonds of the political unit in which they live. On the other hand, privately owned utility corporations pay taxes to the city, state and federal government. The income received as the return on the investment of such private capital is further subject to a personal income tax, with the result that the taxpayer who has not aided in building up the enterprise profits by a reduction in his taxes through the tax revenue derived from the utility and utility security holders. Experience is against the successful administration of a public enterprise by a bureaucracy. It may be said that utilities that are financed by private capital are operated more efficiently than those owned and operated by municipalities; a political unit is indeed unfitted to produce a commodity. Governmental ownership destroys initiative and incentive for efficient production, and hence hinders true business management. Experience has also evidenced that the political unit cannot secure capital on terms that are any cheaper, or bear losses resulting from unsuccessful management any better than can private capital. A single municipality cannot handle the important matter of water supply service for a metropolitan district. That must be placed in the hands of quasi-public corporation or of a utility district, the charter of which is granted by legislature. Rates for the service would be subject to regulation by a state utilities commission or such rate regulatory body, as in the case of quasi-public utility. A municipal corporation could thus delegate authority of the management of its water works to a board of directors of the utility district, made up of representatives chosen in proportion to the consumers served, to control jointly the waterworks of the various communities united in the utility district. There are too many examples, in the history of utility operation, of the improper management of water works by municipalities. As example of the damage that can be done by placing the control of water works in the political body having jurisdiction over many municipal functions, we have many unsuccessful experiences of the inclusion of utility departments in centralized departments with other municipal functions, such reorganization being activated by the efforts of elected municipal officials to practice false economy at the expense of the public. Economy of operation and efficiency of man agement is based upon business principles, and this foundation is required for successful utility operation and management. But one of the most important advantages of the plan would be the practice of private interest operation and management in balancing expense and investment against revenue received, and the freedom of utility rates from tax manipulation through political management. Also, there should be advisory citizen representation on the controlling board of directors to balance judgment and guarantee the widest possible range of public representation, for the ultimate purpose of the entire industrial and business organization is to supply the needs and wants of the population, and is not limited by, nor confined to any artificial political boundary. CONCLUSION Hence we believe that an era of district classification by metropolitan areas is rapidly approaching, and that in anticipation of this tendency, attention should immediately be given utility supply allocation and development by districts, particularly that of water supply for the purpose of attaining the most efficient utilization and conservation of the sources of supply; that adequate legislation should be secured to establish utility districts, allocate water sources for the development of all of the equally important functions, and provide for the operation of those utilities on the basis of firm business principles removed from political domination and interference. We believe that the tendencies cited in this statement of the subject are real, and that preparations should now be undertaken to meet the demand of the near future. DISCUSSION PRESIDENT HATTON: That is a very valuable paper. Everybody who has been watching the rapid and unusual increase in suburban population appreciates the problem of supplying water to it. Mr. Siems has well brought out the fact that these water supplies have been given away; and it seems to me that this Association, at least, ought to memoralize the Federal Government that such should not be done. We are the sort of Society to do such things. I think that should be studied and our Water Committee should prepare a memorial in harmony with Mr. Siems' suggestion. MR. MORRIS R. SHERRERD: I desire to commend Mr. Siems for bringing this question to the attention of the Society, and I am very much in sympathy with what the President has just said. I have had opportunity to be associated with Tri-State Treaty Commission work, which has brought out very prominently the points Mr. Siems has raised. This Tri-State Commission is composed of representatives of the States of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and its purpose is to provide for the equitable use of the waters of the Delaware River. In line with the remarks of the writer of the paper, this Commission has placed in the first order of importance in the development of the resources of the Delaware River the requirements for water supply, and that all power development, whether existing or installed before the necessity for utilization of the water for water supply purposes takes place, must give way to the development of the water supply resources of the Delaware River. This is quite in line with the thought of the writer of the paper; and also I want to commend his remarks in regard to Secretary of Commerce Hoover. We, as engineers, I think, ought to give due consideration to, and this Society ought to commend the fact that we have, as a member of the President's Cabinet, a man of the capacity and outstanding engineering qualifications of Mr. Hoover. His ability is recognized by the whole country, and I believe it would be wise for this Society to pass some resolution to uphold Mr. Hoover's hands and show our hearty support of what he has done and is doing along the line of conservation of our natural resources. With your permission, Mr. President, I move that this Society go on record as commending the stand Mr. Hoover has taken in the development of our natural resources, and particularly his stand on the conservation and preservation of the water supplies of the country in the interest of the whole people, and that a copy of these sentiments, as an expression of the approval of this Society, be forwarded to Mr. Hoover and given to the press. PRESIDENT HATTON: Do I hear a second to that motion? MR. SIEMS: I heartily second the motion. (The motion carried unanimously.) MICROSCOPIC LIFE IN TEXAS WATERS By John B. Hawley, Consulting Engineer, As no comprehensive study of the Algae, Diatoms, Desmids, Protozoa, Worms and Aquatic Larvae had theretofore been made, the writer undertook during the latter half of 1925 and the first half of 1926, to collect, examine and classify, making camera lucida drawings of such specimens, as could be secured during these months. For some unaccountable reason practically no conjugative specimens of green algae were found, but the study will be continued during the fall of 1926 and spring of 1927, for a future. paper. Materials were secured by the writer and his engineer assistants from ponds, lakes and creeks in the Fort Worth region and from waters near Corpus Christi, Dallas, Tyler, Breckenridge, Comanche, Waco, Abilene and other cities. The drawings present a fairly accurate cross-section of the microscopic and penemiscroscopic life in Texas inland waters. The following excerpts are from the writer's thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate Department of Texas Christian University, in June, 1926. (They include liberal quotations from the works of Whipple, Ward and Whipple, Calkins, and other writers, duly credited to them.) HISTORY: (a) The vegetable life treated herein had its beginnings in ancestral types antedating the Cambrian Period, paleontologists crediting some of the pre-cambrian, carboniferous (or carbonaceaus) sediments to Algae and crude mosses. Algae form a substantial part of many "Pennsylvanian" coal measures. Diatom tests are found in some Ordovician rocks in great abundance. (b) The animal organisms here treated or some of them, are probably descendants of ancestors as primitive as those of the algae, and we have tests of well identified Protozoans, (Foraminifers) in rocks of the Devonian; Ostracoda, (Cythereis) tests are found in rocks of the Triassic and through the Comanchean and Upper Cretaceous to the present. MORPHOLOGY: (a) Plants. Plants treated (excluding the bacteria) are of very simple, generally unicellular, structure, cell wall (ectoblast), comprising |