Senator Perkins' successor. As the Legislature had organized on January
4, the second Tuesday fell on January 12. The call for the Republican
caucus to go through the form of selecting a candidate for the Senate,
was circulated the third and fourth days of the session. The Republican
Senators all signed it, not a few of them with the non-resistance of a
wretch in the hands of a hangman.

More opposition developed in the Assembly. Callan and three or four
others kept up their resistance to the last, but when the caucus
assembled on Friday evening, January 8, all the Republican Senators and
Assemblymen who could do so were in attendance[21].

The caucus was of course hopelessly programmed for Perkins.
Nevertheless, the better element of the party endeavored to secure some
expression from Senator Perkins as to his attitude toward the Western
transportation problem. This led to a heated debate which kept the
caucus in session until a late hour. The debate turned on the celebrated
Bristow letter.

For years, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company has been able to
prevent effective water competition by way of the Isthmus of Panama. The
Government has a line of steamers running from New York to the Isthmus,
and a railroad line across the Isthmus. With an additional line of
steamers running from San Francisco to Panama, the Government would have
a through line from San Francisco to New York. This would give genuine
competition with the Southern Pacific system, and free the State from
the grasp of the transportation monopoly.

In August, 1907, Hon. J. L. Bristow, now United States Senator from
Kansas, was appointed a Special Panama Railroad Commissioner, to