The majority was poor in generals. But it had the backing of the
shippers of - the State, who sent able counsel to Sacramento to present
the shippers' side.

And in the end the machine minority wore out and defeated the majority.
A comparatively effective railroad regulation bill was rejected and an
ineffective measure passed.

Three railroad regulation measures were introduced in the Senate, their
authors being Campbell, Stetson, and Wright.

The Campbell bill had much to commend it, but was rejected without much
consideration by either side. Campbell was not in the program of either
railroad or shippers. But before the session was over Campbell had made
himself felt. He had, too, introduced a Constitutional Amendment for the
correction of railroad abuses, which was to figure later on, but his
bill was scarcely considered. The attorney for the shippers, in speaking
before the Senate Committee on Corporations, confessed that he had not
read the Campbell bill.

The attorney for the Southern Pacific Company, however, attempted to
split the anti-machine forces by praising the Campbell bill, and setting
the anti-machine Senators to disputing over the relative merits of the
Campbell and Stetson bills. But nothing came of this graceful little
coup. Campbell and his followers were too sensible to be caught by any
such trickery. They gave their loyal support to the Stetson bill, and
the Campbell bill was allowed to die in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This narrowed the fight down to the Stetson bill and the Wright bill.

The Stetson bill had been prepared in the office of Attorney General