Remarks by Representative Treadway Of Massachusetts Mr. TREADWAY. Mr. Speaker, in the death of my longtime friend and colleague, CARL E. MAPES, I feel a sense of deep personal loss. CARL and I began our service in this body together, as Members of the Sixty-third Congress. We had been close companions for over a quarter of a century, and his passing leaves a distinct void in my own life. The poet comforts us with the thought that— To live in hearts we leave behind Is not to die. During CARL MAPES will live in hearts he has left behind. our long association, my love for him as a friend, and my respect for him as a man, continued to grow. Quiet and unassuming, he nevertheless forged to the front as one of the outstanding Members of this body by reason of his profound knowledge of parliamentary procedure and his grasp of legislative problems. At the time of his death he was the ranking Republican member of two major committees of the House of Representatives. He stood as high in the esteem of the Members, regardless of party affiliation, as anyone possibly could, and his opinion on a matter was always respected for its sincerity and depth of understanding. While a loyal Republican, CARL was never a bitter partisan, nor was his viewpoint either biased or provincial. Rather, he was a statesman of the highest order, whose sole purpose in life was to serve his country and his district to the best of his ability. His untimely death came while he was on a mission as an agent of the House of Representatives, and it was this characteristic devotion to duty, even when at the risk of his health, which undoubtedly hastened his end. We extend our sincere sympathy to his family and join in their bereavement. Remarks by Representative Engel Of Michigan Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I was on the good ship Cristobal on my way back from Panama when I read the radio news that CARL MAPES was dead. I had left him a few days before in apparently good health, smilingly saying "good-by," and now he was gone. Somehow, it was hard to believe that a man with his influence in Congress and at the height of his mental powers was dead. I was not only shocked-I was stunned when I read the news. I looked across the ocean to the island of San Domingo where Columbus had landed nearly 450 years ago when he discovered America. Four hundred and fifty years is a long time as time is measured by ones own life, and yet but a grain of sand in the mountain of eternity. It has been 150 years or one-third of that period since we adopted our Constitution—a comparatively short time as time is measured by human lives. I thought of the service CARL had rendered to his State and Nation. For 27 years, or more than one-sixth of that period, CARL MAPES sat in Congress. For 27 years he helped to guide the destinies of our Nation and to protect our liberties and our freedom. For 27 years he helped to pilot the Ship of State. He helped to guide her through the greatest war the world has ever seen. He was here when the Nation heard the news of Chateau-Thierry, the Meuse Argonne, and many other battles where men fought, bled, and died for a cause in which they believed. He was here during that great period of American history when men marched and flags waved, when every American heart throbbed with patriotism, and when it was considered treason to say anything disloyal of our Government or to cast any reflection on our flag or Constitution. He was here during the greatest depression the world has ever seen, when hungry men and women went radical, socialistic, and some even communistic; through times when men doubted the wisdom of the founders of our Government; when they would have destroyed the Constitution; through times when men in their despair or through their desire for political power would have delegated all the power of the legislative branch to the executive branch of the Government; when they would have made the judicial branch subservient to the executive branch; when they would have, in effect, destroyed the greatest protector of American liberty— the Supreme Court itself. He was here during the days when Communists sat in the Members' family galleries of the House of Representatives, and claimed to have, and undoubtedly did have, influence in forming the legislative policies of our Government. For 27 years he sat in the House of Representatives and helped to guide the destinies of our country, always calm and collected, refusing to become excited, never permitting his prejudices to sway him on the one hand, or temporary pressure groups to influence him on the other. An ardent believer in prohibition, he stood stanch for the principles in which he believed during the period when few men were able to withstand the tide against prohibition. To Carl it was a moral question, and to do other than that which he did was to do a moral wrong. Moral questions, according to his code, must be decided according to the dictates of his conscience and according to the right as God gave him to see the right. And so he kept coming back term after term. Fourteen times his constituents elected and reelected him. Many who differed with him admired his quiet, unassuming courage, devotion to duty, and his sincere honesty. They forgot their differences of opinion and helped to send him back again and again. Some of his political opponents called him a conservative and some even a reactionary, but he voted for the socialsecurity bill and much other progressive legislation. They sometimes accused him of favoring big business as against the little fellow, but he voted for the largest relief appropriation bill in the history of Congress. To be permitted to serve one's country in the House of Representatives; to help to guide her destinies and to write her history for more than one-sixth of the constitutional life of our Nation is a privilege accorded to few men. Still fewer in number are those who served their Nation for that period of time as conscientiously, loyally, and devotedly as did CARL MAPES. It is men like CARL MAPES whom the poet had in mind when he wrote: God give us men Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and willing hands; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog, In public duty and in private thinking. We will always remember him as being strong mentally, for he died at the height of his mental powers. It is because of men like CARL MAPES that our Constitution and our Nation have been preserved thus far. Whether our Government continues to survive as we know it, and as our fathers handed it down to us, will depend upon the unselfish, devoted, and self-sacrificing service of men like him. Carl is dead. He has gone to his eternal reward. His tired and weary soul is at rest. We mourn for him and thank God He gave our country a man like him. We sympathize with his good wife and companion of his lifetime, who stood so loyally by his side these many years; who helped and encouraged him; who bore and helped rear his children; who cared for and helped to make his a happy home, where he at the end of each day could find peace and rest and contentment. To her who must now carry on lonely and alone, we extend our heartfelt sympathies. We join her in mourning not only her, but our loss. The tender memories of the past will make it easier to bear the burden. God bless her! Remarks by Representative Hope Of Kansas Mr. HOPE. Mr. Speaker, I was inexpressibly shocked last December to learn of the sudden death of my dear friend, CARL E. MAPES. During the time I have been in Congress, there has been no Member for whom I have felt a higher regard or have more greatly admired than Mr. MAPES. When I came to Washington, in the Seventieth Congress, Mr. MAPES was already a veteran and seasoned Member. He was one of the leaders of the House, an excellent parliamentarian, and a man of wide influence. Yet, notwithstanding the fact that he was one of the busiest men in Congress, CARL MAPES found time to counsel and advise new Members like myself. I formed the habit, which I continued until his death, of consulting him about many matters of legislation and party policy. Always he was the same-dependable, conscientious, and level-headed. Of all men whom I have known, in this and other legislative bodies, CARL MAPES came the nearest to being an ideal legislator. Some Members of Congress acquire fame and reputation through their sponsorship of special causes. Others make their reputation by specializing in some particular phase of legislative activity. Others become known because of their oratorical or persuasive ability. Still others wield influence because of their ability in working out the details of legislation and in bringing about the compromises and agreements that are a necessary, if little recognized, part of legislative procedure. The fame of CARL MAPES did not arise out of his ability along any of these particular lines. He was not an orator. He was not a pleader for special causes, or for the ideas of organized minorities of one type or another. He was not what I would call a practical politician, and I use that term |
