Arizona republican., 1915-06-17
FIRST READING
 NEARLY FINISHED
House Whips County DiviS- ion Bill into Satisfactory Shape and Sends It to the Committee on Enrolled and EngroSsed Bills

The procedure adopted by the sen
 ate yesterday morning in the con
 sideration Of the house public land
 bul r. suited in rather smooth
 and uneventful session of the com
 mittee of the whole and a rapid
 reading of the bill. eighty of whose
 IT. sections were finished when the
 committee rose late yesterday after
 noon. IL was decided that those sec
 tions which were likely to be pro
 ductive of the greatest division of
 opinion should be passed over. That
 asre,ment was reached after n
 change had been made in section
 a. eliminating from the force of the land commissioner the office of chief
 clerk and combining the duties of
 that office with those of the secre-
 1ary of the land department There was little or no opposition to that amendment It was when Chairman
 Stapley proposed to amend section 2. requiring that the land commis- sion-r should be a civil engineer that it was suggested that the matter should be allowed to go over until th,- bill had been read
 In the course of the day many amendments were offered and most of them were accepted. usually with little opposition. None of them vital h affected the bill as it had been offered to the senate, It was not understood though that those sec tions which had been amended were 10 be thereafter free from amend lnent. Most of the amendments had been prepared in advance and were offered by MT. Martin and MT. Gold water. They were intended to cor rect and clarify. rather than to change
 Tn. most spirited discussion of the morning session occurred over a clause of the section defining the powers of the commissioner. which i provided that he should be the or gan of communication between the state and any department of the government of the United States in :. all matters respecting state lands ! or the public lands within the state MT. Campbell moved that the last ! five. words be stricken out and re- pIying to a defense of the language of the section he said If that Is left in we might as well change the title of the commissioner and call him God" It was later shown that ss organ of communication the would be the repre- sentative only of the state govern lnent and would have nothing to do with the negotiations between pri- vate citizens and the general land office. The language was corrected to make that meaning clearer.
 Section 13 over which the house had labored long and almost bitterly was stricken out on the ground that it was unnecessary and harmless and also on the ground that it was according to the way of looking at it. This section related io applications for selection by in dividuals." It was a modification of the provision of the old bill 127 under which the land department could be forced to the selection of lands. As modified only the examination of the lands could be forced and after that the commissioner could exercise his discretion as to re- them for selection.
 The most important amendment of he day was offered y MT. Gold water doing away with the double board of appraisers for lands and improvements on such lands. restor- ing in effect the original house pro-
 (Cppffpuad on paoe Sivl