SKOWHEGAN – Maine’s two U.S. senators praised the Northwood University Margaret Chase Smith Library and its work Saturday on its 25th anniversary, calling it “our nation’s premier free-standing congressional library, a priceless archive and museum, and an invaluable educational center,” as they reflected on Sen. Smith’s legacy as it applies to today’s issues.

Some Skowhegan residents took the opportunity to raise current issues as several protest signs were placed on the road outside the library. One said, “Wage peace,” and the other, “Iraq: U.S. created terrorist state.”

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe addressed a large crowd on the library’s east lawn, speaking of their predecessor’s influence on their own political lives.

“Whether or not Margaret Chase Smith was ever prepared to admit it, she blazed a trail many of us have tried – tried – to meet,” Snowe said. “It is thus an even mixture of pride and humility for me when I hear on the Senate floor the words, ‘the senator from Maine is recognized’ for I know that it is a phrase with an honorable and distinguished history. But because of her bravery, both in politics and in life itself, she inspired millions of young girls, and became a role model for countless more women across America who never before thought they could aspire to any kind of public office. Certainly she paved the way for Senator Collins and me.”

Collins said she obtained her first copy of Smith’s historic 1950 “Declaration of Conscience” speech when Collins visited Washington, D.C., while still in high school.

“That speech, a miracle of clear thinking and straightforward language, contains these lines: ‘It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom,'” Collins read.

“Those words, so needed during the crisis our government faced when they were first spoken in 1950, are just as important today,” she said. “Our nation is confronted by many challenges – from the war in Iraq to Social Security, health care, and energy and environmental policy – that require bipartisan solutions. On each of these challenges, we have not achieved progress, but instead seem to have reached an impasse.

“Although those challenges are vastly different, the cause of impasse is the same – the desire not to find solutions, but to score political points. What Margaret Chase Smith understood more than a half-century ago remains true today – that’s a game in which everyone loses,” Collins said.

Snowe called the celebration “a fitting tribute to an enduring leader for our state and our country … a friend to freedom and the public trust … a fearless defender of our democracy and its bedrock principles … and above all else, a public servant who belongs not just to Maine and the nation, but to the ages.”

“When this library was established in 1982, it was Senator Smith’s wish that it be more than a storehouse of papers and a collection of memorabilia,” Collins said. “She wanted this to be a place of aspirations, an institution where students would be inspired to public service. You have built such a place, and that is your greatest accomplishment.”