TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 633 



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"Wallace was more than a pioneer. He was sane, and well-poised. 

 His foresight and breadth of view did not desert liim on questions of large 

 importance. While he was constantly taking positions on the many con- 

 troverted issues of the day in state and national affairs, rarely did he 

 find it necessary to change his position. And he never did so on great 

 questions. 



"Wallace had the courage of the pioneer, and the poise and balance 

 of the statesman. 



"In no other part of this nation has the sturdy, rugged strength of 

 the farming communities had such a powerful effect upon the prevailing 

 sentiment on public issues throughout tlie entire state, as we find has ex- 

 isted in Iowa during the past generation. And no man in the history of 

 this commonwealth has contributed more to that situation than Henry 

 Wallace. That condition of affairs had made Iowa a leader in national 

 councils, in all the great forward movements of the present day. 



"At one time while crossing the ocean, Mr. Wallace was discussing 

 with an acquaintance what his greatest ambition in life had been. He 

 stated: 



" 'My aim was to develop the agriculture of the nation, and especially 

 of the west; to aid in developing a class of farmers mightier than Caesar's 

 legions, more invincible than Cromwell's Ironsides, the stay of the coun- 

 try in war, its balance wheel in peace when other classes lose their 

 heads; and that I wished so to live and work that when I was dead and 

 gone my name would be remembered by thousands as a man who had left 

 the world better than he found it.' 



"This martial spirit of the western farmer, his interest in the big 

 things of state and national importance, must not perish. 



"Wallace carried the spirit of the west into national councils. It 

 was not strange that the editor of one of the great national magazines 

 published in New York City should ask Mr. Wallace in 1910 to tell the 

 readers of that publication 'the political and economic feeling of the peo- 

 ple thruout the middle west; what they want the government to do; what 

 you think are the most important tasks in public life, both for city and 

 national governments; and, in a definite, concrete way, to sum up the 

 whole situation.' 



"This is the principle upon which Mr. Wallace based his whole dis- 

 cussion: 'Every man, whether in private or public life, should endeavor 

 as far as possible to give equal opportunity to every citizen, and to secure 

 and to enforce a square deal between man and man.' 



"In these days of war and the preparations for war, listen to these 

 words uttered by Henry Wallace six years ago: 



" 'Much of the present suffering and want of the world is due to 

 preparations for war, when no one wants to fight and there is nothing 

 to fight about. To such an extent have these preparations gone on, that a 

 foolish act of some subordinate may any day begin a war that would 

 put back progress a hundred years.' 



"Mr. Wallace carried the spirit of the west into national councils. 

 He made his influence felt in many avenues of life, aside from the af- 



