Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-06-24
Quay, Platt and Clarkson All Meet
ing With Opposition.
FORMER LIEUTENANTS AGAINST THEM
Will Hardly Be Able to Control
Affairs Next Year.
VANISHING POWER

The declared ambition of Senator Quay
to resume the management Of the republic
can machine in Pennsylvania Is proving
to be of far more than local interest. The
local interest Is very great, for, as explain
ed in The Star of Saturday, the political
fortunes of Senator Cameron are thought
to be involved in the maneuver. But be-
yond this desire Of Mr.. Quay to assist his
colleague in pinch lies the question of
the next republican nomination for the
presidency, and it is to this phase of the
matter that politicians outside of Pennsyl-
vania are now addressing their specula-
tions.
What VIII 1t Avnils
What will it avail Mr.. Quay in a ma
tional sense to win this fight at home?
How potent would such success make him
in the next republican national convention?
Mr.. Quay enjoys, along with Thomas c.
Platt and James S. Clarkson, the reputa-
tion of being a shrewd political manipu-
lator. He has courted that distinction.
He has not objected TO the term boss as
applied to himself and to his friends. But
within the past few years party bosses
have appeared to decline in value and in
f1uence, until now the most famous of those
so designated are at war at home with
their old lieutenants and the rank and file
of their old following. The question. there
national convention be controlled by bosses
or by boss methods?
Mr.. Quay's present fight shows how
things have changed with him at home
The very men now opposed to him are the
men who at one time trained with him and
took orders from him. One has drawn away
from him for one reason and another for
another reason. The ablest are now con-
cededly in opposition. If he should succeed
In replacing those men with others, would
he be able with the new recruits to operate
as successfully as early as next year as he
once operated with the old hands?
The Case of Mr.. Plntt.
Mr.. Platt is in quite as close a corner in
New York. Nearly all of his old lieuten-
ants have for one cause or another thrown
off his authority Some have enlisted under
other colors and some have raised stand
ards of their own. The strength that re-
mains to Mr.. Platt is in the country, and
this is scattered. His power in the city is
broken. The local patronage is all In the
hands of his rivals. 1t is regarded, there
fore, as next to impossible for Mr.. Platt to
secure control of the empire state delega-
ton to the next republican national con-
vention. There seems to be no longer any
discussion in the state respecting his choice
for President. The Morton boom is in the
hands Of the anti-Platt men and is -four
up the sponge. He is still full of fight; but
his blows have recently not been effective,
and old observers think they detect signs
that he is firing.
Mr.. ClarksOn's Position.
Col. Clarkson never had the pulp in
Iowa that Mr.. Quay had in Pennsylvania,
or that Mr.. Platt had in New York Still,
he was an efficient man of affairs, and
came into national notice. Since 1883, how
ever. he has not spent much time at home,
being engaged in looking after business in
vestments elsewhere. In this way he has
lest something of the hold he once had on
the machine at home, and is now more of
an adviser than a leader in Iowa republi-
can circles He remains true to Mr.. Alli-
son. and wants him nominated next year,
but he is not recognized by any means as
being in charge of the Allison boom.
In the discussion of the subject, this list
is drawn out, but the present fortunes of
the three men mentioned are thought pret-
ty thoroughly to indicate how shorn of
their former strength all of the old bosses
are. and how unlikely it is that they will
be able to recoup, If at all, in time to cut a
controlling figure in next years national
convention. The situation is thought to be
entirely beyond them, and as plainly indi-
eating that next years prize will be award
ed without regard either to their prefer
erces or performances. 1t will not be a
year for bosses in either party.