The Portland daily press., 1883-12-03
The Meaning of Tt.

The next Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives will be John G. CarlisleIof Ken
lucky. Again the South is in possession OF
one of the great and controlling offices of the
national government. Except the President
himself, there is no other single officer who
has greater power in giving direction to
public policy. The rules and customs of
Congress give him authority which enables
him to shape the course of legislation in a
prominent degree. Every business that
comes before the House for consideration
must come from some committee which de-
termines, not only what shall be considered,
but in what form the matter shall be pre-
scented, and the Speaker has the appoint
ment of the committees. While the contest
between Mr.. Carlisle and the other aspirants
for the office was not on the surface sec
tional one, it was nevertheless reassertion
of Southern supremacy in the Democratic
party. Henceforth we expect to see itmain-
tanned as resolutely and consistently as in
the days before the war The ultimate mo-
tive of the South in demanding control may
not be the same. Slavery is abolished; but
the South as a section, at least the dominant
class of the South, has peculiar sectional
interests, and hereafter as heretofore
the Democratic party will be its willing
and subservient instrument. Heneeforth no
Northern man will have any opportunity, de-
pendent on the favor Of the National Dem
ocratic. party unless he is unreservedly COM
mitted to Southern interests and the policies
marked out by the States which give the
Democratic party its certain votes in the
electoral college.
etwo propositions upon which Gne South
is now practically united are the control of
the Southern States by their white popula-
ton, whether majority or minority, and
the readjustment of the tariff SO as to favor
the agricultural communities of the South
rather than the manufacturing and CONNER
cial interests of the North and East. To
these policies the nomination of Mr., Carlisle
binds the Democratic party. To be sure the
condition is not much changed from what
for some time past it has been, for the party,
as party, has always either supported or
apologized for whatever was done in the
South to establish the oligarchy of white
men and it has been steadily drifting to sub
mission to the demands of the South on the
tariff question. The action of Saturday
simply marks and confirms the complete
surrender. Hereafter nobody can be ma
tional Democrat in good standing who ques-
tons either of these policies. Mr. Randall
may continue to be trusted by his Pennsyl-
vania constituency, he may be approved
and applauded in Northern States, he may
be respected and patronized in the South !;
but neither he, nor any Democrat holding
similar views, can hope to be trusted by the
national party. The South is accustomed to
submission from Northen men who expect
its confidence, and will be content with
nothing else. We may look to see another
brood of Northern doughfaces.
This is the real and substantial meaning
of the nomination of Mr.. Carlisle, the fact to
be taken into account in all future political
calculations. It does not initiate against
this that Mr.. Carlisle is personally an hon
orable man, that he is of c conservative
rather than radical temperament, that he
is man of uncommon ability and an undis-
puted leader on the Democratic side I'm
doubleday these conditions were advantages,
and contributed to make him an available
candidate in the exigency; but these quail
ties, even if they had been more conspicu-
GUS than they are, would not themselves
have procured his success That was due
to the fact that in him the South saw the
man who would serve to reestablish its abso-
.,ste-coRtrol Of the Democratic party
Mr.. Randalrs vote, only one-half as large
as Mr.. Carlisle's is,under the circumstances,
almost humiliating. Either he has grossly
deceived himself as to his prospects or his
friends betrayed him at last with the old
time facility of Democrats when the South
demanded sacrifice as testimony of fideli-
ty. Mr.. Carlisle had large majority over
both competitors, a majority SO large as to
relieve him of any scruples, or embarrass-
ments, in making up the committees to
further the causes which his candidacy rep
resented. He did not come in by a scratch.
He is commanded by clear direction to go
forward in the way he had frankly marked
out. He has made his own platform, the
party has approved it, and we may expect
him to be faithful to it.