Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909 — John Shaqi
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
[24] Had not the people of the Twenty-ninth and Thirty-first Senatorial
Districts revolted against the machine at the general election of 1908,
the Walker-Otis bill would probably have been defeated in the Senate. In
the chapter dealing with the passage of the Miller-Drew Reciprocal
Demurrage bill, it will be shown how the Democratic Senators Holohan and
Campbell were elected in the Republican Twenty-ninth and Thirty-first
Senatorial Districts, not because they were Democrats, but because the
Republicans of those districts, recognizing the real issue before the
State - the machine against the anti-machine element - voted for Holohan
and Campbell, knowing them to be for good government and a "square deal"
for all. Holohan and Campbell were from the beginning foremost in their
support of the Anti-Racetrack Gambling bill. To be sure, at the final
vote, only seven Senators voted against the measure. But it is generally
conceded that when the session opened, the gamblers had nineteen
Senators who could have been prevailed upon to vote against an effective
anti-gambling bill. Had machine men sat in the seats occupied by Holohan
and Campbell, the gamblers would have had twenty-one votes in the
Senate, and the Walker-Otis bill would have been defeated.
[25] Much of the credit for this determined stand is due Earl H. Webb,
president of the Anti-Racetrack Gambling League, who managed the fight
for effective anti-racetrack gambling legislation not only during the
session of the Legislature, but before the Legislature convened. Mr.
Webb first convinced himself that the Walker-Otis bill would stop pool
selling and bookmaking; and that the measure would stand the test of
honest interpretation by the courts. Then he made his fight for it. To
Mr. Webb, more than to any other one person, is due the credit for its
passage.
Chapter VII.
Passage of the Walker-Otis Bill.
Anti-Machine Element Forced the Issue and Compelled Early Action on the
Measure - Evidence That Machine Planned to Defeat or Amend the Bill by
Delaying Its Passage Until Toward the End of the Session.
As one looks back over the exciting first five weeks of the session,
when the Walker-Otis bill was under consideration, it is plain that the
machine would have preferred to have made its initial fight in the
Senate. If defeated in the Senate, the enemies of the measure could have
jockeyed for delay, prevented the passage of the measure until the
closing hours of the session, and then killed it or forced its
supporters to accept amendments.
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