Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909Hichborn, Franklin
History
Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909
Hichborn, Franklin
California -- Politics and government
Then came the discovery that the bill had not been properly printed;
three words had been left out of the printed bill in the State printer's
office. This "error," as soon as discovered by Senator Walker, was
corrected. It was declared to be "trivial." But the "trivial"
typographical and clerical errors in the Direct Primary bill in the
final count gave the machine its opportunity to amend the measure to
machine liking. The writer has no doubt in his own mind that the machine
aimed to delay the passage of the Walker-Otis bill until the end of the
session, as it did the Direct Primary bill, and then amend it to suit
machine purposes or defeat it altogether.
Error even attended the recording of the passage of the bill. After a
measure has passed the Senate, its title must be read and approved, and
an order made transmitting it to the Assembly, all of which must be
recorded in the Senate journal. The printed Senate journal of February
4, however, the day the bill was passed, merely recorded the passage of
the bill. Nothing appeared about its title having been read, or that it
had been transmitted to the Assembly. Walker discovered this "error,"
and a hasty inspection of the original minutes followed. The original
minutes contained the proper record as follows: "Title read and
approved. Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly." But the two
sentences had been omitted from the printed journal. The patient Walker
had the correction made. None of these irregularities, however, resulted
in serious delay. Those behind the measure watched their opponents
closely, refused utterly to treat them with the "courtesy due Senators,"
in fact, acted under the assumption that the gambling element would stop
at nothing to defeat the bill. This watchfulness is an important
although comparatively minor reason why the bill was passed.
Then came the machine's move to pass "an anti gambling bill" as a
substitute for the Walker-Otis measure. Martinelli in the Senate and
Butler in the Assembly had introduced an Anti-Pool Selling, Anti-Book
Making bill. The measure had much to commend it but was by no means so
effective as the Walker-Otis bill. As a last straw, the gambling element
grasped at the Martinelli-Butler bill, and threw their influence on the
side of its passage. But here they again met with the uncompromising
resistance of the reform element. There was nothing left for the machine
to do but make its fight on the floor of Senate and of Assembly. And the
fight came on in a way and with a suddenness which brought consternation
upon the machine forces.
[23] The Walker-Otis bill is in full as follows:
Section 1. A new section is hereby added to the Penal Code to be known
as Section three hundred and thirty-seven a thereof and to read as
follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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