plan includes classification, demonstration, and in necessary cases reclamation, directly by the State or by cooperation with private individuals or with the Federal Government. Classification should be scientific and thorough. * * * Demonstration would prove an invaluable chart for prospective purchasers. * * * Reclamation is essential if the highest efficiency of some hundreds of thousands of Arizona’s so-called desert acres is to be realized, and if the cry for population is to be adequately answered.
The first land commission report urges also “the necessity existing for the establishment, by law, of separate funds corresponding to the different purposes for which lands, granted or confirmed by the enabling act, are being administered by the commission.”[1]
III. THE LAND LAW OF 1915.
The State land commission of Arizona created by act of May 20, 1912 (ch. 93), was by that act given a lease of life extending to the end of the legislative session of 1915. It therefore became necessary to reestablish the commission by a new act. This was done by chapter 5, second special session, approved on June 26, 1915.[2] This act provided for a State land department and created the office of commissioner of State lands to carry out the provision of the act. The State land department is composed of a body of five, made up of the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, State treasurer, and State auditor. They were to appoint the State land commissioner and were to sell or lease lands. The commissioner was in charge of all State lands except such as are under the specific use and control of State institutions. He and his assistants were required to give bond and make a semiannual report. The governor, the land commissioner, and the attorney general were constituted a board to make selections of lands and perform other duties pertaining to securing titles. This board reproduces the old board created by the act of 1912 and to whom the executive work of the State land commission was then intrusted. Lands were to be classified as agricultural, grazing, timber, etc. They were to be appraised, and owners were entitled to reimbursement for improvements. Lands might be leased for not more than five years; not more than 160 acres of agricultural land or 640 acres grazing land to one person, association, or corporation. Grazing lands were to be leased for not less than 3 cents per acre and agricultural lands for not less than 2½ per cent of their estimated value. Leases reserved to the State oil, gas, coal,
- ↑ This discussion of the public lands in Arizona granted by the Federal Government for the use of schools is based on the report of the State land commission of Arizona for the period between June 6, 1912 (the date of its organization under the law of May 20, 1912), and Dec. 1, 1914. This report contains a detailed discussion and review of the whole subject as relating to Arizona and presents both an interesting and valuable study of the subject. The first three biennial reports for July 1, 1915, to Dec. 31, 1916, have been consulted also.
- ↑ See acts, second special session, 1915, pp. 13–57.
