Evening star., 1900-06-15
THE VICE PRESIDENCY
DARK HORSE CANDIDATES WILL BE
THOROUGHLY EXAMINED.
Secretary Longs Abilities Taken as n
Standard of Measure
ment.

While President Mckinley is not going to
pick out his running mate, 1t is not the in
tention that there shall be any dark horse
candidate whose points have not been care
fully considered There seems to be plenty
OF opportunity for dark horse to go
through the convention with high head.
but before he can do so he will have to be
submitted to examination by the President
and Mr.. Hanna. The President and his
closest friends would be well pleased with
Mr.. Bliss for Vice President. and the uni
versal belief here Is that Bliss can have
the nomination If he will take 1t; but 1t is
believed that he is perfectly sincere in de-
clinng to be a candidate, and there are
several other men the nomination Of any
one of whom would be perfectly satiSfac-
tory to Mr. Mckinley. The President will
be in direct telegraphic communicat ton
with the chairman of the national commit
tee, an expert telegrapher being always on
hand at the White House. without any spe-
cial preparations having to be made for
the convention. The only special provisions
that will have to be made will be to have
the operator on duty during such hours OF
the night as may seem necessary. The
President will be promptly informed Of all
developments important for him to know.
and he will exercise the veto power If it is
proposed to put the ticket with him
some man he does not approve of.
Secretary Long n Factor.
In considering the probabilities Secretary
Long must be always taken into calcula-
ton. His candidacy Is rather unique in
character. He is a sort of standard OF
weights and measures in his relation to other
candidates The calculation is that no man
is to be nominated who does not measure
up to the qualifications of Long. II man
is presented with a respectable following
who seems more available than the Secre-
tary of the Navy he may count himself in
the running. II a man Is found availa-
BILE who gives promise of being a better
candidate than Long the Massachusetts
man will be pressed to the front against
the field of lesser candidates. He cannot
be regarded as in any sense the adminiStra-
tons candidate, but is marked high in the
standard Of availability to be depended
upon in case a disposition Is shown to
nominate some one not acceptable. In
this sense he is a passive or convenience
candidate, ready and willing and acceptable.
but not pressing.
Hanna Is credited with having very
man who built the Oregon, as a representa-
tive of enterprise business integrity and
the energy and chracter of the Pacific
coast. with the possibility that the man
who built the ship" might sound as a cam
paign phrse along with "the man behind
the gun" and like catchy phrases.
Faith in Dolliver.
Faith in Delivers candidacy is almost
universal among his colleagues in the
House wko believe that If he gets a chance
to display his oratory before the convention
he will carry it by storm. Yet. while there
is no special objection raised to Dolliver,
the few more calculating and less enthusi-
astic political manipulators look a little be-
yond the merely oratorical capability of a
candidate and know that Dolliver is more
snowy than profound. He is better in de-
clamation than in debate. He is a jolly
good fellow, naturally bright, but little
inclined not to take matters seriously
enough. A hard-headed logician or a man
well stocked with information sometimes
gets the best of him in debate.