Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-02

the railroad candidate, past master IN
political chicanery; he entered the con-
vention with the solid delegation or san
Francisco at his back and by swaps
and trades easily defeated Jonn Biu-
well, who was foolish enough to tnlnk
that his imposing personality was SUI
flcient to crown him victor without re-
'sorting to political trickery.
1.-THE Republican majority during the
war had been from $4,000 to 10000 IN q
vote of something over 100000, so tnat
a nomination was considered equlVa-
lent ot an election. But the Republican
party was hopelessly divided on the
railroad issue, and the popular lnd1g-
nation against the election of Gorham
who was considered a tool of the Cen
| tral Pacific, was voiced by such able
papers as the Alta, Bulletin and Call OF
San Francisco and the Union of Sac
ramento.
Elect a Democrat
"The Democrats nominated H. II.
Haight of San Francisco as their can
didate, originally free soil Democrat,
and Republican who had after slavery
was abolished refused to- indorse the
reconstruction policy of congress. IN
every county the Democrats selected
their best men for official positions and
entered the fight united, strong and ag-
gressive; with the result that Haight
congressman were Democrats, ana the
Democrats had handsome majority
on Joint ballot in the legislature.
aside from the railroad question the
Chinese question was very lmpor-
tant issue in this campaign.
'"Gorham stood for the entire rail-
road program, importation OF chinese
and all. He preached the doctrine OF
the fatherhood of God and the broth
artA - n, thousands
of worhingmen to the support of the
Democratic ticket.
"The result was a surprise to almost
every one. I was nominated for the
legislature in San Francisco, and much
to my surprise was elected by ma
jority of 2700 in a city which had for
six years been giving Republican ma
jorities of from 1000 to 5000.
1.-THE legislature convened and elect
ed Eugene Casserly senator-an able,
patriotic citizen, beyond the reach of
railroad or any other corrupt 1nfiu-
ence.
That Sea Wall
"without knowing what would have
to fight at the solicitation of some OF
my colleagues / remained in Sacra-
mento during the holidays and drew
bill providing for the building of sea
wall in San Francisco, the survey and
plotting of all the inlying tidelands
into lots and blocks, the lots to be sold
at public auction and the proceeds of
sale to be turned over to the general
fund of the state.
"After the bill was prepared showed
it to the governor, who most heartily
approved it, and said If I passed 1t
through the house he would help me In
the senate.
1.-THE legislature reconvened early in
January. l introduced the bill and
moved that 1t be referred to a. select
committee. This was met with siren
uous opposition and I moved that 1t
lie on the table, which was carried.
"I was ignorant of the source from
which the opposition came, but 1t was
not long until / found out. A few days
after, when some of the opposition was
in San Francisco, my motion to have
the bill considered by a select commit
tee was carried.
Grab Water Front
SIN ten days bill was introduced in
the senate providing for the building of
sea wall and giving all the inlytng
lands to the railroad and allowing them
to run their cars all around the water
front. Then bill to give them one
thousand acres in Mission bay and an
other to grant them six hundred and
forty acres.
"In the meantime my bill slept in
committee. But with all the power l
could command I was pushing 1t. The
daily press favored it and quite a
lobby was formed to urge its passage.
"When by actual count had clean
majority of twenty-five pledged in it's
favor the bill was reported back,
passed its second reading and was or
dered engrossed, and couple OF days
later it passed the house by a scant
majority of, as near as can remem-
ber, about four after very hot fight.
in which all the railroad amendments
were voted down.
"The railroads In the meantime were
busy In the senate. They withdrew OF