Remarks by Representative Sabath Of Illinois Mr. SABATH. Mr. Speaker, although Mr. COLDEN was born in Peoria County of my own State, I did not meet him until he came here at the beginning of the Seventy-third Congress. The beautiful testimonials already given by our departed friend's more intimate associates leave little to be said. The life of Mr. COLDEN is ended, and we who for a comparatively brief span sat with him in this virile forum, in the calmness of the present, now turn to survey with pleasure and profit his useful life. For an hour the turmoil of life is stilled, and we reverently survey the career of this good man, among others, whose constructive tongue is silent and whose story must be told by others. From the very first day Mr. COLDEN entered the House he attracted my admiring attention by his quiet affability and thorough understanding of the needs of the hour. His training as farmer, newspaper editor, building constructor, State legislator, school man, maritime expert, city councilman, and sociologist was of inestimable value here, not only to his State but to the whole country. His sincerity, unostentation, and ability to consider accurately and accomplish important tasks are too rare in our legislative halls today. He would not dicker or barter in political views or upon political convictions. He would not trade upon one subject in the hope that he might advance another. He would not strike hands with wrong upon the theory that he might advance the right. He took his positions upon public questions after thorough research and profound reflection. One could not hasten him, neither could one long delay him; but a position once taken, he was seldom, if ever, ready to compromise or to barter. When others began to talk of change of program or defeat he would move out and off to himself and prepare for a more determined struggle. Few men ever possessed finer moral courage, and his iron will and high purpose were such as should accomplish his quality of purpose. It may be that there should be, in affairs of state and in public life, those who can reconcile and harmonize; but in the interest of truth and thoroughness, in the interest of purity in public life and of unpurchasable justice, the man of unswerving convictions is indispensable. Such a man was Mr. COLDEN. How many silent and lonely hours our deceased colleague spent wrestling with great problems which others believed hopeless we all know. He had the great capacity of clear and straight thinking-unhappily so rare-and he followed with relentless purpose the admonitions of his splendid intellect. It is to the enduring credit of Mr. COLDEN that no measure of the many he advocated could not be reconciled to the fundamental principles of sound constitutional government. He was, as we all know, a lifelong student of our system of government. He believed unfalteringly in the whole theory and spirit of the founding fathers. His sympathies were ever with the exploited and the oppressed. He was not afraid of being with the minority. No cause was ever sufficiently unpopular to frighten him from his convictions. The demagogue seeks the popular trend, scents the drift of public opinion, and hastens to get in line. Mr. COLDEN took his positions upon public questions because he believed these positions sound and righteous and then devoted his unusual talents and spared himself not at all in making them popular. If we may hope that this teaching and example have been endued by death with new potency in the creation and stimulation of patriotic ideals, and if we may hope that our countrymen will with sincerity heed the way of duty they point out, we may not only be doubly assured that our dead is not lost to us, but may with confidence renew our faith in the American people as custodians of their scheme of free government. Remarks by Representative Nelson Mr. NELSON. Mr. Speaker, in the death of CHARLES J. COLDEN the Congress lost a most valuable Member, a man who was honest in thought and deed, an able Representative, and one who was as industrious as able. Of Mr. COLDEN and his work, I can speak in an intimate way. As young men, in fact, when I was barely old enough to meet the age requirements, CHARLIE COLDEN and I served together in the Missouri State Legislature. We had much in common. We represented outstanding farming counties, where many herds of good livestock were maintained. Mr. COLDEN, in his county, and I, in mine, were interested in country newspaper work, our papers giving special attention to farming. So we were drawn together. The years went by. Mr. COLDEN left Missouri and located in California. Elected in 1932 to represent the Seventeenth Congressional District of California, he came to Washington at the opening of the new Congress in order to learn more intimately of the work and the better to prepare himself for his duties. As a candidate for this same Congress, and in a State-wide campaign in Missouri, my home State, with 56 Democrats seeking nominations, of which 13 were to be made, I finished 14th. Returning to Washington at the opening of the "lame duck" session of the old Congress, Mr. COLDEN and I happened to travel from St. Louis in the same Pullman car. I had not learned of his election to Congress. On the way to Washington, he introduced himself by asking, "Isn't this Will Nelson?" On being answered in the affirmative, he replied, "This is CHARLIE COLDEN." It was a happy reunion. On arriving in the National Capital, I invited Mr. COLDEN to make his headquarters in my office, supplying him with a desk. We were together until the close of the session on March 4, at which time I turned over to him my office and arranged for my efficient secretary to serve him in the same capacity that he had served me. Again elected to the House of Representatives in 1934, it was my privilege to again be closely associated with Mr. COLDEN until his death. I shall always count myself fortunate in having had such a friend. He was an unusual man. He did not hesitate to leave old and beaten paths if they led to better places. As illustrating this, while still editing the Maryville (Mo.) Forum, he visited Europe, when, instead of taking the usual tourist routes, he availed himself of the opportunity to go through parts of the country not frequented by tourists, and where he studied, first hand, the real lives of the people. The series of articles which he wrote of his travels, and which appeared weekly in his own paper, were outstanding in accuracy and excellence. In short, accuracy and excellence characterized the work of CHARLES J. COLDEN. So useful was he, so good his judgment, so brave his positions on public questions, that it seems a pity that in these days of doubt, days of stress and storm, he could not be here to help. Remarks by Representative Smith Of Washington Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, in the passing of CHARLES J. COLDEN the Congress of the United States has lost an able, useful, and industrious Member, and I have lost "for a while" a personal and beloved friend. Our late colleague and many of us were among that rather large number who were called by our people to serve our Nation with President Roosevelt in the national election of 1932. Like myself, Mr. COLDEN represented a district in Congress deeply interested in the development and improvement of rivers and harbors, and we both sought and won membership on the important Committee on Rivers and Harbors and our seats adjoined each other on the committee dais. He had served as member and president of the Los Angeles Harbor Commission and had visited and inspected the leading harbors and waterways of the United States and Europe and was one of the best informed members of our committee. As he was somewhat my senior in years, I often turned to him for counsel and advice and learned to rely upon his sound and mature judgment. He was a native of the State of Illinois, as am I, and we had both migrated to the Golden West, he to the State of California and I to the State of Washington, and we had many interests in common. CHARLES J. COLDEN led a full, eventful, varied, and colorful life, and had been in turn a student in school and university, teacher and principal, newspaper reporter, editor and publisher, college regent, realtor, public official, city councilman in Los Angeles, and for three terms a Member of the Congress of the United States. He took very seriously the duties and responsibilities of his position as a Member of this body in these trying times and labored incessantly day and night without surcease in the interests of his constituents and the American people as a whole. He often worked in his office until the late hours of the night and |