Arizona republican., 1896-03-03
THAT SCHOOL LAND BILL Protests Against It's En-
 actmenta Senate Petitioned to Sustain
 the President. A Republican League Club ResoIu- ton TelegraDhed to Senator
 Teller.

1 The news that President Cleveland's s i veto of the land lease bill had been overridden in the house of representa- tives by vote of 198 to 3S was the cause of much excitement in the city Sunday and yesterday.
 The bill, which is generally consid- cred to be one especially favored by the territorial administration, is as follows:
 'fBe it enacted by Ehe senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assem- bled that the lands reserved for uni versity purposes, and all of the school lands in the territory of Arizona re- served by law for school purposes, may be leased under such laws and regula tions as may be hereafter prescribed by the legislature of said territory, but until such legislative action the gov ernor, secretary of the territory and superintendent of public instruction shall constitute a board for the leasing of said lands under the rules and regu- lations heretofore prescribed by the secretary of the interior for the re- spective purposes for which the said { shall not be necessary to submit said leases to the secretary of the interior for his approval; and all necessary ex- penses and costs incurred in the 1eas- ing. management and protection of said lands and leases may be paid out of the proceeds derived from such leases. Provided, that no lease shall be made for a longer period than five years and all leases shall terminate on the admission of such territory as a state And provided further, that all money received on account of such leases in excess of actual expenses necessarily incurred in connection with the execution thereof shall be placed to the credit of the public school fund of said territory and shall not be used for any other than public purposes.
 The idea did not seem obnoxious to the majority of citizens who expressed themselves upon the measure, the main opposition appearing to be grounded upon the power given by the bill to the governor, pending the com ing session of the legislature. To the fact that the possession of about forty sections, or 25,600 acres of the best agricultural land in this val ley is involved may be traced the keen interest of local farmers and business men in the bill. Many of the school sections are highly improved and sev- eral, especially one adjoining the townsite of Tempe and that just south east of Phoenix are Of exceptional val ] of hi ieh Noit- uraily the farmers who have here en- joyed the use of the land for these many years and who have been serene with the understanding that they were safe till statehood should come are now perturbed and yesterday were busy among those who sought the overthrow of the land lease measure.
 Early in the day the following pc tition was circulated and was signed by hundreds of citizens:
 ''To the Members of the United States
 Senate:
 'SWe, the undersigned, hereby enter our protest against the passage of the school land bill over bhe presidents veto In addition to the reasons as- signed by the president of the United
 
 "First, It is not true, as stated by our delegate in congress, Nathan o. Murphy, that the citizens of this terri tory are favorable to this bill outside of those occupying school lands.
 Second, That large portion of the school lands proposed to be leased by this bill, lying in the northern part of our territory, is covered by pine tim Der and if the school land of that sec ton is leased and the timber removed therefrom, the land is entirely worth less; and rich lumber companies now existing are anxious and willing to lease this land, and are situated in such a way that they can remove all of the timber from that land before our next legislature convenes.
 Third, This bill authorizes the gov ernor, secretary and superintendent of public instruction to lease these lands until the next legislature convenes. The superintendent of public instruc- tion is appointed by the governor and is under his control, which virtually makes the governor, under this bill, the one man who disposes of the leases of this valuable timber land, with no restrictions.
 we therefore ask that, while we fla vor a proper bill for the leasing of these school lands, with proper restric- tions, until we become a state, we ask that your honorable body sustain the presidents veto to the bill as it now stands
 This petition was telegraphed on to Washington.
 During the day Chairman Frazier of the Republican League club of Phoenix