Show S Round Go By DREW PEARSON and RO ROBERT ERT S. S ALLEN Editors Editor's Note Note Henry Henry A. A Vall Wallace ace secretary of agriculture today joins his colleagues in the Roosevelt Roose cabinet as proud possessor of the Brass Ring and takes his free ride on n the he Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington Merry Go A ming sketch on Secretary of the Treasury l will complete this lively series WASHINGTON WASHINGTON After After five years in the new deal wash the colors of Henry Wallace have not run He has changed in some respects He Ke is s not the vegetarian he used to be and he is actually intrigued by Washington's social life But the basic ideas idea he put into his kit bag in inDes inDes inDes Des Moines in 1933 tools he is still working working working work work- ing with today The man who calls himself a dirt farmer who upset the regimen of his household by going on onan onan onan an exclusive diet of corn for two weeks to prove it sufficient all-sufficient for human needs has become a confirmed out diner-out in Washington His negro butler Edward Crockett who has served secretaries of agriculture for 25 years says Sure he eats meat Hes He's got to I couldn't be bothered with such a finicky diet S Wallace used to lunch on milk a cheese sandwich sandwich sandwick sand sand- wick and nd ice cream Now he omits the milk because because because be be- cause he is putting on weight He used to be bored wi with h dining out Now he seeks dinner partners who may have some useful tion He used to play tennis regularly Now he merely walks half of the three miles from his apartment to the department of agriculture every morning coming in with muddy shoes Barefoot Boy He has made some concessions concessions' to the pro pro- One afternoon back in 1933 he left leh his office to play tennis His new tennis shoes hurt his feet So he took them off and played bare bare- foot Returning agriculture building Wallace Wallace Wal lace got out out- of the car shoes in hand and walked barefoot through the front door and upstairs to his office m He wouldn't do that today If he tried his ai aids s wouldn't let him for they are hoping to tomake tomake tomake make him the next president of the United St States tes Wallace still is abs abstemious He declines the cocktail and Ruts puts his hand over the unfilled wine glass He does not smoke and arid prepares for a press conference by y opening the windows to ward off the tobacco gas attack But he has made a concession to capitol custom by laying in a supply of liquor at home so that drinking friends need not go dry Wallace is is' ismore more cautious than he used to be He Re came to Washington more skilled in corn genetics than in politics determined to speak the truth But he found that the truth made trouble and that the sheer straight shaft of the Washington monument seen from his window could not be taken as an unerring guide He skillfully parries contentious questions now and he probably would not say in 1938 that he was opposed to potato control He said that once to his sorrow Compromises With Politics In fundamental ideas such as his determination tion ion i to correct the legalized thievery of the tar- tar he e has as hewed to the mark through the years B But i- i he has allowed himself to compromise for political expediency Clash with the the- the realities realities of political life has taught him that th the shortest short short- est practical distance between two points is not always a straight line As an administrator for and n 6 farmers Wallace WaIlace has sat in the high places and felt the power to command Yet he has not become dogmatic or pontifical Wallace is likeable because he is m modest dest and honest but he cannot dramatize himself to the crowds He is is a thinker not a politician His thought runs far deeper than All Alf Landon's but he would not do much better than Landon on the Boosted for 1940 Blind Blind to o this certain of his followers are tw boosting oos mg him hun for the presidency Chief booster IS A Ji hIS Personal secretary and assistant Paul Appleby who is is busily engaged in laying y e g the groundwork for 1940 Geneticist in White House i It is doubtful whether Wallace even Wallace even if he could make snake the grade in the campaign would campaign would be temperamentally suited for the presidency It has been only a few years since this man was quietly pacing along rows of corn stopping at each plant to cover the silk with a transparent paper bag or inject pollen with an atomizer These operations in plant genetics have absorbed absorbed absorbed ab ab- ab- ab him since his youth led to the development development development develop develop- ment of the famous Hi-Bred Hi Wallace seed corn Though Wallace is no longer a geneticist no I longer a Sunday school teacher his tempera tempera- ment is unchanged He has the reticence of a aman aman aman man searching for truth not the confidence and incisiveness of a politician content with half- half truth Spiritually Wallace belongs in the tradition tradition tradition tra tra- of Lincoln but he lacks the fire for popular popular popular lar appeal S Copyright 1938 for The Telegram |