Evening star., 1896-02-14
QUAY AND THE PRESIDENCY
What Does His Recently Launched Boom
Really Msan7
No One Believes Him to BE a Serious
Candidnte-If the Object is a
Dicker 1t May Fail.

The country having under consideration
the Quay presidential boom. a number OF
parliamentary inquiries are being pro
pounded
What does the boom really mean? Not
that the Senator is a serious candidate fol
the presidential nomination at st. Louis. OIL
will become one. There is general agree
ment on that point. The Senator's rccog-
nized organ in Philadelphia admits that
Tden what? Is there q design to defeat
somebody, by withholding from him the
support he would otherwise receive from
Pennsylvania on the first ballot at st. Louis;
II that Is the play, against whom is II
directed?
His First Choice Not Known.
Mr.. Quay's first choice for President is not
acknowledged. 1t may be known to his
lieutenants, but he does not proclaim it tc
the world at large. In the west and south
the Mckinley people are claiming him; in
the east, the Reed people. lie is known tc
have said pleasant things about both the
Ohio and the Maine man. His friends al
home are divided on the subject. Mr.. Reed
has many admirers in the state, and
naturally Mr.. Mckinley has. If the apostle
of high protection could not muster some
sort of support in the very home of protec-
ton then would his case be desperate. in
deed.
1t may be that this division explains the
boom. The time is rapidly approaching
when the record must be made. The hold
ing OF county and district conventions will
shortly begin, and instructions be asked for
Is Mr.. Quay unwilling or unprepared to give
the cue so early in the action? Have the
Reed people, on the one hand, and the Nc
kinley people, on the other, been pressing
him hard for some definite expression? Is
this boom for himself an easy way out OF
the difficulty? Will those opportunities
now cease. and will all hands now turn in
for Mr. Quay himself and thereby help him
to preserve his secret until national con-
vention day?
Two Things Not Conceded.
This proposition by well in.
formed Pennsylvanians-would appear tc
suppose two things that the general pub.
lie will be reluctant to concede:
% That Mr.. Quay is not as strong al
home as has been claimed for him. Mr.
Quay with whom the country has beer
made acquainted is able to command his
followers at any time and to go all lengths
This Quay. in the circumstances described
would simply have to say to the Mckinley
people, IL he himself preferred Mr. Reed
come, and they would obey, or to the Reed
people, if he preferred Mr.. Mckinley, come
and they would obey. But the Quay OF
this presidential boom is man helpless
between two fires, and trying to hide for a
time behind himself.
C) Ihat the Pennsylvania republicans are
dull lot. This. ii is suggested would be
difficult to maintain. They are. on the
contrary, very shrewd lot, and no one
before has contributed so much to make
them SO as Mr.. Quay. They play politics
all the year round and enjoy the game
Could even Mr.. Quay himself then, assum
iES 4 willingness on his part, hope to pull
the wool over their eyes? The Mckinley
people and the Reed people would probably
willingly enough unite On Mr.. Quay in any
serious contest. But to forward a mere
hicker of the terms of which they are in
ignorance? Hardly.
VIII Fail of It's Object.
This manenver. 1t Is predicted will soone,
or later fail of its object If Mr.. Quay has
choice among the rest of the candidates
to be ba]loted for at ST. Louis he ought. /,
is held, to make the fact known. He has
never Won anything in his life by timidit,
or indirection. His great triumph of last
year was the fruit of his frankness and his
courage. His position was never in doubt
for day in that fight. Could he have
won that battle il he had pretended to bt
pushing somebody else Tor chairman of the
state central committee? His whole
strength lay in the fact that he wanted the
place himself and was pushing for it.