Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-17
FATE OF DIRECT
PRIMARY HANGS
BY SLIM THREAD
ELECTION OF U. S. SENATORS
DEPENDS ON ONE MAN
ILLNESS OF LEGISLATOR CAUSES
TENSE SITUATION
Wrieht-stetson Bill Receives Vote of
20 to 1e-Absentee or Speaker
to Defeat or Adopt
the Measure
Especial to The Herald.l

Especial to The Herald
~ ACRAMENTO, March 16.--On the
illness or convalescence of Sena-
~ tor John w. Stetson of Oakland.
where he went last week threatened
with an attack of pneumonia, depends
the settlement of one of the most hotly
deba Ted questions of the present legls-
iatlre-the method of election OF
United States senators.
A tense situation developed in the
senate this afternoon following long
debate upon the assembly amendment
to the Wright-Stetson bill, providing
for the election of senators advisory
vote by legislative districts instead OF
by advisory vote of the state at large
as stipulated in the bill passed by the
senate.
The discussion was upon the motion
of Senator Wright of San Diego, one OF
the sponsors of the measure, to concur
in the amendment. The vote was &c
to "a. only one senator being absent.
TWenty-one votes are required to
pass a bill or concur in an amendment
to bill. Senator Stetson, it is claimed.
would have voted against 1t had he
been present. in which case the vote
would have been tied and Lieutenant
Governor Porter would have had tbs
NOlt
Call for Absentees
AS it was, all the friends of the dis
trict vote plan could do was to call foi
the absentees. This was done and d
call of the senate ensued.
For more than an hour chaos reigne1
inside the senate chamber with al
means of entrance of exit blocked, ac-
cording to rules.
Advocates of both propositions made
strenuous efforts to swing votes, but
none could be budged. Tremendous
pressure was brought to bear upon
Marc Anthony of San Francisco. New
ton w. Thompson of Alhambra. Miguel
Estudillo of Riverside and several 9TH
ers, but they were adamant.
Seeing that it was useless TO per-
suade their associates to change, the
leaders of the district vote faction de-
c. Led to offer a motion to revoke all
leaves of absence.
The chiefs of the opposition learned
of this and ]. B. Curtin, Democrat, oil
Tuoumne offered a motion to extend
Senator Stetson's leave from Wednes-
day until Friday.
Senator Wolfe of San Francisco was
on his feet in an instant with substi-
tute canceling that already granted
to the Oakland solon, and this pre-
vailed by vote of Il to is.
Stetson Is Notified
Senator Stetson was notified at once
by telegraph of the action taken by thu
senate and he was requested to come
to Sacramento Immediately
Senator Wolfe then gave notice thai
tomorrow he would move to reconsider
the vote by which the amendment was
lost.
The fear is expressed by many Re.
publicans that If the amendment does
not prevail United States Senator
Frank p. Flint will not be reelected
and almost to man the Los Angeles
delegation has been actively working
for the district vote proposition witt
that idea in view.
During the debate today the Demo
Gratis predicted the defeat of the Re
publican party in the state II the
amendment were concurred in, while
the Republicans favorable to 1T de
clared the party would as surely suffer
if the amendment were not accepted
and some kind of direct primary bill
passed at this session.
Remarkable Address
Senators A. S. Boynton and p. o
Miller spoke briefly against concurring
in the amendments when j. B. Curtir
was recognized and began the delivery
of a remarkable address.
He pictured the death of the aget
as contrasted with the young. TIT
aged was 1.-The grand old party, th'
Young was the Lincoln Roosevelt
league If the amendment prevailed, M
said, the Republican party organization
would be perpetuated. 1t was intro
duced solely, he said, to save POLITICAL,
lust one man from the sunny soutn
(Senator Frank P. Flint. If thu
amendment was rejected it would meal
that the league would soar high ant
the grand old party would die.
A lively discussion followed mo-
ton to take a recess until o'clock
Senator Wright declaring he did. moi
feel like making his closing speech un'
til he could eat his lunch. There were
loud protests on viva voce vote. but
when the roll was called Wright was
sustained by vote of II to Is.
The vote on the motion to concur was
as follows
Those Who Concurred
Ayes-Bates, Bills, Burnett, Finn, Hare
Hartman, Hurd, Kennedy, Leavltt, Lewis
Martinelli, Mccartney, Price, Reilly: Savage
Weed, WeIch. willis. Wolfe. wright-2o.
Those Who Opposed It
Nays-Anthony, Bell, Blrdsall, Black
Boynton, Caminetti, Campbell, Cartwright
curtin, Cutten, Estudillo, Holohan, Miller
Roseberry, Rush, Sanford, Strobridge
Thompson, Walker-19.
In the assembly, after fierce strug-
gle on the floor, A. NJ. Drew of FRESNO
succeeded in having postponed unit
Thursday consideration of motion
made by w. J. Weber of Kings coun'
ty to concur in senate amendmen . &c
the Weber county division bill. The
vote was SO to 20.
The bill as passed by the assembly
gave Kings county 1856 square miles 81
Fresno county, including the town OF
Laton.
Drew mustered but seven votes for
an amendment which would make the
Kings river the boundary line between
the two counties.
The bill then went to the senate
where E. o. Miller. representing Kings
and George w. Cartwright of Fresno
compromised and amended the bill by
cutting the coded territory from FRESNO
almost in two.
When the matter was brought ur
this morning Drew stated he wanted
action postponed until he could gel
more data from home, showing thai
the proposed division was unfair. A
scene of great confusion followed.
Walter Leeds of Los Angeles, who
had been fighting successfully, sud.
denly changed his tactics and the
Fresno man won his point.
conofa,. Ham NJ willis hill raOIfif-