[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 105 (Monday, June 26, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9101-S9102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

           IN MEMORY OF THE LATE SENATOR MARGARET CHASE SMITH

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, last Friday I joined with the people 
of Maine and America in celebrating the life of Senator Margaret Chase 
Smith, who had a distinguished 32 years of service in Congress on 
behalf of my home State of Maine.
  Senator Smith passed away this Memorial Day at the age of 97. With 
characteristic modesty, she asked that no funeral be held, and that 
instead that a memorial service be scheduled at a later date. That 
service is scheduled to occur this afternoon in Senator Smith's home 
town of Skowhegan, ME, at the Margaret Chase Smith Library.
  During her tenure in Congress, Margaret Chase Smith became known for 
her independence and her conscience as well as for her legislative 
accomplishments. In 1953, she identified her creed that guided her both 
in life and in the Senate.
  Her creed is as follows:

       My Creed is that public service must be more than doing a 
     job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete 
     dedication to the people and to the nation with full 
     recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy 
     and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to 
     be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be 
     expected but fought, that honor is to be earned but not 
     bought.--Margaret Chase Smith, November 11, 1953.

  Senator Smith--always prepared to speak for what is right in 
society--also identified, in her book ``Declaration of Conscience,'' 
some of the perils that face our society. I think that, as we mark 
Senator Smith's passing today, it is appropriate to again consider 
Margaret Chase Smith's ``tribute to the square'':

       In today's growing, but tragic emphasis on materialism, we 
     find a perversion of the values of things in life as we once 
     knew them. For example, the creed once taught children as 
     they grew up was that the most important thing was not in 
     whether you won or lost the game, but in ``how you played the 
     game''.
       That high level attitude that stresses the moral side no 
     longer predominates in this age of pragmatic materialism that 
     increasingly worships the opposite creed that ``the end 
     justifies the means'' or in the attitude of

[[Page S9102]]

     get what you can in any way, manner, or means that you can . 
     . .--``A Ttribute to the Square,'' December 21, 1964, Quoted 
     in Margaret Chase Smith, ``Declaration of Conscience.''

  Now, three decades after Senator Smith wrote those words and four 
decades after her ``Declaration of Conscience'' speech, her words ring 
as true as they did when Margaret Chase Smith first uttered them. We 
may learn from them even today, as we celebrate Senator Smith's memory, 
her conscience, and her values.

                          ____________________