Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-25
REED STILL IN THE LEAD.
An Impartial Estimate of His Strength

HIM-NEws FROM THE VARIOUS HEADQUARTERS
There is still none of that crowding about
| the headquarters OF the speakership candidates
one would naturally expect pending a lively
contest. The callers drop in one, two, three,
four or five at time and sit and chat for a few
minutes. 1t is seldom during the day that any
| candidate is entertaining more than half q
| dozen people at a time. II two or three Of
those are members of Congress that is a pretty
good proportion. When they are discussing
the gains here or the losses there one naturally
wonders where the material is to work on to
make these changes.
Mr.. REED IN TOWN AND STILL CONFIDENT.
The only indications of direct work is that
for and against Mr.. Reed. He has returned
from New York in no way depressed and he Is
as confident today as he has been at any time.
been made on his eastern strength by the COM
blned assaults OF the other candidates.
He may not have as much strength as
he expects there, and some Of what he
mas may not have the necessary staying quail
| ties. but it looks as if his opponents must be
mistaken in their count of his votes in Pennsyl-
yanla and New York. The delegation from the
latter state will probably meet here on Thurs
day and if the unit rule does not give him all
OF the votes there is a very fair prospect of his
THE NEW YORK DELEGATION AND THE UNIT RULE.
Representatives Farquhar, Quackenbush,
Payne and Wallace are here. Mr.. Farquhar is
an earnest worker for Mr.. Reed. He says that
every member of the New York delegation
pledges himself to abide by the unit rule and
that Mr.. Reed will have the votes.
Mr.. Wallace has bees claimed for Mr..
Mckinley generally. He says that he is not FOR
the Ohio candidate, but is going to vote for
Mr.. Reed. The indications are that the dele
CATION, with possibly one or two exceptions,
will vote for the Maine candidate. Sixteen to
seventeen of the Pennsylvania members are
! claimed for Mr.. Reed, and at this moment there
is no reason made public for disputing this
claim. 1t is fair to assume at least that he will
have majority of the votes of that state.
REEDS STRENGTH FIGURED UP.
1t locks to an outsider as if he would have
the % New England votes, from New Jersey,
II or IS from New York (perhaps the whole l9),
and 16 from Pennsylvania. This, Of course,
does not give him the speakership. He must
get votes from the west. AS it stands, he has
some pledged to him ard expects more from
that section. But it is in fighting him in this
field that the Western candidates have the best
chance. 1t is generally understood that 2
votes i'll California, 2 in Kansas, 2 in Minnesota
and in Wisconsin are held by Reed at this
time or, at least, were held by him at the
opening Of the fight.
TREMENDOUS EFFORT
is being made to carry these western votes from
him. The doubt is whether or not that effort
is going to be successful. Reed must have
| western votes to be elected, and an effective
combinaton-one that could control the votes
would defeat him. The question is
whether the four western candidates can
continue to hold between them a majority of
| the caucus. 1t seems certain they can for
awhile; and the vital question seems to be
whether they can maintain a firm and immov-
able front until Reeds line is broken.
1t seems certain that with the east standing
by him there are enough western men who
to give him the nomination and have
votes to spare. But very few of these are at
| liberty to go to Mr.. Reed while their own can
didates are in the field. If the east were to be
| for Reed first, last and all the time, he would
| inevitably be elected, for in the event of any
| sort OF break or transfer of votes in the west,
while the east is still solid, Reed could gather
| up enough loose votes to give him a majority.
1t is patent to everybody that there are a great
| many votes in the west that would go to Reed
| as second choice. With SO or 60 votes in hand
| to start with 1T would not take many of the
second choice" votes to give him the nomina-
| ton.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SITUATION
| is, however, that the eastern votes may not
stand by Mr.. Reed long enough for him to get
| any of the votes that would come to him as
second choice. This is what the other candi-
| dates are counting on. They look to see the
baeak come in New England first. They hold
/ that New England will not consent to be de-
| livered in block to Mr.. Reed by Mr.. Lodge for
want to be held to Mr.. Reed for any great
length of time by Mr.. Belden and Mr..
| Farquhar. The eastern men have their second
| chances also. The question seems to be that Of
| the loyalty of declared supporters. Some of the
| eastern men may be satisfied with merely COM
plimenting Mr.. Reed with their votes for one
| or two ballots.
One thing that appears to Mr.. Reeds advan.
| tage is that very small change in his favor
might elect him, while to elect any other can
didate would require very considerable gain,
| Ii Mr.. Reid were dropped from the fight to-
day one of the other candidates having the
| very fewest votes at this moment would have
as good chance of election as any of the rest.
AT THE HEADQUARTERS TODAY.
Things was rather quiet about Mr.. Reeds
headquarters today. About every thing was
that characteristic air of confidence which Mr..
| Reed carries about with him. He and Gen.
| Henderson seem to be taking things easy.
| Farquhar and Payne were with Reed for a while
| during the morning.
At Henderson's headquarters members were
| dropping in now and then. and there was
nearly always some two to half dozen people
| in the room. Without any way Just now of
| Judging how he may be doing toward increas-
| ing the size of his vote in the quotations,
General Henderson stands high possibil-
| ity. There is very wide impression that, if
Reed is knocked out his stock will go up rap
idly. He is running such quiet canvass that
! he is looked at almost in the nature of dark
horse; but everybody seems to think it wise to
keep an eye on him.
About Burrows headquarters there is con-
siderable sunlight and activity. The Michigan
candidate is kept pretty busy entertaining his
callers, and smile Of cOntentment that is born
of confidence is on his face. He has very little
to say about the speakership except that he is
perfectly satisfied with the outlook.
Mr.. Cdnnon's friends say there is not cloud
to cast its shadow over his prospects. They
think he will naturally draw from both east
and west when they get into caucus. They are
not alarmed at Mr.. Reeds claims, but il Mr.
Reed retires they will be glad to have his votes
They think no one has the nomination yet and
| that none stand any better chance of getting it
than does Cannon.
The elevator boy in the Ebbitt house amuses
himself by keeping a tally of the callers who
go to Mr.. McKinley's headquarters. He says
| they average about ITO per day. There is a
great deal of earnestness in the work of the
Ohio folks for Mckinley and they
| are more confident in their talk than are the
| friends of any of the other candidates. They
| say that he is in q position to draw from every
state in the Union; that all interests center in
| Ohio and that he is certain of election.
THEY WERE BOGUS LETTERS.