Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-25
MACHINE MEN
STAND IN AWE
HONEST LEGISLATORS PROVE
CORRUPTION WEAK
attempt TO Institute New Rules Futile.
True Representatives of People
Defeat Purposes of Rail-.
road Bunch
Especial to The Herald. 1

A0pcClal " Inc herald.
SACRAMENTO, Jan. 25.-A brilliant
ray of light has penetrated the murky
atmosphere which for many years has
invested the political arena in Sacra-
mento.
Calmly, deliberately, without ostenta-
tfon,N the true representatives of the
people, found in the ranks of the
Democracy and the insurgent Republi-
cans, have demonstrated the weakness
of the allied forces of corruption.
The men who go to Sacramento pre-
pared to obey the orders of the rail-
roads agents staked their political for
tunes on a proposed new set of rules
which, if adopted, would have enabled
mere handful Of men to control all
legislation.
But this bold scheme failed, and by a
vote that may be regarded as decisive.
The rules which governed the last
preceding assembly provided, among
other things, that all bills should be re-
ported out of committee within ten days
after they had been referred.
Speaker Stanton's committee on rules,
headed by Grove L. Johnson, proposed
to lift the ten-day limit and permit
bills to be reported out of committee
''as soon as practicable''-in other
words, at the pleasure of the commit
tee having bill in charge. The john
son rule also provided that a motion to
recall a bill from committee should not
be debatabIe.
The obvious purpose was, as in the
upper house, to smother to death such
proposed measures as the anti-race
track gambling BILL the initiative and,
if possible, the direct primary.
Johnson's associates on the committee
are Speaker Stanton and Messrs. Tran
sue of Los Angeles, Baxter of Tuo-
lumne, Beardslee of San Joaquin and
Beban of San Francisco.
Drew Led Fight
The fight against the adoption Of the
new rules was led by Drew of Fresno,
the peoples leader in the lower house
The fight was a long and bitter one.
Beardslee and Grove L. Johnson
championed the already lost cause of
the performers, Drew, Cattell of Los
Angeles, CogsweH of Los Angeles,
Young of Alameda and Cronin of So
lano leading the reformers to a de-
cisive victory. The vote against the
diaphanous Demonstration proposal
stood Al to 80.
BygcOmmon consent the machine poll
ticians are coming to be generally
known as performers" as distin-
guished from ''reformer''
When, a few weeks since, Lieutenant
Governor Porter, in addressing the std
dents of the state university, advised
ltaG
"reformers" he probably had no idea
that the name he then applied to the
Southern Pacific brand of politician, re-
CARELESS of party, would stick. But 1t
appears to have fastened itself per-
manently upon this element.
1t will be we'll for those desiring to
keep close watch upon the work of the
present legislature to make a note of
the lineup for and against the rules
proposed by the performers. Here is
the way the vote stood:
TeIItaIe Lineup
For the new rules-Messrs. Barndol-
lar Beardslee, Beban, Coghlan, Collier,
Cullen, Dean, Feeley, Flavelle, Fleisher,
! Gerdes, Greer, Griffiths, Hans, Hawk,
Holmquist Johnson of Sacramento,
Johnson of San Diego, Johnston Of Con-
ira Costa, Leeds, Macauley, Mcclellan,
McBanus, Moore, Mott, Nelson, Perine,
Pugh, Pulcifer, Schmitt, Transue and
| Stanton-32.
For the old rules-Messrs. Black,
| Bohnett. Callan, Cattell, Cogswell, Col
| lum, Costar, Cronin, Drew, Flint, Glib
| bons, Harmon, Hanlon, Hayes, Hewitt,
| Hinkle, Hopkins, Irwin, Johnson of
Placer, Juilliard, Lightner, Maher Mel
rose, Mendenhall Odon, Otis, O'Neill,
Polsley, Preston, Rech, Rutherford,
Sackett, Silver, Stuckenbruck, Teller,
Wagner, Weber, Wheelan, Whitney,
| Wilson, Young-41.
| The lineup of the Republican mem
bers in caucus on the question of