Arizona republican., 1920-07-30
CONTESTED CASE ON
 STATE LANDS ID BE
 TAKEN INTO COURTS

The first contested case for state lands in which one of the applicants applied for a renewal and in which the land commission, in keeping with Its policy of ''perpetuating leases,'' ruled in favor of the old lessee, will be ap- pealed. Announcement was made yes- terday that Mrs Lydia l.. Fike of Naco, [ who applied for a lease to land held [ by lIillman and Graves, would fight l the case out in the courts of the state. | It is understood that a complaint short ! ly will be filed in the superior court of ! Cochise county by counsel for Mrs F'ike.
 The news that the matter will be taken into the courts will be of interest | to the many who have condemned the | departm policy in regard to re- | newalS, which question is involved in ! the action to be brought by Mrs. Fike. Her case was the first decided by the commission where there were two ap- plicants for the same land, one being an application for renewal. Mrs. Fike took up a homestead ad- | 1 joining the state land in the year 1897 and engaged in the dairy business, | serving the city of Bisbee with milk. 1 At the time Hrs. F'ike located upon the homestead there was no town of Naco and her son drove the first nail in the | building of that town.
 Commencing with her homestead Mrs. Fike, through her industry and | thrift, purchased other lanQS adJO1n1nS l her own and increased her dairy stock. l endeavoring to care for the growth in l the population of Bisbee and the de- mand for milk. In February of this 1 year Mrs. Fike applied to lease six sections of land from the state which lie adjoining her homestead and extend | from her place to the Mexican border | On the north she is cut off by the Mule mountains, and the land that she has applied for is necessary for her present AL I -Ie,~.. x1f Ia.N. 1,s business commenced on her homestead in 1897.
 The land involved under lease to Hil1man and Graves, was brought out by testimony before the land com mission hearing a week ago, is being
 used by them to fatten cattle brought
 out of Mexico.
 In discussing the case Leon s. Jacobs.
 counsel for Mrs Fike. stated yesterday
 that he had advised his client to appeal under the provisions of the state land
 law, for the reason that he did not
 think justice had been done either to his client or to the interests of the state of Arizona.
 1 Regardless of the rights of Mrs. | Fike, or Hillman and Graves, the inn portant thing to have been considered ! by the land commission was the best l interests of the state. Mrs. Fike, widow, has resided upon her homestead for 23 years, and during all of that | | with milk; she has purchased many acres of adjoining land and increased ! her dairy herd, all of which has bene fitted the state, not only in the develop l ment of the country, but in taxes re- ! ceived from her property. Messrs. Hillman and Graves do not own one acre of land and only fatten Mexican cattle from which the state received small revenue. We offered to pay the land commission three cents an acre -l rental; We offered to submit sealed bids for this land; or we offered to pur- chase this land at a dollar an acre above the minimum prescribed by law:
 or we offered to bid for it at an open sale. D1Sregard1ng these offers which are most assuredly for the benefit of
 the state, the land commission by it's
 order has released it to Hillman and
 Graves at the reappraised rental, which
 is a loss of many dollars to the state of
 Arizona and certainly their action is
 against the best interests of the state.
 However. the money loss to the state
 is not as great the loss of humanity.
 As everyone who has ever been in
 Bisbee knows, in nearly every rcstau-
 rant in the city person is served with
 canned milk. At the presNnt time milk 1 is being shipped into Bisbee from
 Phoenix. Had this lease been granted
 Mrs. Fil<e much larger supply of l fresh milk could have been delivered
 to the city of Bisbee. The ;and com
 mission evidently by it's action paced
 Mexican cattle above American babies
 and if public officers of the state of
 Arizona consider the rights of Mexican
 cattle superior to the rights of Ameri-
 can babies I believe the matter should
 go before an intelligent court for de-
 cision and advised my client to place
 it there."
 -o
 Henry B. Hallowen. s1 years old. of
 Fox Chase, Pa, is believed to be the