Six of the holdovers voted for the Local Option bill - Campbell, Cutten,
Estudillo, Roseberry, Thompson and Walker.
Stetson was absent and did not vote. He, however, favored the bill. His vote would have made it 13 to 7. Thus on the vote on their bill at the last session, the local option forces have seven of the holdover Senators with them, and thirteen against.
On the other hand, seventeen of the holdover Senators voted for the Walker-Otis Anti-Racetrack Gambling bill, while only three, Finn, Hare and Wolfe, voted against it. Thus on the moral issue, as well as the political and the industrial, the anti-machine element is stronger in the holdover delegation in the Senate than is the machine. It rests with the good citizenship of California to maintain its advantage by electing to the Senate in 1910, men who will stand with the majority of the holdover members for the passage of good and the defeat of vicious measures.
[103] Lewis voted with the anti-machine element in the Railroad Regulation fight, one of the most severe tests of the session. Persons who know Lewis well stated that he will, if the anti-machine forces be effectively organized at the session of 1911, be found against the machine. It is "up to Senator Lewis."
Chapter XXVII.
The Retiring Senators.
Of the Twenty Whose Terms of Office Will Have Expired, the Machine Loses Eleven, the Anti-Machine Element Seven - Two Who Voted With the Machine on Occasion Were Usually on the Side of Good Government.
Twenty of the forty Senators who sat in the Legislature of 1909, must,
if they sit in the Legislature of 1911, be re-elected at the general
elections in November 1910. They are: Senators Anthony of San Francisco,
Bates of Alameda, Bell of Pasadena, Black of Santa Clara, Boynton of
Yuba, Caminetti of Amador, Cartwright of Fresno, Curtin of Tuolumne,
Hartman of San Francisco, Kennedy of San Francisco, Leavitt of Alameda,
McCartney of Los Angeles, Miller of Kern, Price of Sonoma, Reily of San
Francisco, Sanford of Mendocino, Savage of Los Angeles, Weed of
Siskiyou, Willis of San Bernardino and Wright of San Diego.
By consulting Table A of the Appendix, it will be seen that on sixteen roll calls the forty members of the Senate of 1909 voted 570 times. Of the 570 votes 311 were cast against what are regarded as machine policies; 259 for such policies. Of the 311 anti-machine votes, 164 were cast by holdover Senators, and were considered in the last chapter, while 147 were cast by Senators whose successors will be elected in 1910. Thus it will be seen, that on this basis, more desirable Senators will hold over than those whose terms of office will have expired before the next Legislature convenes.
On the basis of the machine votes the result is as satisfactory. On the sixteen roll calls, 259 machine votes were cast. Of these 140 were cast by the retiring Senators, and only 119 by those who will hold over, and who will sit in the Legislature of 1911. So, on the whole, the machine loses and the people gain in the retirement of the twenty Senators.