Bisbee daily review., 1919-02-18
HOUSE REPORTS
 GRAZING LEASE
 BILL FAVORAbLY
Outsiders Give Opinions on Measure, Facing Cross
 fire of Questions
Ry Review Leased wlrel


 PHOENIX. Ariz-, Feb 17--InfrOma- ton on the proposed grazing lease amendments came rom two sources in the house late today and resulted in a rapid fire Of crOSS-QuestiOls with two outsiders Occuying the center Of the stage
 The first person to come before the committee of the whole was Land Commissioner MOeur; the second was J. C. WOOIey, a IandhOlder in the Salt River valley, who presented the case as seen. he said, by the hOmeSteader and small land owner
 The committee of the whole recon mended that the bill pasS-
 The bill under discussion proposes to allow grazing leases for twenty years. renewals being provided for in a special preference elzuse. while il also would repeal that portion of the law as 1t stands at present, allowing only $40 acres Of grazing land to one person
 Strongly Criticized
 These two main features Of the measure came in for strong criticism on the part Of WOOley- Long leases. he said, meant the elimination of the hOmesteader and small owner, while in his opinion, releasing under the special clause was aggTavating the trouble
 WOoley asserted that while the pres ent law was aimed at keeping out dummy grazing lease holders, fl had worked exactly the other way, with the result that the large cattle owners @r-. s~ whose names they might add to their already large range holdings
 When asked by Representative Phil lips if he had any alternative prOpOs- als to make, WOOley said that he had drafted none, but that he had come for t-e sole purpose of pointing out what he considered the unjust features Of -he bill as 1t had been drafted
 Many Questions Asked
 When Commissioner MOuer took his place on the speakers platform after the opening Of the afternoon session, he answered a long series of questions from Phillips, Lines, Mrs Mckay and others, the summary of his replies being He emphatically approved of the bill as presgnted to the house When Arizona became a state the fed eral government had set apart S,O57.- 500 acres for school grants. with a total grant for schools and other state institutions of O1. .453, ,7z0- acres. Prac ticalIy no state lands were taken up with homesteads, the state law pro Fiding for sale CT lease The charac- ter of the lands at the disposal of the state made them better adapted to grazing than to any other purpose On the subject Of the limitation of $40 acres tO one grazing lease, Com missioner MOuer said that 1t was un- satisfactory and impossible to operate with such a limit The best of the grazing land, he said, would not take care of more than from 20 to 9 head of cattle per section, o< as the stock men put it, thirty acres to a cow"
 Opposed to Sale
 Referring to federal restrictions in answer to the proposal that the state limit the number of cattle allowed to graZe on one section, MOeur stated that there could be no satisfactory fed eral control till congress legislated to administer the affairs of the public domain At present the only federal regulations are those promulgated by forestry officials and the forest re- serves contain not more than one-third of the federal lands in Arizona
 The commissioner was decidedly opposed to the sale of state lands, pre- ferring a system of long leases.
 In answer to a question as to the growth Of his department, MOeur said that when he took office in July, 1915. |. there was barely an office force and pracfica1lv m reVe0ue frOm land grants, while the office was handi- capped by lack of legislation giving it power to act During the past two years there had been million dollars in revenue from the lands, which had been turned over to the state treasurer and was available for loans to the