Arizona republican., 1912-07-21
The Main Thing Was the Discussion of the Form of the Lease Prepared by the State Land Commis- sioner
AN UNDERSTANDING
 OF THE SITUATION
What Can Be Done and What Cannot Be Done Under the Enabling Act, the State Constitution and the Later Statutes


 In response to a call issued several days ago by John P. Orme. president of the Water Users association, about seventy five lessees of school lands in the Salt River valley met in the Water Users building at 10 o'clock yesterday for the purposes of discussing the form of lease issued by the state land commission and the laws governing the occupancy of these lands. Every phase of the sub jects received attention and the re- suit is undoubtedly a better under standing of these matters than has obtained heretofore.
 There has never been, it may be said, any real friction between the commission and the lessees; but it is a fact that good many of the latter have not had a clear understanding of the intentions of the commission, its authority under the law, and the rights of the lesSeeS themselves. It was for the purpose of getting as clear an understanding as possible of all these matters that the meeting was called
 One of the first subjects taken up was the form of lease that has been adopted by the commission and which contains the terms of the contract by which lands are now being assigned to the lessees. Early in the meeting MT. Orme, who presided over it's de- Alterations. introduced Mulford Win sOr chairman of the state land com mission. who proceeded to give an ex- planation of the form of the lease, the necessity for it's adoption, and the rights guaranteed under it.
 The new form of lease, or the one now in vogue. is more liberal than that originally decided upon It gives an advantage to the lessee over the old form in that under it he is given the right to sub-let or assign any school land that may have been leased to him. A declaration that no such releasing or assignment would be made formed a part of the original lease and was therefore part of the contract between the lessee and the state. These points and all others contained in the leases were explained by MT. Winsor apparently to the complete understanding of his audi tors.
 But one of the greatest difficulties in connection with the adjustment of the school land question has been lack of information regarding the laws by which the commission is governed in all it's acts and under which the leases are drawn. An effort has been made by the commission to clear this matter up so far as possible by mail ing to all the school land lessees copies of the land laws; but it is evil dent this plan has not accomplished all the results it was hoped it would accomplish.
 For the purpose. therefore. of get ting clear understanding of the legal status of the school land ques- tion. Lewis T Carpenter had been invited to be present and address the meeting. And ths Mir Carpenter did going into all phases of all the laws bearing upon the subject
 It is perhaps not generally known that part of the law governing this question antedates the constitution it. self, and is of federal origin The act of congress, known as the enabling act. which is the measure that gave to the people of Arizona the right to erect a state government and be ad- mitted into the union. contains some very important provisions relative to the disposal of all public lands, in cluding those set aside for the main tenauce of the states public school system. Then, several sections, con forming to the enabling act, and de- signed to carry out its provisions. were inserted in the constitution. And again under authority of the cOnSti- tuition an act was passed by the late ! legislature. which was designed to give i force and effect to the constitutional enactment and the provisions of the
 enabling act.
 ! All these various acts have to do with the present system of regulat- l ing the leasing of school lands; and | all of them were considered by MT. 1 Carpenter in his explanatory talk. l The authority of the commission and the rights of the lessees under the enabling act, the constitution, and the legislative statutes. were gone into l in detail and a careful exposition of all these laws was given by the as- sstant attorney general.
 Then there was a general discussion
 which related particularly to the
 form of leases adopted by the land commission It is quite certain there ! is much better understanding of the
 case than formerly and dit is believed | there is no serious objection to the form of these leases on the part of
 many of the lessees. .. sts F 1 At the afternoon session the lessees Continued on Page 8.