Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-13
MIR. aUAi'a M6NDERFuL SPEECH.
It Is stiil Trailing itself Through the
congregational Record,

MN" 0eAAa NONDEHFUL sPEECHs
| --
It Is Still Trailing ITSELF Through the
Congressional Record,
There 10 cloud on the horizon Of the
Senate now no larger than the old-fash-
ior ed, traditional mans hand but Ii Is
growing every day. and the delay Of the
tariff conferees Is giving 1t b splendid
chance to Increase. 1t is another tariff
speech by Mr. Quay, the indefatigable
champion of high rates en- coal and iron
and other commodities too numerous to
mention, 1t will be remembered that on
the night when the bill passed the Senate,
at the last moment-for Mr.. Quay is never
preeipitate-that silent end astute states
man asked and obtained from the Senate
leave to print, which is a boon seldom
granted in the upper house. No one want
ed to force Mr.. Quay to go on and deliver
his speech, and there was no disposition to
deprive him of the great pleasure of seeing
LIT appear in full in the Record. 1t was
then thought that he had exhausted him.
self on the subject of the tariff, and that
his machine for grinding out speeches had
been wrapped up in cotton and laid aside
on the shelf.
the finer details of Mr.. Quay and his ways.
They had not scrutinized the document
which he had just had ordered to appear in
the Record They did not know that after
an aggregate of about twenty hours of
reading by Messrs. Quay and Gallinger and
several columns that had not been read the
speech did not bring the tariff question any
rearer to the present than IDS. That left
q very comfortable margin of about ninety
nine years for the keystone orator to draw
on in case Of emergencies, and the last re-
ports from .the conference room would seem
to indicate that there is a very serious
emergency about to burst upon Mr.. Quay.
With either coal or iron placed on the free
list by the compromise BILL it is said that
he feels 1t to be his duty to try to talk the
Senate into proper appreciation of the
enormity' of the cffense proposed against
Pennsylvania. ....-
The latest reports from Mr.. Quay's desk
WIRE to the effect that there were galley
slips amounting to 6J.columns of the Con-
gressional Record reposing there delightful
dissertations upon the growth of the coal
industry of the United States and charm
ing brochures on iron. A week ago.. when
all was supposed to be serene on the sub
ject of coal in the conference, this speech
amounted to but half of the present length.
. But IL has grown. 1t grows with alarm
ing rapidity whene yer flee coal or free iron
may be mentioned in the acute hearing of
Mr.. Quay. There seems to be sort of
long distance telephone between that speech
and the conference room, for after a period
of rest the document will take sudden
spurts. and then Immediately the rumors of
concessions to the House by the Senate be-
gin to float around the Capitol. There is a
mysterious astral relation between the
two. ......a.
1t is therefore difficult to ascertain which
Is The cause and which. the effect.
Mr.. Quay is known throughout the
country and even the world as one of the
most silent men in public life. There have
bee,Lmore persistent CLANS, so far as words
go. bat they have usually been mute from
birth. To obtain from mis- lips an interview
on almost any topic is one of the proudest
achiaV eTneIfrs' of'"the asaverage Washington
correspondent. Yet Mr.. Quay does not keep
the length of his speech on the tariff ques-
ton secret. That is the one thing that he
Is willing that the world-and especially
that part Ct the world lEat has the tariff
bill IN charge just at present-ShOuld know
in all the details. He somehow manages to
let1t b1 Known whenever he adds new in
stallment TO his speech, and in some way
or other that information finds its way
directly into the ears of..Senators Harris
Jones, German and others, who are strug-
Cling with shs areat revssiue problem. Mr..
Quay has lived long enough to know when
10 keep a secret and when to let it out.
Bat the way that that speech grows is a
matter of admiration to the other Senator'S
They have become nearly green with envy
on account Of the ease with which the gal
leys in Mr.. Quay'S desk pile up on top of
each ether. They realize that Mr.. Quay
has, par excellence the faculty of language
Many applications have been made to him
for the recipe Of his success. but he has told
only few. and to those he has mysterious
y drawn from his desk and shown a few
n'1ty bound pamphlets. They are old and
new. and some are of middle age. They are
thepreat census bureau of the Interior De-
partment.
Mr.. Qdays style of delivery also is pecu-
liar unto himself. lie realizes. as do few
other men, the value Of a conservation of
energy, and he Goes not believe in wasting
his force on an unappreciative Senate So
he summons his friends to his aid, and lets
them in on the ground floor of his fame by
allowinS-them to spell him in the delivery
OF the great tonnes that he and his clerk
and the superintendent of the census have
produced. Senator Gallinger is his favorite
helper iL this, for he has a good round voice
that never tires. and he likes to read aloud
Pc comes in very haadily at about lunch
time. when Mr.. Quay gets tired and hungry
and thirsty.
The ultimate length Of this second tariff
speech of the present session by Mr. Quay
Is not, of course determined. for no one vet
knows how much longer the uncertainty as
10 coal and iron and other things on the
schedules Will last. Until there is certainty
however, the speech will keep on growing
Ike that famous turnip Of which the poet
LonSfellow sang in his school days:
Mr.. Finney had a turnip
And 1t grew behind the barn;
And IL grew, and it grew,
And the turnip did no harm"