Ducks for Beef

Unkind Senators chortled last week over the first prattfall of their new presiding officer, conscientious Henry Agard Wallace.

Next to his sense of duty--which is deep, and has kept him sitting hour upon hour in the Senate, through endless speeches and formalities--is Mr. Wallace's passion for the Good Neighbor Policy.

One day last week, up before the Senate came an amendment to the Navy appropriation bill (already passed by the House) which was after Mr. Wallace's own heart: to permit the U. S. Navy to buy canned beef from South America. At the moment the amendment was introduced, Mr. Wallace was eating duck with some Senator guests in a Senate dining room. He has been making it a dutiful point to lunch with groups of Senators in order to get acquainted. His guests excused themselves to step into the chamber and vote. There seemed little need for Mr. Wallace to go; his place was being temporarily filled by Senator Ellender.

One by one his guests drifted back, reported that the vote seemed to be going for South American beef. Mr. Wallace continued to chew his duck complacently.

Meanwhile in the Senate chamber the vote was a tie, 32-to-32. The Vice President, no one else, can break a tie: it is the only time he can cast a ballot. When the Vice President failed to appear, by the rules of the Senate the measure was put down as defeated. Not until it was too late did anyone tell Mr. Wallace.

Administration Senators found a face-saver for him. On the objection of Georgia's Senator Russell that he had said "aye" but that his vote had not been heard and counted, the Senate this week voted to correct the "journal," mark the bill as passed by a vote of 33-to-32. But this retroactive rescue was slight consolation for dutiful, downcast Mr. Wallace.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.