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
There was just one more parliamentary move by which the Walker-Otis bill
could be delayed in the Assembly, to give notice of a motion to
reconsider the vote by which the measure had been passed. Grove L.
Johnson came to the rescue with the notice. This tied the bill up for
another twenty-four hours. On the 2nd Johnson made his motion to
reconsider but was defeated by a vote of nineteen to fifty-seven.
The table of the six votes on the Walker-Otis bill shows at a glance who
voted consistently for the measure on all of the numerous roll calls;
who voted consistently against it; and who were pulled backward and
forward, voting one moment to satisfy the public demand that the bill be
passed, and the next on the side of the gambling interests[31].
Public opinion was running high for the passage of the Walker-Otis bill
by the time the measure reached the Senate, after passing the Assembly,
but the bill might still have been held up in the Senate committee[32]
had it not been for the ridiculous attack which Tom Williams, president
of the California jockey Club, made upon all who supported the measure,
or all who Williams thought supported it.
The occasion was a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Public
Morals, at which Williams was asked to present the side of the opponents
of the bill. The crowd that filled the Senate chamber expected from
Williams some reasons why the measure should be denied passage, but it
was disappointed.
Instead of giving reasons in support of his position, Williams
introduced the methods of the barroom into the Senate chamber. He
dramatically gave Rev. Frank K. Baker, of Sacramento, the lie, under
conditions which stamped Williams as a bully and a coward. His
uncalled-for attack on Dr. Baker would have killed his argument, but not
content with this, he made probably the most astounding attack on the
Protestant clergy of the country ever heard in California, certainly the
most astonishing ever heard in the Senate chamber of the State[33].
The racetrack man's tirade did not give the reasons for continuance of
gambling, which the people expected to hear from him. Finally, when
Williams was swamped by questions which his insolence and tactlessness
had provoked, Senator Frank Leavitt came to his rescue by moving
adjournment. Leavitt's motion prevailed, but not until Williams had
effectively settled the fate of the Walker-Otis bill.
The Committee on Public Morals reported the bill back the next day with
the recommendation that it do not pass. The recommendation was that of
Weed, Wolfe and Leavitt. While Kennedy and Savage failed to vote for the
recommendation, they made no minority report. But even with the
unfavorable report, the measure passed the Senate by a vote of 33 to 7.
In the eleventh hour, uncertain Senators like Welch joined the winning
side, but the showing made by the gamblers was, all things considered,
better than could have been expected[34].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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