Evening star., 1897-01-02
Mr.. HANNA'S FUTURE
Speculation as to Whether He Will
Take Office.
His GREAT BUSINESS INTERESTS
Some Disappointment From His
Visit to Washington.
SHERM AN a + A c L O r
nee. of The Evening Star.

Correspond, nee. of The Evening Star.
CLEVELAND, Ohio. December ~. 1896.
Mark Hannas future is vexng the minds
of his Ohio friends The national chairman
himself is outwardly placid. He gives no
sign of conflicting desires. yet at times he
becomes impatient over the opportunities
of camp folio %ers. who think he should go
into the cabinet in order 10 keep them in
rations. The broader questions of politics
and the Mckinley administration do not
interest them.
Politics at the Old stand.
Mr.. Hanna continues to conduct political
business al the old stand. His offices in the
Perry-Payne building. sixth floor still
througed. and the elevator boy on reaching
it -till cries out '-Hannaville There most
of the passengers disembark. Major Dick
and Mr. Haskell. who was sergeant-at-
arms of the national committee headquar-
tiers in Chicago. are 10 be found in the
offices daily. and they expect to be there
till the march is Begun Washington
The routine business takes their time just
fully if permanent national head
quarters nad not already been established
in Washington. Nor is it the kind of busi-
that he wound up with the inau-
guratiOn of President Mckinley. Much of
it is correspondence relating 10 the offices.
Much of Il is also correspondence relative
10 tariff legislation Mr. Hanna is still
gathering Information about the next Sen
ate. 1t might even be said that he is dick
ering for votes with winch - pc the bill
which the House will send over 10 the Sem
ate. He has been charged with this work
not d chairman of the national committee
but the personal represe sentative OF the
Mckinley administration. Those who know
how fully this responsibility has been un-
dertaken by Chairman Hanna cannot be
II ade TO believe that IL can be carried to a
conclusion without him in the cabinet.
They do not think il will be possible for
him 10 work from the outside after March
and accomplish that which he has set
out to accomplish. especially since he is all
the time accepting fresh responsibilities.
50 they assume there is question of
Mark Hanna being in the cabinet
HI. Business Interests.
There are business men and personal
friends in Cleveland who take another
view, They say Mark Hannas iron pur-
pose to be leader in the commercial world
Will never be overshadowed by his political
ambition. His interests are multifold.
Some of them need aggressive manage
ment. The Rockafellers and the Standard
Oil Company since going into the iron Ore
business and getting control of the great
Lake Superior ranges have shown dispo-
sition 10 absorb or crush all rival ere
miners and shippers They have combined
with Andrew Carnegie, and ii il pretty well
understood they want the whole field TO
themselves. Mark Hanna in his business
career has never let himself be forced out
OF anything in which he was Interested
though at times he has fought aggrcga-
tiCns of capital larger than that under his
own control The people who know him
nave no Idea he would step aside now at
the DeheSt of ROckafeller-Carnegie COM
piEatiou- Their only contention is that in
order 10 maintain his vantage he would
nave 10 give his undivided energies for d
Few years more to his business and would
be unable to accept the responsibilities of
political position. So they declare he Will
not 90 into the cabinet.
His Affairs ARRANGED
This IL not the prevailing opinion in
Clevels nd. Men who know Mr. Hanna s
shre"dness say that II a conflict Is to
come for supremacy in the iron ore trade
1t Will be found he has foreseen 1t and
made his preparations. They believe he
had this in mind when he arranged for
the management OF his varied business in
terests Mark Hanna is still the guiding
spirit IN a dozen important enterprises
but he has surrounded himself with able
associates in whom he has every confi-
dence. His brother looks after the bank
ing and the ore shipping His son has the full
management of the street railways in
winch he IS a heavy stockholder. His ship
ping interests are In competent hands.
and so 1t goes all along the line He might
enter upon a struggle with the Rookie
ielIers with the feeling that his lieuten-
ants were fully equipped to carry out the
plans he may have formed in anticipa-
lion OF IT.
sought for Patronage.
Human nature Is strong I'm Cleveland
as IN other parts of the world. When en-
Nious politicians say Mark Hanna's star
has reached Its zenith and is now falling
they add 10 the chances that he will 20
into Major Mckinley's cabinet and test
the durability of his own popularity and
influence. Echoes OF such talk rumbled
back TO Ohio after his visit to Washington
Ihese echoes are still resounding through
the state Mr.. Hanna since election has
besn keeniy sensible of what 1t is to be
sought Tor patronage and for patrona &c
alone He never suspected the office-seekers
constituted so large a proportion of the
population. He Is still more charitable to
the train OF fatterers who burn incense In
mis- wake than are the hardened polttictan ns
however. he understands 1t pretty well and
MS disposition Is to try the experiment and
see II the predictions that his influence viii
wane with the distribution Of patronage are
correct He has confidence enough in him
self to believe that IL he becomes a mem.
her or the Mckinley administration he viii
continue a leading factor in national pol
itics As he is already advocating a second