Proceedings in the Senate WEDNESDAY, July 14, 1937. Mrs. CARAWAY. Mr. President, it is with deep grief that I rise to announce the death of my late colleague and the majority leader of this body, the late senior Senator from Arkansas, Mr. ROBINSON. It is not my purpose at this time to try to enumerate the good qualities or to call attention to the statesmanship of the man whom the Senate, the Nation, and his State will so greatly miss and whose death they all so deeply deplore. At this time I submit resolutions and ask unanimous consent for their immediate consideration. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolutions will be read. The legislative clerk read the resolutions (S. Res. 150), as follows: Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of Hon. JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, late a Senator from the State of Arkansas. Resolved, That a committee be appointed by the President pro tempore to take orders for superintending the funeral of the deceased Senator. Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Arkansas. Mr. COPELAND. Mr. President, we walk today in the "valley of the shadow of death." A great Democrat, a great patriot, a great American has been taken from us. Senator ROBINSON was in the prime of life, as we count age today. He should have continued in the midst of things for a decade or more. Our friend died in battle, perhaps as he would have wished to die, but that is little comfort to his friends who mourn. Some of us felt he was carrying a greater load than he should have been given. Within a few days, Tuesday a week ago, indeed, I became concerned over what I saw through my medical eyes. Going to his side in the midst of the debate I urged him not to permit his zeal to invite his own destruction. I felt that the Angel of Death was touching the elbow of Senator ROBINSON at that moment. The oil of joy and contentment and peace lubricates the wheels of life; the sand of combat, dissension, and bitter argument is sure to get into the bearings and slow down, and even stop those wheels. Mr. President, the fate of the Nation, its imminent peril, the possibility of war, or anything that might be a real menace to our people, would justify the continuance of this session. But no such necessity drives us today. My fellow Senators, I am sorry sometimes that I ever studied medicine. Nearly 50 years have elapsed since I received that coveted diploma; but the embarrassment of medical knowledge is that many times it discloses to the medical man in the face and bearing of a friend the warning his dissolution is near at hand. Mr. President, I say in all seriousness to my brethren that the menace is here in this Chamber today. I speak of this because I have been urged for a week or two to speak seriously of the necessity of sounding a warning as to the physical effects which may follow what is being endured here. We come to this Chamber, which seems cold as we come into it, and the first impression is a shock to the system. We go from it into the heated air, with another shock. All the conditions of our lives make for the possibility of physi cal disaster. Then when are added the mental conditions incident to argument and dissension, as well as the combat of discussion, we have a combination which should be a warning to every person within the sound of my voice. I felt it my duty to say these things. I have said them from the heart. No one here, I am sure, respected and admired Senator ROBINSON More than did I. We mourn his loss; we are saddened by the sight of that empty chair. Mr. President, out of this disaster may come a warning which will fend off other disasters. We mourn with Mrs. Robinson and share her grief. Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President, in the hour of grief, in the ministrations of affliction, when the mind is overshadowed with gloom and the sable drapery of mourning is drawn in heavy folds about us, silence is sometimes more eloquent and impressive than the chaste rhetoric of the scholar or the flowing declamation of the orator. We meet today in the midst of that gloom, in the midst of those ministrations, and with that sable drapery of mourning drawn in heavy folds around us. None of us this morning has that command of language which can portray the feelings of our hearts over the sad news which we have received since last we met. We cannot speak of our friend; we can only feel. I had known Senator ROBINSON for a quarter of a century. I knew him as a Member of the other House, as, for a brief season, Governor of his State, and for nearly that long as a Senator of the United States. No abler, truer, finer, more loyal, or devoted man ever served in this Chamber from any State. No man ever bore the responsibility of leadership with greater courage, fortitude, patience, foresight, or wisdom than was that responsibility borne by the Senator in whose honor we speak briefly this morning. I think Senator ROBINSON's death constitutes at this particular time a major calamity, not only to us who loved him as a friend, not only to the party whose leader he has been for many years, but to the country at large. Not within my recollection has death created a greater calamity to the public service. From every standpoint, by whatever yardstick we use in measuring a man, Senator ROBINSON measured fully up to the highest standard. We mourn him as a friend; we mourn his loss as a public servant; and we ourselves, as men and as public servants, will do well to emulate his example. Peace to his ashes. May God rest his militant soul, and if, after the long years of toil and labor and vicissitude here, it shall be our privilege to greet him in another land, we shall rejoice in that reunion and in that faith. The President pro tempore (Mr. Pittman) is now occupying the chair. He was one of the most intimate friends of Senator ROBINSON, and at present is deprived of the opportunity of paying a tribute to his friend, but on the day set aside for memorial exercises will have the opportunity of expressing his admiration, respect, and love for the deceased. Mr. McNARY. Mr. President, wearied by the contest in which he played such a conspicuous and dramatic part, our beloved leader has passed on to his rest. The Republican Members of this body join with me in expressing profound regret and sorrow at the passing of Senator ROBINSON. At some appropriate time I hope it may be my privilege to pay a further tribute to his memory. Mr. MCKELLAR. Mr. President, for many years I have sat here beside Senator ROBINSON. We were friends and neighbors down on the Mississippi River more than 30 years ago. We served in the House together. We served in the Senate together. We were personal, political, and social friends. I never knew a nobler man than JOE ROBINSON. Impetuous at times, he was one of the finest characters, one of the manliest of men, one of the truest friends in all the world. I deeply mourn his passing. I deeply grieve over his untimely end. There never was a better leader in either branch of the Congress than JOE ROBINSON. There never was a stronger man in either branch of Congress than JOE ROBINSON. There never was a truer friend and there never was a more generous opponent. He had a wonderful mind and a noble heart. His life was an open book. His love and devotion to his lovely wife and to his family constituted one of the most admirable of his many admirable traits of character. He was a statesman second to none and one of the ablest lawyers in the Senate. I deeply deplore his death. I am grieved as for one of my own family. I join with every Member of the Senate in expressing the deepest regret over his untimely passing. Mr. LEWIS. Mr. President, it may be, as the philosopher poet has inscribed, that The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. But, sir, while we may reconcile ourselves to that philosophy and recognize in it the fulfillment of the decrees immutable, it is agreeable to dwell for a second upon the scene presented in this body at this moment. I would invite the countries of the world, wherever their parliaments are assembled, to view at this moment the United States Senate, this great legislative body in this American Nation. Behold how those of opposite political faith and those of conflicting contention sit in the quietude of suffering, with suppressed tears in their hearts at the loss of their fellow legislator. Every difference of the past is quelled. Every mutiny is hushed. Nothing of the past that took on the form of party contest is reflected in the slightest suggestion, while everything of expression moves to that beautiful sympathy, that brother |