police power." Further: "A natural watercourse being a natural easement, is placed upon the same ground, in many respects as to the public right, as is a public highway. At the common law, if a railroad or another highway crosses a natural watercourse or a public highway, such highway or railroad must be so constructed across the existing highway or waterway, and so maintained, that said highway or waterway, as the case may be, shall not only subserve the demands of the public as they exist at the time of crossing the same, but for all future time.

The great weight of authority is, that where there is a natural waterway, or where a highway already exists and is crossed by a railroad company under its general license to build a railroad, and without any specific grant by the legislative authority to obstruct the highway or waterway, the railroad company is bound to make and keep its crossing, at its own expense, in such condition as shall meet all the reasonable requirements of the public as the changed conditions and increased use may demand." The court said that the implied authority of the company to build its present bridge was coupled with its common law duty "to build its bridge over the natural watercourse, with a view of the future as well as the present contingencies and requirements of such watercourse, and with the further implied provision that there remained in the State, whenever the public welfare required it, the right to regulate its use." Still further: "The subject [the draining of lands] was deemed of such importance that the people, by section 31 of Article IV of the Constitution of 1870, conferred upon the General Assembly plenary powers in making provision for drainage for agricultural and sanitary purposes, and pursuant to that power the General Assembly passed the act under which the appellees are proceeding, declaring that the organization should be for agricultural and sanitary purposes. The Drainage Districts organized, as are the appellees, under that law are invested with the right of eminent domain and the power of taxation, upon the theory that they are public utilities and are held to be quasi public corporations. In their organic character

they do not represent merely the individual property owners or themselves, but they represent the State in carrying out its policy, as found in the common law and declared by its constitution and statutes. It has been so often said that it need only be adverted to here, that corporations such as appellant do not hold their property and exercise their franchises strictly in a private right, but that from the nature of their business and their relation to society they are public corporations in a sense and are subject to public control and regulation, though with their grant of power to traverse the State with their lines of railroad it cannot be said that their right of private property attaches to every highway and watercourse over which their roads may be constructed. To so hold would render such enterprises, which are designed for the benefit of the State, obstacles to its progress and a menace to its general welfare. . . . Of course, in the exercise of the right of the public interest, as against such corporations, the demand must be reasonable and must clearly appear to be for the public welfare. In this case it is not questioned that the improvement of Rob Roy Creek, as proposed, is necessary for the proper drainage of the lands comprising the Drainage District. The petition alleges that such enlargement is necessary and that the same cannot be carried on with the obstructions placed in the bed of said creek by appellant. This the appellant does not deny." C. B. & Q. Ry. Co. v. The People, 212 Illinois, 109, 110, 111, 114, 118.

In Ohio & Miss. R. R. Co. v. McClelland, 25 Illinois, 140, 144, it was said—indeed, all the cases hold-that "the power to enact police regulations operates upon all alike:" that that "power is incident to and part of government itself, and need not be expressly reserved, when it grants rights or property to individuals or corporate bodies, as they take subservient to that right."

A case quite in point is that of Kankakee & Seneca R. R. Co. v. Horan, 131 Illinois, 288. That was an action against a railroad company to recover for damage from the backing of water upon plaintiff's land by reason of an insufficient culvert con

structed by it for the passage of water from a certain natural watercourse. The contention of the company was that the culvert when constructed was sufficient for the flow of water at the time, and that it was not bound to make such provision as was necessary for an increase of water in the slough subsequently. arising from the drainage into it of the lands along its course. Upon this point the Supreme Court of Illinois said: “We do not subscribe to this doctrine. The Parker slough was a watercourse, and it was the legal right of any one along its line for miles above the railroad, where the water naturally shed toward the slough, to drain into it, and no one below, owning land along the slough, would have any legal remedy against such person so draining the water into the slough above him, for any damage done to his inheritance by means of an increased flow of water caused thereby. In other words, the slough was a legal watercourse for the drainage of all the land the natural tendency of which was to cast its surplus water, caused by the falling of rain and snow into it; and this, whether the flow was increased by artificial means or not. It would seem legitimately to follow that the railroad company, in providing a passageway for the slough, was bound to anticipate and provide for any such legal increase of the waterflow. If it did not, it was doing a wrong and legal injury to any one situated like the appellee, who received injury in consequence of a failure on its part to do its duty." See also the following Illinois cases: People v. Chicago & Alton R. R., 67 Illinois, 118; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. Co. v. Moffit, 75 Illinois, 524; Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Co. v. City of Chicago, 140 Illinois, 309; Ohio & Miss. Ry. Co. v. Thillman, 143 Illinois, 127; Frazer v. City of Chicago, 186 Illinois, 480, 486.

Many cases in other courts are to the same general effect. They negative the suggestion of the railway company that the adequacy of its bridge and the opening under it for passing the water of the creek at the time the bridge was constructed determines its obligations to the public at all subsequent periods. In Cooke v. Boston & Lowell R. R., 133 Massachusetts, 185, 188,

it appeared that a railroad company had statutory authority to cross a certain highway with its road. The statute provided that if the railroad crossed any highway it should be so constructed as not to impede or obstruct the safe and convenient use of the highway. And one of the contentions of the company was that the statute limited its duty and obligation to provide for the wants of travelers at the time it exercised the privilege granted to it. The court said: "The Legislature intended to provide against any obstruction of the safe and convenient use of the highway, for all time; and if, by the increase of population in the neighborhood, or by an increasing use of the highway, the crossing which at the outset was adequate is no longer so, it is the duty of the railroad corporation to make such alteration as will meet the present needs of the public who have occasion to use the highway." In Lake Erie & Western R. R. Co. v. Cluggish, 143 Indiana, 347, the court said (quoting from Lake Erie & Western R. R. Co. v. Smith, 61 Fed. Rep. 885): "The duty of a railroad to restore a stream or highway which is crossed by the line of its road is a continuing duty; and if, by the increase of population or other causes, the crossing becomes inadequate to meet the new and altered conditions of the country, it is the duty of the railroad to make such alterations as will meet the present needs of the public." So, in State of Indiana v. Lake Erie & Western R. R. Co., 83 Fed. Rep. 284, 287, which was the case of an overhead crossing lawfully constructed on one of the streets of a city, the court said: "If, by the growth of population or otherwise, the crossing has become inadequate to meet the present needs of the public, it is the duty of the railroad company to remedy the defect by restoring the crossing so that it will not unnecessarily impair the usefulness of the highway."

The cases to which we have referred are in accord with the declarations of this court in the recent case of New Orleans Gas Light Co. v. Drainage Commission, 197 U. S. 453. That case would seem to be decisive of the question before us. It there appeared that a gas company had acquired an exclusive right

to supply gas to the city of New Orleans and its inhabitants through pipes and mains laid in the streets. In the exercise of that right it had laid its pipes in the streets. Subsequently a Drainage Commission, proceeding under statutory authority, devised a system of drainage for the city, and in the execution of its plans it became necessary to change the location in some places of the mains and pipes laid by the gas company. The contention of that company was that it could not be required, at its own cost, to shift its pipes and mains so as to accommodaté the drainage system; that to require it to do so would be a taking of its property for public use without compensation, in violation of the Constitution of the United States. This court said: "The gas company did not acquire any specific location in the streets; it was content with the general right to use them, and when it located its pipes it was at the risk that they might be, at some future time, disturbed, when the State might require, for a necessary public use, that changes in location be made.

There is nothing in the grant to the gas company, even if it could legally be done, undertaking to limit the right of the State to establish a system of drainage in the streets. We think whatever right the gas company acquired was subject, in so far as the location of its pipes was concerned, to such further regulations as might be required in the interest of the public health and welfare. These views are amply sustained by the authorities. National Water Works Co. v. City of Kansas, 28 Fed. Rep. 921, in which the opinion was delivered by Mr. Justice Brewer, then Circuit Judge; Gas Light & Coke Co. v. Columbus, 50 Ohio St. 65; Jamaica Pond Aqueduct Co. v. Brookline, 121 Massachusetts, 5; In re Deering, 93 N. Y. 361; Chicago, Burlington & Q. R. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226, 254. In the latter case it was held that uncompensated obedience to a regulation enacted for the public safety under the police power of the State was not taking property without due compensation. In our view, that is all there is to this case. The gas company, by its grant from the city, acquired no exclusive right to the location of its pipes in the streets, as chosen