Public opinion was running high for the passage of the Walker-Otis bill
by the time the measure reached the Senate, after passing the Assembly,
but the bill might still have been held up in the Senate committee[32]
had it not been for the ridiculous attack which Tom Williams, president
of the California jockey Club, made upon all who supported the measure,
or all who Williams thought supported it.

The occasion was a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Public
Morals, at which Williams was asked to present the side of the opponents
of the bill. The crowd that filled the Senate chamber expected from
Williams some reasons why the measure should be denied passage, but it
was disappointed.

Instead of giving reasons in support of his position, Williams
introduced the methods of the barroom into the Senate chamber. He
dramatically gave Rev. Frank K. Baker, of Sacramento, the lie, under
conditions which stamped Williams as a bully and a coward. His
uncalled-for attack on Dr. Baker would have killed his argument, but not
content with this, he made probably the most astounding attack on the
Protestant clergy of the country ever heard in California, certainly the
most astonishing ever heard in the Senate chamber of the State[33].

The racetrack man's tirade did not give the reasons for continuance of
gambling, which the people expected to hear from him. Finally, when
Williams was swamped by questions which his insolence and tactlessness
had provoked, Senator Frank Leavitt came to his rescue by moving
adjournment. Leavitt's motion prevailed, but not until Williams had
effectively settled the fate of the Walker-Otis bill.

The Committee on Public Morals reported the bill back the next day with