Remarks by Representative Springer

Of Indiana

Mr. SPEAKER: It is with a deep sense of a great personal loss that I rise to express my humble tribute to the life and character of my devoted friend, the late Senator FREDERICK VAN NUYS, of Indiana. It was my happy privilege to have known him throughout his lifetime, and it is a high privilege to bear witness today to the very high esteem and the deep and abiding affection with which our colleague was ever held by all who knew him, and with that treasured memory I speak these few words of my warm friend who was a good citizen, a great patriot, a constant humanitarian, and an outstanding statesman.

Senator VAN NUYS was native of Indiana. He was born in the township in which I spent the formative period of my life; there he received his early education, and there he came to know the people and there he enjoyed the pleasantries of youth. The ambitions of his life were formed there. Later, when he, with his good father, Dr. Van Nuys, and his family, moved into a larger community—they going to Anderson, Ind. he entered the practice of the law, after completing his education, and there he met the privations and hardships incident to the early practice of his chosen profession. He became deep-rooted in his great affection for all those about him. The people of his State soon learned that he was a staunch and loyal friend in whom was reposed the choicest ideals of life. He was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, in which office he served with distinction; he was later selected to the post as United States District Attorney, for the District of Indiana, in which office he discharged his duties with outstanding ability; he then came to the United States Senate, by the vote of the people in his native State,

and in that high office he exemplified the finer principles of true statesmanship; he was a patriot; he was a stalwart American.

Throughout the years I have known my fine friend, Senator VAN NUYS. In our early association, in the law, I recognized in him those rare qualities which directly appeal to men. I knew him in the intimacies of those very close contacts which are forever reserved by each one of us for but a few. I knew him in the stress and turmoil of contested litigation, and in the multitudinous questions and worries incident to the deliberation on weighty problems of state; I knew him, too, in the solemn meditations of sadness-when the heart bleeds and the somber voice pleads for rest and solace; I knew him when he voiced the prophecy of his meditations and sound logic respecting the future of his country—the land he loved and the form of government he professed with unerring devotion. He was gentle and he was brave. Thus I knew my fine friend in the days gone by.

My colleague, whose memory I will long cherish, lived as he died-and he died as he lived-with the weight of the livid problems of the people before him. He continued with his duties to the very end. He was unafraid. He cautiously stole away from his labors, going to his home where he could be alone with God, and there he wrapped the draperies of his couch about him and laid down as if to peaceful, happy dreams.

Thus the life work of my friend was ended. The brilliant career of a brilliant man was thus terminated. But the fruit of his labors will continue throughout the coming ages.

FREDERICK VAN NUYS needs no encomium. His life and his living of it stand before us in beauty and in splendor. As my farewell tribute to him-my friend-I give in the words spoken of a great hero-in the days gone by-"This was a man."

Remarks by Representative Lemke

Of North Dakota

Mr. SPEAKER: We are met here today to honor the memory of our departed colleagues and friends-to listen to the roll call of those who have been taken from our midst. It has been the good fortune of each of us to know some of these Members intimately-our misfortune to know others not so intimately. We all know that they all strove to make their State and Nation a better place to live in; to make this a better world for their having been.

We know that they were but human-part of us. They did not claim to be infallible. They knew that human wisdom was limited. They strove with the light they had in a war-mad world. They, too, hoped for a just and permanent peace. They strove for perfection knowing that that goal could not be reached-but approached.

In honoring these dead we honor ourselves. We honor them not as partisans but as colleagues and fellow citizens of a great Nation. Partisanship ends at the grave. All earthly strife and difference of opinion comes to an end at the tomb. When the line that divides life and death has been passed, strife ends and there is perfect and permanent peace.

Let us hope that the spirits of our departed friends are present with us here today. Let us hope that they will guide us to ever higher ideals not only here on the floor of this House, but throughout the Nation and throughout the civilized world.

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Remarks by Representative Gillie

Of Indiana

Mr. SPEAKER: On this Memorial Day, the Congress of the United States pauses to honor the memory of those Members who have gone to the Great Beyond. It is with pride that we Hoosiers pay tribute to a noble son of Indiana, Senator FREDERICK VAN NUYS. On January 25, 1944, death took Senator VAN NUYS from our midst, and the Nation lost a true American, his State a loyal and efficient representative. By his colleagues he will always be remembered as a worthy example of true statesmanship, the bulwark of constitutional government. His loyalty to principle, his devotion to duty, and his untiring efforts on behalf of those he represented are the cornerstones of a monument which will remain long in the memory of the people of Indiana.

Senator VAN NUYS was born at Falmouth, Ind., April 16, 1874, the son of Dr. David H. and Katherine Custer Van Nuys. He was graduated from Earlham College in 1898 and from the Indiana Law School in 1900, and received the degree of doctor of laws in 1930 from Earlham College. He began the practice of law at Shelbyville, Ind., in 1900. He later filled with distinction the office of prosecuting attorney, was a member of the State senate, and was appointed United States attorney for the district of Indiana. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1932 and reelected in 1938. While serving in the Senate, Senator VAN NUYS was honored with two of the most important committee assignments in that body, and served as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and of the Judiciary Committee, of which he was chairman at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife and one son, William, who is serving his country as an officer in the United States Navy.

Senator VAN NUYS gave his best to the cause of good government, and lived, studied, and worked for the welfare of his felow countrymen. We mourn his passing today, and we shall continue to mourn his loss as long as we cherish the principles and ideals of government he served and upheld so faithfully and so well.

There is great comfort in the realization that though men like FRED VAN NUYS be gone, their good works live on, and this great Nation of ours is an everlasting monument to their devoted and selfless efforts in the fight for the preservation and extension of liberty.

To the end of the road with a course well run, what epitaph more could say?

That he held to the faith as he journeyed through and smiled as he won his way.