bill, while nineteen of them voted for the Wright bill.

On the other hand, only three of the Senators, Estudillo, Anthony and
Walker, who stood out for an honest Direct Primary law, voted against
the Stetson bill and for the Wright bill. Walker had supported the
Stetson bill in the Committee on Corporations, but stumbled into the
machine ranks when it came to final vote. Had the anti-machine had an
organization, such as the machine Democrats and Republicans maintained,
Walker's blunder could have been prevented. Probably, too, Estudillo and
Anthony would have remained with the anti-machine forces[65]. This would
have given the Stetson bill twenty-one votes, and assured its passage.

Another vote that should have been saved to the reformers was that of
Burnett. Burnett was clearly tricked into voting for the Wright bill.
When the Stetson bill received the favorable recommendation of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, machine claquers filled the air with the
indefinite promise that in the event of the Wright bill becoming a law,
a constitutional amendment would be adopted, by which all ambiguity in
the State Constitution on the question of maximum and absolute rates
would be removed. The amendment was then pending before the Senate
Judiciary Committee, which finally reported it favorably.

After the Wright bill had been passed, the amendment was defeated by
machine votes, as will be shown in the next chapter.

In the closing days of the session, when Burnett was urging that steps
be taken for investigation into the increase of freight rates, he called
attention to the fate of that railroad-regulation amendment.

"I was led to vote as I did for the Railroad Regulation bill," he said,