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Remarks by Representative Wilson

Of Indiana

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in expressing my sorrow in the passing of a good friend and colleague, CLARENCE CANNON; and with Mrs. Cannon I share her grief, for I know she has lost a loving and devoted husband.

I am at a loss to find words adequate to express my true feelings. CLARENCE CANNON gave the best of his years and his most sincere efforts in making this country and the world a better place in which to live. Many landmarks are left behind as proof of his many successful years in Congress. To know CLARENCE CANNON was to love and respect him. His word was his bond and never did he intentionally mislead or abuse a colleague. I hope his career in Congress will provide an example for those of us here now and those to follow.

Remarks by Representative Reifel

Of South Dakota

Mr. Speaker, I join with those who are paying tribute to the late chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, the Honorable CLARENCE CANNON, of Missouri.

My service on the distinguished committee which he headed until his passing was too brief to come to know this gentleman in a very close relationship; however, his name and reputation as one of America's great statesmen and guardians of the public purse made him an object of great respect to me.

I join in mourning the loss of a great chairman, a great Member of Congress, and a great American, and extend my deepest sympathy to the family.

Remarks by Representative O'Hara

Of Illinois

Mr. Speaker, when I came to the Congress good fortune brought to me the enrichment of a daily and unusual association with CLARENCE CANNON. It was confined to a word or two of greetings, sometimes a longer bit of conversation, very early in the morning or very late at night. His office was on the seventh floor, I believe, of the New House Office Building, and mine on the fourth floor, and we used the same elevators. I understand that the elevator operators would speculate among themselves as to which would be the first to arrive, and which the last to leave, the gentleman from Missouri or the gentleman from Illinois. Occasionally we would arrive at the same time, and occasionally leave at the same time, usually on those occasions well past midnight, and it was then we would hold our conversations. Both of us worked in our offices on Sunday, and now and then I would drop in on him, and always he would put aside his work and chat with me, about people we had known in Columbia, Mo., and the University of Missouri in the early years of the century, and on other topics. This was early in my congressional service and I would say the time and patient reception CLARENCE CANNON gave to a colleague, so new to the congressional scene, was a true index of the innate gentleness and generosity of his character.

Until the last day of his life, CLARENCE CANNON was a prodigious worker. He unquestionably was one of the alltime greats of this historic body. To have been his colleague and humble coworker in the vineyards, to have served with the beloved Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House nearly twice as long as any other Speaker in our Nation's history, to have been the friend and colleague of A. J. Sabath of Chicago, whose tenure of service in the House was longer than that of any other Member, are among the experiences that give deep warmth to my memories. To Mrs. Cannon and the members of his family I extend my deep sympathy.

Remarks by Representative Philbin

Of Massachusetts

Mr. Speaker, my heart was filled with deepest sadness when I learned of the sudden, unexpected passing of my much beloved friend, CLARENCE CANNON. Only a few days before, I had sat and talked with him here in the House as was my high privilege on numerous occasions.

CLARENCE CANNON was a patriot of highest order, a statesman of extraordinary luster, a man of great learning, profound dedication and unexcelled concern for the integrity, security, and stability of this country.

His entire life was militantly devoted to the preservation and sound advancement of the American system of government and the American economic structure. He was an American to the core, not in the flamboyant or provincial sense, but in the broader meaning of the term, a leader who understood the place of this great Nation in the world.

A man of high principles and firm convictions, he was indefatigable and tirelessly engaged for the greater part of his long, constructive life in working for the perpetuation and the enrichment of the loftiest moral, spiritual, and beneficial ideals, and aims of our American way of life.

CLARENCE CANNON was not only a zealous student of government, economics, budgets, and finance; he was a philosopher in the very best sense of the art of government and the human problems associated with that calling in its relation to human beings and the full sweep of life and the progress of the Nation and humanity.

He understood the present, because he had diligently studied the past. He firmly stood by his beliefs, because he learned from long experience that there was no substitute for honest, sincere, earnest conviction and unceasing labor to achieve his aims.

There was an innate goodness and human kindness about CLARENCE CANNON that no passing exterior impressed upon him by the dictates of his high, influential position could ever obscure. First and foremost he was a real human being, devoted to his family and his friends, unselfishly attached to his work and generously giving of his great gifts and talents to the interests and well-being of his country, the Government, and the American people.

I shall never forget the immediate response of CLARENCE CANNON to the tragic plight of my own great district, State and region and our people when we were visited some few years ago by disastrous floods causing loss of life and widespread destruction.

At that time, with characteristic humaneness and feeling for others, he went out of his way, far beyond the call of duty, to lend the full weight of his great influence and that of his illustrious committee joining with him to cut all bureaucratic redtape and made available prompt, urgently needed relief and help to the many people and places that were so seriously affected by a great natural disaster.

The result was to alleviate distress, bring hope where there was darkness and dismay and to speed the time of rehabilitation and reconstruction. This was typical of his exalted service and career in this body. It will always be gratefully remembered.

There is really no way by which this body, this Nation, or the American people can ever pay the great debt that we owe to CLARENCE CANNON. There is no way that he could ever be replaced here. He leaves a deep void in this body that could never be filled. Surely, there is no way by which I, or others, fervent and touched as we are by sorrow and pride in his accomplishments, could ever pay adequate tribute to the enduring work and contributions of this great American, one of the greatest we have known. We will always remember him with appreciation and fondness.

I had great personal respect, admiration, and affection for this noble son of Missouri. To me, as to all of us, he was the symbol of the Nation's determination to order the affairs

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