The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-21

7 Ohm G. CARLISLES career in the
field of our national politics be-
~ gan March L. 1877, and closed March
4, 1s97-just one score years. No more
emiable man ever appeared in public life
mot suave, debonair, magnetic, but Sc
date, serene, placid He spoke evil of no
one, and yet upon few men of his gen.
Grafton have been visited more abuse, op-
probrium and scurility than upon him.
Envy is a powerful passion and loves a
shining mark, and who would escape 1t
must be without merit and without sue
cess. If he could have borrowed some of
the virile qualities of his great fellow
Democrat, and sometime rival, Samuel
]. Randall, especially his magnificent and
dauntless capacity for hatred, John g.
Carlisle would have become more inter
esting figure, perhaps more successful
politician, and might have attained to the
Presidency itself II might have been bet
ter for him had he been an egotist-
Mr.. Carlisle was born in Kenton coun-
ty, KY, September ). 1895. and the year
he was eligible under the state constitu-
ton he was sent to the state legislature
1853 The issue in that body was seces-
sion, and Carlisle WAS Union man
Though a very young man, his clear in
. telligence perceived that victory of the
stronger, a habit that war had acquired
even before Alexander or Hannibal In
1866 Mr.. Carlisle WAS elected to the state
seante to supply a vacancy, and In ISL
he was elected lieutenant governor OF
Kentucky That, too. was the year he
was eligible under the state constitution
to the office He made Canvass of the
state and 1t was not until then that Ken
tuckians realized how superior and s1-
perb were the intellectual capacities Of
the man. In 1876 when Al years of age
Mr. Carlisle was elected to the Forty
fifth Congress.
The democratic leaders In the House of
Representatives ait that time were Ran
dali, Mills. Tucker, KNOTT. Cox A1exan-
der H. SteJihsrln. C1askspn M Potter, and
Fernando Wood The disputed presideE-
tial election had been decided in favor of
the republicans. and the democratic party
had appealed the case to the bar of public
opinion. 1t was the Congress that saw
the last of the seceded states taken pos
session of by the whites, when carpet
bagging and knaxery loosened their
clutches upon the conquered provinces of
the south 1t was IN this Congress that
tile silver quksSllVI2 was e8Hd9aSRtfety 4S-
bated, and 1t was by this Congress that
the Bland-All1son coinage bill was enact
ed. The death OF Mr.. Speaker Kerr dur
ing the life Of the Forty-fourtl Congress
sent the tariff question to the rear, and It
was kept In the rear by Mr.. Speaker Ran
rail, who appointed committee on ways
and means Hostile to that idea William
Mckinley and Thomas y. Reed entered
Congress simultaneously with Mr.. Car
Isle and at a time when Mills. Culberson,
Blackburn, Knott and Cannon were al
ready conspicuous. Garfield was the re-
publican leader and Fernando Wood the
titular democratic leader; though Randall
was the real leader Of the majority.
Blaine, Ben Hill and Lamar had JUST
been transferred to the Senate.
1t was the epoch OF the ''bloody shirt"
and the grand old garment was the en-
blem of the grand old party The
southern outrage mill ground It's Brist OF
party passion and sectional hate on the
eve Of every election. to the end that
the northern heart might again be fired
and treason again be made odlous. vote
as you shot!' was the Ammunition from
stump. from sanctum. from the altar OF
God even, and was supposed to be the
prompting of the most immaculate as 1t
certainly had been of the most lucra-
tive patriotism One of the Issues in
Congress had been created by riders on
annual appropriation bills forbidding the
employment of soldiers of the regular
army to do police duty at the polls. The
democrats invoked John Hampden and
announced the doctrine Of the ''long par
lament that supplies would be withheld
until grievances were redressed. The re-
6publicans answered. Having failed to
shoot the government to death. you would
[lnopf starve 1t to DEATH
St& was on this issue that John G. Car
Xtf made his debut in the American