The San Francisco call., 1907-02-11
Railway Measure Is One of
the Conundrums Of the
Session of Legislature
LOST IN SENATE
BY A MIXED VOTE
Members Of Both Houses
Fear the Bill Is in the In
terest of Southern Pacific
CALL HEADQUARTERS,
1907 EIGHTH STREET.

1907 EIGHTH STREET.
SACRAMENTO. Feb. TO-
The four-track railway bill is one of
the conundrums of the present session.
Some gossips say that it is a railroad
measure, but it was beaten In a rail
road Senate last Wednesday by a
mixed vote Programmes rubbed ell
bows with reformers as they bent over
to strike the finishing blow. Tomor-
row it comes up in the Senate on re-
consideration of the vote by which An
dersons four-track bill failed of pas
sage. The following day the Assembly
will have final roll call on Transues
bill, which in text is Identical to the
one introduced by Senator Anderson.
According to their promoters the
Anderson and Transue bills merely
provide for the condemnation of ten
rods of right of way instead of nine,
as is allowed by the present law. They
give assurances that the measure is
wholly innocent and that a bug con-
cealed within it would die of inanition
FEAR OF CONCEALED DESIGN
Still numerous members of both
houses against whom no chattel mort
gage is known to exist fear that Jere
Burke and Walter Parker have framed
up the measure in the interest of the
Southern Pacific Some say that the
concealed design is to keep the West
ern Pacific from getting through Niles
Canyon. but this charge lacks verifca-
ton No Western Pacific representa-
tive is here working against the bill
( The measure came up in the Senate
/ last, Wednesday. No one was paying
any particular attention to it, and it
might have gone through with a rush
if Senator Anderson had not made a
speech.
This is a good bill,' he said. NO
one is opposed to it. The railroads are
in favor of 1t. l submitted it to the
attorneys of the Southern Pacific and
they assured me they were satisfied"
Antirailroad Senator'S took due no.
tice and lined up in opposition. Twen-
tynine members were present, and the
division was as follows
Ayes-Anderson Anthony, Bates.
Bell. Belshaw. Broughton, Carter, Cart
wright, Greenwell, Irish, Leavitt, Mar
key. Mccartney, Mckee, Rolley, Savage,
Weed and wolfe-1S
Curtin. Mattos, Nelson, Rambo,. Reilly,
Sanford and Walker-1O
Anderson changed his vote, and gave
notice of a motion of reconsider.
HERRIN CAN FORCE BILL
The second and final test will come
tomorrow Railroad men predict the
bill will pass, not because it is pro
gramme," but because it is right and
in line with the needs of State that
is crying for more trackage. Whatever
the merits of the bill, whatever its bugs.
the Senate's vote upon it proves moth
ing. Two of Abe Ruefs boys, Nelson
and Reilly. voted against it. No one
doubts they are for Herrin whenever
he needs them. If the bill reappears
tomorrow adorned with the pro
gramme" label they will vote for it.
Not allowing for other changes, this
would make twenty ayes, one less than
the necessary number The twelve alb
sentees included Hartmann, Keane.
Muenter and Willis. Therefore tomor-
row will tell the tale If Herrin is
anxious to force the bill it will pass
the Senate, with several votes to spare.
AS to the fate of Transue's bill, much
depends on what the Senate does with
the Anderson measure. Evidence of a
programme in one house will have the
effect of the vote in the other. Tran
sue puts his hand over his heart, and
says the bill is intended solely for the
benefit of the electric railways of
Southern California, but Davis of Hel-
lister and Devlin of Vallejo, one a
Il Democrat and the other a Republican.
are far from satisfied. They want au-
thoritative assurance that the measure
is not intended for the benefit of one
transcontinental railway to the detri-
ment of rivals.