Charles Evans Hughes

“ We find no ground for a contrary view as to the nature of the authorized enterprise. We have repeatedly said that the provisions of the 14th Amendment, embodying fundamental conceptions of justice, cannot be deemed to prevent a state from adopting a public policy for the irrigation of arid lands or for the reclamation of wet or overflowed lands. ”

“ The plaintiffs assailed the Nebraska statute as repugnant to the state Constitution, and further averred that to permit the defendants to construct the ditch would deprive the plaintiffs of their property without due process of law and deny to them the equal protection of the laws, in violation of the 14th Amendment. It was alleged that the enterprise was 'wholly private and in the exclusive pecuniary interest of the so-called corporators' of the drainage district. ”

“ It has been held that it is not necessary that the state power should rest simply upon the ground that the undertaking is needed for the public health; there are manifestly other considerations of public advantage in providing a general plan of reclamation by which wet lands throughout the state may be opened to profitable use. ”

“ On the contrary, we assume it to be the law of Nebraska that property may be taken in the furtherance of reclamation projects only where it is found that the public welfare is involved. Acts with a different purpose have been held unconstitutional. ”

“ The plaintiffs in error contend that the plan is simply one for the private advantage of the property owners, and they direct special attention to the provision of the statute that the fact that the district is to contain 160 acres or more of wet or overflowed lands shall be sufficient cause for declaring the 'public utility' of the improvement. ”

“ Nor is the statutory scheme to be condemned because it contemplates improvements in districts. Drainage districts may be established as well as school districts. All lands within the established district which require drainage are to enjoy the benefits of the plan. ”

“ St. Rep. 771, 57 N. W. 559. With respect to the act here in question the state court has emphatically declared that the enterprises which it contemplates are those distinctly of a public character. In Drainage Dist. v. Richardson County, 86 Neb. 355, 125 N. W. 796, where the county was required to contribute on account of special benefits accruing to its highways within a drainage district organized under the statute, the supreme court of Nebraska said upon this point: 'That question was decided by this court in the case of Neal v. ”

“ With the local situation the state court is peculiarly familiar and its judgment is entitled to the highest respect. Clark v. Nash, 198 U.S. 361, 49 L. ed. 1085, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 676, 4 Ann. Cas. 1171; Strickley v. Highland Boy Gold Min. Co. 200 U.S. 527, 50 L. ed. 581, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 301, 4 Ann. Cas. 1174; Hairston v. Danville & W. R. Co. 208 U.S. 598, 605, 606, 52 L. ed. 637, 639, 640, 28 Sup. Ct. Rep. 331, 13 Ann. Cas. 1008; Union Lime Co. v. Chicago & N. W. R. Co. ”