Evening star., 1940-12-22
By Marquis W. ChiIds.


'assador to the formers Inauguration
especially experimental farming. AS a
young boy he had been impressed by the
big handsome ears of corn which took
the blue ribbons at the State and county
fairs But several years of planting corn
from these SNOWY ears produced most dis
appointing results. Mr.. Wallace decided
that something was wrong with the basis
OF choice and he started a long series
OF careful and patient tests extending
over number of years
Out of these tests came Wallace's hy-
brld seed corn, the basis of a family
business which has enjoyed no little
success From small, knubbly ears the
young man obtained seed that produced
far greater yield per acre than the
big, snowy ears. This was a basic con-
tribution to the technique of hybridiza-
ton.
He continued to study and to work,
dividing his time between Wallace's
Farmer in Des Moines and the family
|. farm. He married lilo Browne and they
settled down to raise a family, two boys,
Henry the Fourth, and Robert, and one
girl. Jean.
When his father went to Washington
ings cabinet, Mr. Wallace became editor
of the family journal and not infre-
quently the new editor was critical of
the administration farm policy. In
fact, the criticism was occasionally so
sharp that it nettled the President and
he spoke to his Secretary of Agriculture
about it. The father wrote to the son
admonishing "a little carefulness," al
though he was quick to add that he was
not advocating a change in policy if
the editor really believed in what he
wrote
Busy as he was with the magazine and
with his hybrid seed corn, Henry Wal
lace had time to think some long
thoughts as the boom of the 'twenties
Powered in a wild orgy of speculation,
with the millennium just around the
corner The crash when it came was
not altogether a surprise to this lonely
appearing thinker who pondered cycles
Va 6io" VA oiiN PAoauSeAOAip Sy SACo o1 Pl ACC
and profit. What happened to the
farmer in the years just after 1929 caused
him deep pain Corn was used as fuel.
Dispossessed farm owners crowded
around the courthouse steps in menacing
demonstrations when farms were sold
at auction!
Met Roosevelt in 1892.
About all this ruin and disaster he
had ideas and they we're not the ideas
of his conservative Republican father.
When Franklin Roosevelt was cfarting
his first campaign in 1882, mutual
friend arranged a meeting. They got
along we'll together from the start and
Mr.. Wallace began then to give the
nominee his theories on the farm prob
lem. And he was considerably surprised
when he found his views more or less
directly incorporated in Mr.. Roosevelt's
farm speeches.
1t followed that with Mr.. Roosevelt's
election, Mr.. Wallace should become Sec
retary of Agriculture in the new admin
istration. He was one of several Repub-
licans to serve the New Deal, but Re-
publican in name only, since his political
views had long since diverged sharply
from the conservatism of Coolidge and
Hoover. Not until 1886, however, did he
officially change his registration and be-
come Democrat.
Mr.. Wallace has had one of Washing
tons biggest jobs during the past eight
years. He has administered a plan of
crop restriction and soil conservation
reaching 100000 farmers. During his
eight years in Office he has dispersed
$1,000, 100000 Once the Supreme Court
threw out his control scheme and it was
necessary to establish a new and more
roundabout system.
Carrying out this program, Mr.. Wal
lace was the target of some of the Bit
terest jibes at the New Deal, particularly
in connection with the slaughter of the
little pigs. While this was actually a
minor incident, it symbolized the de-
struction of wealth and all sorts of Bib
lical injunctions were recalled. This cut
Mr.. Wallace deeply, for fundamentally
he was more opposed to the plowing
under of cotton and the slaughter of
pigs than many of his critics. But he
argued that the farmers of the Nation
had no alternative until there should be
general recognition of the need for low
ering tariff barriers and accepting more
manufactured goods from the workshops
Of Europe.