Evening star., 1896-11-03
CARLISLE AND BLACKBURN
Bitter Feeling Between the Friends Of the
Two Men.
The Career of Each Briefly Traced
Suggestion OF the Secretary's
Return to the Senate.

The Kentucky campaign winds up. as was
| to be expected. with some very bitter ex-
changes between the followers of Mr. Black
burn and those of Mr.. Carlisle. Feeling in
the state runs high and will continue to do
so for some time to come. The war is over
two favoritcs wholly unlike in their equip
ment and naturally antagonistc to each
other.
Mr.. Blackburn's Career.
Mr.. Blackburn is fifty-eight years old.
and three years the junior of Mr.. Carlisle.
l'He has been in politics ever since 1871 when
he was elected member of the lower
house of the Kentucky legislature. He
came to Washington a few years later as a
| member of the Forty-fourth Congress- AMI
served continuously in that body until
March. 1885, when he was elected to the
Senate. His term as Senator will expire
| next March. Mr.. Blackburn served In the
confederate army with the rank of captain.
His title, however, has never followed him
away from home. His friends call him
10" and the country at large has accepted
him by that familiar designation He IS a
popular man, popular orator fluent of
speech, and a good off-hand campaigner
He is not student. and while he was pre-
pared for the bar, has practiced but little
He is college man.
Mr.. Carlisle's Course.
Mr. Carlisle is product of the common
schools of the state. He, too, entered poll
tics early in life His first service was as
a member of the Kentucky senate. He be-
came lieutenant governor in 1871, and came
to Washington as a member OF the Forty
fifth Congress. His record since is we'll
known While one of the most effec tive
speakers in the coun ry, he does not rank
as an orator. He is hard and thorough
student of both law and politics. and is am
accepted authority on both subjects. Has
sympathies during the war were with the
Union side. He is affable, but not
chummy: is fond of good stories, but tells
none. and enjoys the distinctio of never
having been called colonel either at
home abroad He is regarded in unprej-
udiced circles at home as being intellect
ually the foremost man in the states his
tory since Henry Clay.
The First Clash.
There came a clash between these two
lnen soon after their appeaf8nce in ma
tonal life. 1t was inevitable. Mr.. Black
burn drew around him some very devoted
friends, but the country at large rated Mr..
Carlisle higher in the scale. Mr.. Black
burn aspired 20 the Speakership and ran
against Mr. Randall. but failed. After a
few years. Mr.. Carlisle offered for the
speakership against Mr.. Randall, and won
Carlsle's leadership.
The First Senatorial Contest.
No sooner this contest settled than
the senatorial contest opened in Kentucky
over TIE seat in the Senate then occupied
by General Williams. General Williams
was in the lead. but Mr.. Blackburn was a
strong man III the race, and a deadlock
followed. In order to break this it was
pl opposed to elect Mr.. Carlisle to the SEN
ate. This made the Blackburn men fu-
rious. They complained that the Carlisle
men wanted to hog everything for their
favorite. So far as Mr. Carlisle himself
was concerned he did not want the senator
ship, and repeatedly said so. He kept his
rame out of the baloting. and, at last. MIR.
Blackburn. largely because of that fact.
was successful.
Again to the Senate.
Since then Mr.. Carlisle has continued to
lead Mr.. Blackburn in growth and prom D
ton. He is now one of the foremost men
in the country, a prominent contributor to
all discussions of weightier political sub
jects, and easily the first man in his state.
1t Is not regarded as at all strange. there
fore, that the friends of sound money all
over the country should welcome the sug
gestion of his return to the Senate. They
consider that he Is now so full and cap
able a man, his retirement to private life
would be a public loss.