Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-03-10
PRIMARY BILL
COMPROMISED
CONTINUED from Page One,

| States senator shall have their names
placed on the official primary election
| ballots of the respective parties In the
! manner provided for state ofhcers;
provided, however, that the vote Tor
| candidates for United States senator
shall be an advisory vote for the pur.
pose of ascertaining the sentiment OF
the voters in the respective senatorial
and assembly districts in the re-
spective parties"
This aroused a storm of opposition
from many quarters. Assemblyman
Young was the mouthpiece OF the
minority faction in the controversy.
He declared that If senator's were
elected in that manner. they would
not be truly representative OF the peo-
! pie of the entire state.
A legislator who represented
sparsely populated district would have
as much voice in the selection of Cali
fornia's representatives In the upper
branch OF congress as would one elect
| ed by a district with ten times as many
voters.
He charged that under this system
| colonization might eventually be re-
sorted to and fraud could be perpe-
trated with ease.
In reply, the proponents Of the
amendment declared that under the
1
solons from small districts had as
much voice in the making of laws as
those from the densely settled city dis
tricts, and that primary law with
out the legislative district provision
would be unconstitutional
| The amendment was adopted Dy the
| following vote:
| Ayes-Barndollar Beatty. Beban,
Black, Butler, Coghlan, Hanlon, Hans,
| Hawk, johnson of Sacramento, john
son of San Diego, Johnston of Contra
| Costa, Leeds. Lightner, MacAuley, Nc
Clellan, McManus, Melrose, Mott, Nell
son, O'Neill, Perine, Pugh, Pulcifer,
Rech. Rutherford, Schmitt., Transue,
Wagner, Wheelan, Speaker Stanton
-3S.
Nays-Beardslee Bohnett, Callan,
Cattell, Cogswell Costar, Dean, Drew,
Flint. Gerdes, Gibbons, ellis, Crit
fiths, Hayes. Hewitt, Hinkle, Holm
quist, Irwin, Johnson of Placer, JUL
| lard, Kehoe, Maher. Mendenhall,
Moore. Odom. Otis, Polsley, Preston,
Sackett, Silver, Stuckenbruck. Teller,
| Whitney, Wilson, Wyllie. Young-S6.
Amendment Defeated
John w. Preston, Democrat, of
| Ukiah, led fight that finally resulted
| in the defeat of an amendment offered
by the majority of the committee
pledging legislators to "abide by and
carry into effect in spirit as in letter,
| the platforms to be adopted by the
state and county conventions of the
party to be held this year"
Leeds explained that Speaker Stan
| ton and he were jointly responsible
for this amendment
| 1t was defeated by vote of rs to AZ,
those standing by the speaker and his
committee being Messrs. Barndollar,
Beban. Black, Cullen, Feeley. Greer,
Hawk. Johnson of Sacramento, John
son of San Diego, Johnston of Contra
| McManus, Mott, Nelson, O'Neill; Per-
inc. Pugh, Rech, Rutherford, Silver,
Transue, Wagner Wheelan, Stanton.
| Grove L. Johnson then offered an
amendment pledging legislative can
didates to abide by the platforms
adopted at the last previous conven-
lions, but that, also, was beaten.
Final Fight in Senate
The bill as amended will go to the
senate for concurrence and the final
| fight will take place there unless the
senate declines to indorse the amend
ments, in which case the bill will be
returned to the assembly to decide
whether or not that body shall recede
from its position.
| A majority of the members of the
senate entered into the floor discussion
today ON a motion by Senator Leroy
A. Wright of San Diego, to take up for
passage his maximum freight rate hill
instead of the measure drawn by John
w. Stetson of Oakland, providing the
railroad commission may fix absolute
freight rates.
The latter had the Endorsement of the
committee on corporations and judi
ciary.
| The debate was devoted principally
to a question of the constitutionality of
the two measures, Wright and Stetson
each claiming that his opponents bill
would not hold water IN the courts.
! The Stetson bill gives the commission
| power. to fix an absolute immovable
rate for the transportation of various
commodities, while the Wright meas
ure permits it to decide only the maxi
mum rate.
Wright Faction Triumphant
e. o. Miller of Visalia, who secured
the passage of his car demurrage bill
| a few days ago, was in favor of passing
the absolute rate bill and allowing the
| courts to decide it's constitutionality,
but the Wright faction triumphed after
a discussion lasting for several hours.
The senate lined up as follows on roll
CALL
| For the Stetson absolute rate-Bell,
| Birdsell. Black, Boynton, Caminetti,
Campbell, Cartwright, Curtin, Cutter.
Lewis, Miller, Sanford, Stetson, Stro-
bridge, Thompson-16.
| For the Wright maximum rate-An-
thony, Bates, Bills, Burnett, Estudillo,
| Finn, Hare, Hartman, Hurd, Kennedy,
] Leavitt, Martinelli, Mccartney, Price,
| Reilly, Savage, Walker, Weed, Welch,
Willis Wolfe. Wright-22.