Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-01
The QUAY Statue.

Having Just administered singing re-
Suke to the state and city bosses. seif-re-
specting Pennsylvarians, who entertain
high conception of public and private virtue
are protesting against the execution OF the
plan TO erect in the capitol at Harrisburg
statue OF the late Matthew Stanley quay.
IN his day a great political power The
results of the elections held few weeks
ago seem to have cleared the atmosphere
e and enabled the commonwealth TO see dis
tlnctly the moral considerations involved
IN this enterprise, and the voice of the
people Is now being heard in tones of I'M
qualified denunciation
The Philadelphia Press states the case
in an editorial in todays issue in terms
which permit of no misunderstanding. 1t
says:
1.-THE objection TO the Quay statue rests
upon grounds OF public morals and public
example Mr.. Quay was a man of extra
ordinary political abilities and there were
times when he rendered valuable public
service But the vice of his career and
the faint of his personality was the incar-
nation of political corruption. He debased
his great talents to the debauchery OF po-
litical methods and motives. He founded
his remarkable power on system OF We
nality and of perversion of public oppor-
tunities to personal ends. His conception
of politics was not a cultivation of the no
BILE science of government, but the creation
of a sordid and subservient machine where,
reversing the old standard, all were for a
personal party and none were for the state.
He stood forth as the most conspicuous
type of the most fragrant form of political
profigacy. To commemorate such a figure
in bronze or marble in the capitol a
model for the youth of the state and an
embodiment of the qualities which the COM
monwealth delights to honor would be re-
pugnant to every sense of right and 1t is
not conceivable that such a monument
could be allowed to stand for any consid-
cradle period"
Good citizens the country over. regardless
of state boundaries, will endorse this view
and Join voice in the protest. The objec-
tion to an immortalized Quay is not direct
cd against the individual, the man in his
private capacity. but against Quay the po-
litical leader the boss, the corruptionist,
the shaker of the plum tree" the type of
his kind The objection is to setting UP
before posterity a bronze effigy OF one who
by his personal example In his chosen field
of effort served TO teach American youth
that the highest aim in life is to win for
tune through the manipulation of the votes
of the people. His motto. taken from the
Book of Bosses, was Anything to win
He stood, all bosses stand for expe-
dients, subterfuges, tricks, underhand meth
DDS, for everything but Open honest
wholesome dealings. He stood and all his
kind stand for success at any price Such
men are best forgotten as Quickly as posi-
Ole after their death, save go far as their
misdeeds and evil influences may be re-
membered as warnings If the state of
Pennsylvania We're now to erect a statue
showing its highest evolution in political
bossism in the act of looting the public
treasures and debasing the ideals of Amer
lean citizenship, II would perform a public
service to future generations.