Evening star., 1933-03-05
Henry A. Wallace

nERHAPS the most colorful figure in
L the Roosevelt cabinet Is its youngest
member-the new Secretary Of
Agriculture. Henry A. Wallace.
He is one Of Paul De Kruif's "hunger
fighters" An intensely dramatic pic
ture Of his life is unfolded. 1t may be
only q partial picture. Wallace is q
many-sided man with a vivid imagina-
ton and q broad-based vision who has
made deep inroads In other fields than
biology-but he Is essentially man who
had the intelligence and the courage to
aout tradition and 60 back to the
fundamentals of genes and chromo-
somes instead of solving the problems Of
the corn farmer with words and formu-
lac.
The new Secretary. as De Kruif re-
lates, passed his boyhood in the heydey
Of 1owa'S corn empire. Those were days
Of ease and plenty in Iowa, when the
corn farmer could reasonably expect to
retire in vigorous middle age. It was
the time Of county fairs and blue rib
bons for prize pigs and prize corn ears.
There grew up a sort Of pseudo
science, or pseudo-aesthetics, Of corn
which was taken very seriously by the
farmers and the professors in the agri-
cultural colleges. Ears Of corn had their
fine points, as mysterious to the uniniti-
ated as the fine points" on which blue
ribbons are awarded at dog and cat
shows. Ears which combined these fine
points were selected for seed. The
validity Of the fine points was taken for
granted. The farmers took the word Of
the professors. The professors took the
word Of the professors who had pre-
ceded them.
r. n \
De Kruif tells the story Of a high
school boy watching one of the most
celebrated Of the corn professors" max
ing his Judgment at corn show. The
experts eye caught minute variations
from the aesthetic standards. Some Of
the heaviest ears he rejected ruthlessly
IN favor Of lighter ears Of different
shape, better arrangement Of the ker-
nels, etc. The explanations satisfied
everybody but the school boy. He
acknowledged the "fine points" but
couldn't see what difference they made
The professor patiently explained to
his questioner-the boy happened to be
Henry A. Wallace-that 1t would be best
to find out for himself why the prize
ears were better than other ears. Let
him take some Of this seed home and
plant it with just ordinary seed. Next
Summer he would see the difference
Wallace did just that. And to his sur
prise. for he had been duly influenced
by the universally acknowledged au-
thor1ty Of the professor. he foucjEno
difference at all. 1t set him to think
ing still more-but there wasn't much
use thinking about such things In those
halcyon old days in the corn empire
when corn was corn. prices were good
and the land was rich enough to pro-
duce q bumper crop from almost any
kind Of seed. The idea of bringing
more corn to Iowa was as absurd as
bringing more coal to Newcastle.
But. as De Kruif points out. to Wal
lace there was something mystical about
corn. The Indians had their corn gods.
Something Of the same idea foated
through the mind OF this man. He was
fascinated by the mystery Of corn-by
this great surging Of the food Of life
out Of the unknown on the great Mid
west cornfield ocean in the sultry Sum-
ner. He was mystic with a very prac-
tical side to his mysticism. He studied
plant genetics and became an expert in
the subject. He pondered over the laws
Of this mystical life surge which brought
wealth and plenty.
r X
linen, as he succeeded TO the leader
ship Of the Wallace family, times were
changing. The substantial old corn
empire was toppling on the heads of
the ast0ished farmers. Corn grew
as well as ever. Pigs got just as
fat. But there were far-reaching eco
nornic factors at work which the farm
ers-nor anybody else for that matter
could understand. Prices fell Almost
imperceptibly the disaster grew The
golden corn would not change into
golden coin. Here and there supposedly
substantial corn growers had to beg
time Of the bank for their note pay
ments. The disaster has grown and
grown. Today corn Is equivalent not to
gold but to coal. The Iowans, instead
Of fleeing to Florida from the prairie
Winters. are keeping warm by burning
corn in their furnaces.
Far ahead, Wallace saw the disaster
coming. He saw that the old careless
methods Of corn raising, selecting seed
on the pseudo-aesthetic points Of the
ears, ETC.. must go. In order to survive
the Iowa farmer must raise every bit Of
corn possible on every inch of his land.
His thoughts turned to his old school
boy experiment with its disconcerting
results. 1owans were growing better
corn-much better corn-than their an