The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-05-01
BY PETER EDISON


Washington, May Henry Wal
lace has been out spading the gar
den. II the name is familiar, but
you have difficulty In recognizing
the face, the person should be ideu-
titled as the vice president Of the
United States, the Hon. Henry
Agard Wallace.
Spring has come a little early
in Washington this year, but the
tennis courts haven't been put In
shape at the Wardman Park hotel,
where the Wallaces hang out in
the capital. Feeling the need of
outdoor exercise after mild but
breezy winter, Mr.. Wallace found
himself little place where he
has been hard at 1t for several
weeks.
WALKS TO WORK
TO SAVE RUBBER
1t isn't anything pretentious, 1t
isn't a Victory Garden that will
solve the nations vitamin short
age, and 1t isn't in public view of
the well-manicured lawn Of the
snooty Wardman Park. But 1t is
work, it is something to do, and If
there Is any one word not in the
Wallace tri-lingual vocabulary or
stream of CONSCIOUSNESS, 1t Is irle
activity. The man loves his work.
Any work.
Another little Wallace weakness
before the garden spading business
began was walking to work. 1t Is
good three miles from the Ward
man Park to the capitol, but Henry
hikes it In something under As
minutes, to get to work by $3.50
or 900. The tires on the official
vice presidential car, 1t seems,
have been none too good. The car
doesn't even have spare. Henry
would be entitled to get new tires
or even a new car If he wanted it,
but he has been content to do his
bit by making the original tires
last and walking to work to save
rubber.
Months ago, Mr.. Wallace made
a speech in which he said that
everyone should make UP his own
personal list of things to do with
out during the war. Saving rub
Der was apparently one of the
things which the v. p. decided to
practice as he preached, long be-
fore rubber rationing became
something more tangible than a
threat.
He Is the darndest guy. He will
sit at luncheon or other public
gathering, looking as though he
were bored stiff and wanted to go
home an dtake nap. Yet his
mind is never at rest. He Is al
ways thinking, and that leads him
into some amazing activities.
SPEAKS SPANISH AND
is LEARNING PORTUGUESE
For instance, he recently hired
as an additional secretary, which
he needed badly, a young man
who could speak and write Span
ish fluently. Wallace talks Span
ish to this young man all the time,
and dictates in Spanish to carry
on his increasingly vast corre-
spondence with Latin Americans.
He has taken up Portuguese, too.
Regardless of what his future
may be, Mr.. Wallace will unques-
tionably go down in history as the
hardest working vice president
the country ever had. There has
been talk, of course, that he was
to be a kind CT assistant president.
That seemed possible when SPAB,
the Supply Priorities and Alloca-
tons Board, was set up over the
old OPM to boss the war produc-
ton job.
Wallace was made chairman of
SPAB, and 1t was thought he
might become a kind of super
Bernard Baruch to run the war at
home. But SPAB had two strikes
ON 1t when it went to bat, and be-
fore 1t passed out the Wallace i'm
pact was not overly noticeable.
Similarly, the post-election, pre-
Inauguration role of ambassador
at large to South America, in
which Wallace was sometimes cast.
failed to come alive. Those two
negative accomplishments might be
chalked up against the Wallace
wonder-man reputation, but they
were really the results of circum-
stances beyond his control.
Today, Wallace sits In as a men,
Der Of the War Production Board.
SPAB's successor, but his prin-
cipal jobs ar etwo-his Constitu-
tional job as presiding officer of