The Harvard Young Republican Club has been trying desperately to get Pennsylvania Governor William W. Scranton to accept its Republican of the Year award but will probably have to settle for Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R.Maine).

Early in the term the club's president, Richard B. Olson '64, first wrote Scranton asking him to come to Harvard and collect the award. Receiving no response to the invitation, Olson and his successor, Eric A. Von Salzen '65 continued to seek a commitment.

"God knows how many letters we've osent." Von Salzen said yesterday. He added, however, that the club was "going to assume that Scranton doesn't want it" on the basis of several phone calls made to Republicans in Harrisburg, the state capital.

Faced with Scranton's tacit refusal, the club will now ask Senator Smith to accept the award, Von Salzen said. He indicated that he would be in touch with the Senator's office in the near future to arrange details, including the date of her appearance in Cambridge.

If, by chance, Smith decides not to accept the award, the entire matter will be thrown before the club's 13 man executive committee.

Besides Scranton, who recently received the Republican of the Year award from the Yale Law School Republican Club, and Smith, the club also discussed the possibility of giving the award to Rep. William McCullough (R.O.). Last year's award winner was Sen. Kenneth B. Keating (R.N.Y.).