Arizona republican., 1915-03-19
Where the People
 May Have Hearing

1 ucI tlOloiC otliNtiS eANiiNANN to, that falsehoods directed at the commission and it's work, originated and disseminated by the representa- tives of special interests concerned in l the pleasant pastime commonly known as land grabbing should be ignored. | The commission has been kept fully occupied by the performance of it's vital duties, chief among which is the protection of the rights of all the l people of Arizona in the lands, and the benefits to accrue from the lands, | granted to the state by the terms of l the Enabling Act. It has had neither time nor inclination to reply to | charges and criticisms born of re- sentiment because of the commissions 1 unreasonable interference" with we'll planned schemes of exploitation which otherwise would doubtless have had clear sailing.
 However, a peculiarly ridiculous statement, recently put out by the Arizona Gazette, and eagerly promot- ed by other papers of similar char acter appears to justify a departure from the commissions rule The statement referred to affords an apt , illustration of the bitter maevolence back of all the attacks which have been made upon the commission, and in a striking manner discloses the pitiful ignorance of the author who has been responsible for many of i them A brief Correction" may not be wholly without interest to the public, and will serve in a general way as reply to all of the false hoods which have been aimed at the state land commission
 i Under date of the 9th inst. the Gazette, under flaring headlines, gave birth to what it doubtless conceived 10 be genuine sensation, the salient parts of which are quoted:
 More than third of the lands selected by the Arizona land com mission under the enabling act have been returned to the public domain by order of the department. as was announced in the Gazette last night in special dispatch from Washing ton
 i "On receipt of the dispatch inquiry was made at the local land office and there the news was abundantly con- firmed, for the officers had received an order from the department re- storing to the public domain 714240 acres of the lands selected bv the state commission.
 "A complete failure on the part of the state land commission to comply Wlth the requirements of the depart ment in certain matters of advertise ment IS the technical reason for the restoration, but whatever the reason may be, Arizona has spent s25. 900 or more in the selection of the lands mentioned that is complete loss and her public lands are 714,24O acres less in quantity today than they were yesterday.
 The surveyor general was about to send crews of surveyors to delimit these townships, but this will not be done now, as the lands in question will not be thrown open to entry and settlement at this time"
 This choice item. the falsity of which is only exceeded by the comi- cal ignorance of it's writer, was daily rehashed while the legislature re- mained in session, and in the issue
 
 pating an extra session of that body. and recommending certain measures which both efficiency of government and economy demand contained the following:
 One is the elimination of the ex- pensive and useless land commission which may have served a good pur- pose as it's friends have claimed but which has proven a very expensive experiment, as well as an inefficient branch of the government as will be noted by the return to the public do- main of over one-third of the entire amount of land which it attempted to select for the state"
 All comment as to the merits or demerits. the efficiency or inefficiency of the commission, is passed Mega lively, the truth of the incident of which capital is made. is that by the order referred to not one acre of land selected by the state land com mission, for the state, was restored to the public domain; the public lands of the. state are not 714,240 acres less. nor are they one acre Jess today" than yesterday" the "$25,- 900 or more" which Arizona has spent in the selection of the lands mentioned' is not a complete" nor a partial loss; the lands mentioned" were never selected and neither $25,- 900 or any part of it was spent on the Hands mentioned" The surveyor general was not about to send crews EOf surveyors to delimit these town ships and therefore he did not alter his plans, for the Hands mentioned" had already been delimited. Other wise the sensational statement pro- mulgated and perpetuated by the Gazette is all right.
 Affirmatively. the facts are that the 714,240 acres of land mentioned" was a part of 3.694.235 acres-all unsur- which had been withdrawn from time | to time by the commissioner of the general land office, upon requests jfrom the state land commission at a cost of two cents per request for postage. for the purpose of having the same surveyed As an inspection of the records of the state land com mission and of the commissioner of the general land office will "abund- antly confirm" this TIA, ,240 acres, which is not one-third or any other part of the lands selected by the commission. was eliminated. as a re- Sllt Of the premeditated and inten =