The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-06-07
SPEAKER CARLISLE.
4 Sketch Of an Able De1nocrat-The Peer
of the House.
[Iarper's Weekly.]

With the exception Of Judge Thur
man, Mr.. Carlisle is by far the ab!est
Democrat who has appeared in Con-
gress for generation. In some re-
spects he is better equipped for the task
of legislation than the distinguished
Ohioan, for he knows more thoroughly
the art of government. At present
there is no man in either House Of Con-
gress who can compare with Mr.. Car
Isle as debator of economic questions,
and only Mr.. Sherman who has SO ac-
curate knowledge Of the operations OF
the Treasury. In addition, he is the
most accomplished parliamentary law
Yer who has sat in the Speakers chair
certainly since Mr.. Folks term. Other
Speakers have been adroit manipula-
tors of the rules, but Mr.. Carlisle has
administered the principles of law
which lie at the foundation of all rules
that govern modern parliamentary
bodies. Besides all this, he is a consti-
tutional lawyer of large attainments,
and it was by a speech made in the
House during the political session OF
1879 on the use Of troops at the polls
that he first attracted the attention of
the country.
The Speaker is a quiet, calm, intel
lectual man. He is never excited eX-
cept by his own thinking. Sometimes
the even tenor of his speech will be
broken for moment, and there will be
q more brilliant light in the clear eye
and Slight flush of the usually pale
cheek; but the quickened pulse comes
from an impulse given by the mind of
the speaker. With scarcely an excep-
ton, every speech that Mr.. Carlisle has
made in Congress has been an argu-
ment from its opening to its close.
Once, indeed, in reply to personal as
sault which shocked both sides of the
House, he said, II have not made po-
litical speech, or at least not partisan
speech, on the floor Of this House du-
ring all my service here. | have given
nv earnest attention to what l hon
cstly believed to be really the highest
interests of the general public" AND
this led to the impulsive Mr.. Frye, then
Il Representative, to say, amid the ap-
pIause Of Republicans and Democrats
alike: The gentleman from Kentucky
is recognized Oh this side as the jewel
OF the Democratic party in this House"
Mr.. Carlisle began his public life
when he was twenty-four y'ars old.
Ia 1859 he was electeda member Of the
Kentucky House of Representatives,
where ne served for two years. He
was instructed in the common schools,
in which he was afterward fer short
time teacher. He studied law with
Ex-Governor J. W. Stevenson, and was
admitted to the bar in 1858. From the
first his success was great, and not
withstanding the demands that were
made upon him by pnblic affairs he
very soon came to be recognized as one
of the leaders of the bar of Kentucky
and of Cincinnati, which is directly
across the Ohio River from Covington,
the city in which Mr.. Carlisle has lived
since he entered upon the active duties
of his profession. During the wal he
was out of politics, refusing to act as &
Presidential Elector in 1864; but in 1866
he was chosen a State Senator, and has
been in public life almost continuously
ever since. The highest State office
that he has held was the Lieutenant
GovernorShip. AS Lieutenat-Gover-
nor he presided over the Senate, and
acquired the training which has stood
him in stead in the present office. He
came to the front in the Forty-siXth
Congress in speech on the political
rider which the Democrats attempted
to attach to an appropriation bill. The
rider forbade the use of troops at the
polls, and because it was in it, Mr..
Hayes vetoed the bill. His speech in
support of the Democratic position
made Mr.. Carlisle the chief figure of
his party in the House of Representa-
tives, and during the long extra session,
which is now known in the annals of
Congress as the political session, he and
Judge Thurman guided their party in
all that it undertook. 1t was the
speech on the army bill, also, which
made Mr. Carlisle the chief orator of a
Tammany Hall meeting which was
held in this city during that eventful
summer OF 1879. After that Mr.. Car
lisle was factor in national politics.
When the House went into control of
Republicans Mr.. Carlisle was placed on
the Ways and Means Committee, and
he then begun the work which he is
still doing. His first effort was to Sc
cure 4 modification of the internal rev.
enue law, and his report on this subject
remains to-day the most thorough dis
cussion ofeXcise policy that has been
made by an American public man.
speeches against the tariff commits
sion, and the bill which was the result
of its laboIs, marked him as the leader
of the revenue reformers in Congress,
80 that when the Democrats resumed
coatrol Of the popular branch Of Con-
gress he was ,:aturally and properly
made the Speaker. Since his elevation
we'll known and is too recent TO require
comment.
MIR. CarliSle's prominence is due not
only tea wonderfully clear and accurate
1 l..