632 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



"What a standard we have here, by which to measure the size and 

 stature of some of our public men! 



"There are some who nevpr knew Mr. Wallace except in the pleasant 

 interesting relation of a friend or acquaintance. In the casual conver- 

 sation, mild and cheerful, exchanging views in the most courteous and 

 polished manner, on the various subjects of the day, one would scarcely 

 realize the tremendous fighting qualities of the man, which were wrapped 

 up in that vigorous personality, the product of an aggressive combative 

 Scotch-Irish ancestry. 



"For those of us who only knew Mr. Wallace in later years, with his 

 stalwart and powerful physique, it is hard to believe that he was a con- 

 sumptive in middle life. At the age of forty he was weak and emaciated. 

 A summer in Colorado and California availed nothing. His mother and 

 seven brothers and sisters had died of tuberculosis. He was told by his 

 physician that he must leave the ministry at once, or he would be dead 

 within a few months. With characteristic courage he abandoned the life 

 for which he had been trained by education and experience. 



"He commenced life all over again out on the farm. Few would have 

 had such courage. Within eleven years he completely rid himself of that 

 dread disease. 



"The publication of Wallaces' Farmer was commenced when Mr. 

 Wallace was fifty-nine years of age. When most of us are ready to quit 

 life's work, Henry Wallace commenced the period of his greatest use- 

 fulness. 



"To review the positions taken by Henry Wallace upon public ques- 

 tions during the past thirty years, would be to review the record of the 

 important political and social developments of the day. 



"There are many public men who deal with the accepted platitudes of 

 our fathers; men who studiously avoid presentday subjects of bitter con- 

 troversy, especially those where one's own constituency are fairly equally 

 divided. And then we have the quiet folks who demonstrate their wisdom 

 by their silence. That course may be the safer one for the professional 

 politician. But if men of keen insight into the wellsprings and sources 

 of human progress, men with capacity to grapple with these great issues 

 shall remain silent, humanity must inevitably suffer. 



"Wallace was not a follower. He was a leader of men. He was con- 

 stantly dealing with mooted questions, about which the great contests 

 of this age are centering. 



"There are some men who carefully avoid new and untried ground 

 in dealing with public affairs. They find it safer to let other people do 

 the pioneering. Wallace was one of those constantly searching for new 

 developments, and new methods by which a person could help in the 

 onward trend of human progress. 



"Mr. Wallace was not simply a mind-mannered philosopher, content 

 to suggest and advise on the moralities of life. The ability to wage a 

 successful fight was one of the dominant characteristics of the man. In 

 fact, that was the quality which made him a leader in western thought. 



