Remarks by Representative Sabath Mr. SABATH. Of Illinois Mr. Speaker— Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak Mr. Speaker, it would be difficult for those who knew Hon. KARL STEFAN as a public servant to speak of him in terms that will not seem extravagant to those who did not so know him. This especially applies to me, because Mr. STEFAN and I were born in Bohemia and during all his service here we maintained from first to last a very intimate association officially and socially. I very much miss our weekly conversations, in our native tongue, reminiscent of our Old World experiences and regarding current major problems, which conversations were for me both pleasurable and profitable. A finer gentleman I have not known. Even before our late friend arrived here to take his seat in the Seventy-fourth Congress he had attracted considerable attention by defeating another prominent Member from Nebraska, the late Honorable Edgar Howard, who was chairman of our Committee on Indian Affairs, a scholarly gentleman, who earlier had served as secretary to the Honorable William Jennings Bryan when he was a Member of the House. Personally, I think it may be justly asserted for Mr. STEFAN, and truly said of him, that he was one of the most thorough, most careful, and in many respects one of the most capable legislators of his time. In saying this I do not mean that I agreed with all his legislative ideas and policies. However, in connection with any important legislation I always was glad to hear what Mr. STEFAN had to say, because thereafter I knew that I had all the salient points involved, pro and con, before me. He had an almost uncanny capacity for familiarizing himself with the intimate details and fundamental purport of every legislative proposition, together with a complete mastery of the rules and practices of congressional procedure. His untiring industry and intellectual versatility was an enviable desideratum of his colleagues. No avenue of information was closed to him. He had explored all the highways and byways of legislative knowledge, and the confusing labyrinth of parliamentary procedure was a plain and simple path for him. Fearlessly he turned the light of constructive criticism on every measure, no matter whether its author was friend or foe. His one and only aim was to promote safe and sane legislation and to prevent the enactment of illconsidered and loosely drawn laws. He was a statesman in the broadest and truest meaning of the term. He was sincere, true, and forthright at all times and in all circumstances. The mask of an actor never fitted him. He was free of all affectation, cared naught for popular applause, but followed always the path of duty outlined by a conscience that was ever responsive to the noblest and most patriotic impulses of true manhood. One of the outstanding traits of his sterling character was his fine sense of justice and fairness. Unerring in his judgment of the capabilities of his fellow Members, he was always ready and willing to give credit where credit was due. None so quickly as he encouraged the worthy and deserving, and none so merciless in exposing sham and pretense. He believed that the great Republic had more to fear from the cowardice of its public servants than from their possible corruption. In the honesty of his soul he could not conceal his supreme contempt for the man who would sacrifice principle for expediency. Pressing forward in the right, as God gave him to see the right, he unhesitatingly took a firm and determined stand on every great question of public policy, regardless of the effect on his own political fortunes. With full confidence in his own integrity of purpose, undisturbed by criticism or abuse, he was content to look for vindication to the impartial judgment of the future. Farmer, messenger boy, telegraph operator, newspaper reporter, editor, news commentator, director of a building and loan association, officer in the Nebraska National Guard, world traveler, linguist, scholar-all these tended naturally to fit our colleague for the heavy burdens that were ever upon his shoulders during the last 15 years, years freighted with the deepest consequence to Christian civilization. As chairman of his Subcommittee on Appropriations during the Eightieth Congress his was a most difficult task; but he did not fail. Senator Benton, then of the Department of State and shepherding that Department's appropriations through the Congress, has testified to Mr. STEFAN's success and accommodating courtesy in handling those appropriations during the Eightieth Congress, and others of mixed political affiliations have testified most favorably to Mr. STEFAN'S Constructive and fair work as a member of his important committee. It seemed that, practically speaking, his every act had a tranquilizing effect. His placid temperament always inspired confidence in any circle of men met for a serious purpose. Dust storms or rhetoric and empty bombast never engaged his attention, regardless of source. It was very easy for him to readily separate truth from error, logic from sophistry, the selfless from the selfish, magnanimity from parvanimity. We mourn the passing of our great and good friend, but we rejoice in the new and greater realm into which he has now entered. Together with you, Mr. Speaker, and Members of the House, I join in sorrow and sadness with the family and kinsmen of our honorable deceased who need much strength to bear the loss which only they, and none other, can feel. KARL STEFAN has left behind a record of splendid, altruistic service and an influence that is far-reaching for good. We sincerely mourn and regret his passing. |