Birmingham state herald., 1896-03-27
HON. JOHN C. CARLISLE.

The following sketch of our distin- guished secretary of the treasury ap- pears in the New. York Journal; ?
 Carlisle has gaunt body of middle size. He is shambling and ungraceful. His face is shaven and smooth;s no yes tige of mustache or~beard. His forehead is full and round, his cheeks are hollow, while nose and jaw have such rugged ness as to promise hope of stability and courage; a promise. cancelled, however by the furtive anxious eye, which turks rather than looks through the grizzly bramble of his brow.
 "Carlisle's face, while gross, is sensitive and apprehensive. It shows him helpless rather than weak. It wears the look of one who fees from ank kundoubted past to a future full of doubt Carlisle's face
 is fraught with an indecision as well as a cry for leadership, and tells plainly of the unvirile ductility of his nature. A strong and stubborn personality, made impressive by position and the power position confers, can draw and coil Car lisle like bale of wire
 "As mere thought engine none of finer or more elaborate and halr-line finish than Carlisle was ever round-housed at the capitol. His brain, when it comes to thought-grinding, has all the power and accuracy of a machine. No one will think more lucidly or with a clearer brittleness. He will give to every argu- ment its weight to every fact it's value. His conclusions will be absolute in their integrity. Yet he will care nothing for them. He will desert them, abandon them, forget, indeed, which and where they are at the least invitation; like some cold, bad parent might his children. There are more of these thought off, spring of Carlisle, mind-children he has abandoned, and every one legitimate, who are now being reared and cared for by others, than would fill founding asylum.
 "What strikes one as he studies Car lisle and watches him is his unblushing lack of what may be termed mind-moral- ity. He has no more of it than a cash register. He will consort with any view, good or bad, which promises radiantly and seems more pleasantly profitable at the time.
 "Men use Carlisle and do things with him. He is a born cats paw and his forefoot is scared and charred today from much poking of the chestnuts of others from the fire. If there's anything in Theosophy and the doctrine of the transmgration of soults, Carlisle was once good-natured horse in country neighborhood, and everybody rode him who wanted to. And frequently left him covered with mud withal. Yet, after all
 
 tric. A@
 Carlisle was born in 1885. He is a na- tive Kentuckian. When the war rushed down like storm he was of excellent age for soldier. It would appear, however, that gaining his cue from the neutrality declared by his state, Carlisle withheld himself from both sides. Neither Con- federate nor federal gained by his valor. And as the war reeled on, however Ken lucky herself may have defiected, Carlisle at least was neutral.
 Carlisle's democracy, while 1t existed during the war, was on the retired list until 1S66 This has proof from his decli- nation to be an elector on the democratic ticket in-1864. Two years later, however, he took himself to an office-that of state senator-and has never been without one since. Carlisle is lawyer. Still, the law is only his profession; politics is his actual, serious pursuit.
 1t is worth ones while to know the source of a man. just as itlis to know the source of a river. In Louisville there was and probably is-a theater. It is call- ed the Buckingham. It was and Is own ed by a John Whalen. This unworthy person Is what is colloquially termed "hard." and is the Billy McGlory of Lou isville. t.ass
 With whalen and his Buckingham as the lower rung, Carlisle has mounted the ladder of politics by the whisky interest and the Kentucky lottery. This last Is a