Wake Forest University - Howler Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

Page 12 text:

trijomasi Salter Pickett It is gdiiil I ' di- a ]i(ilitical party to receivp an effusion of new blood occasionally, to break in a new horse. That is what the Democratic ])arty iliil when it nominated Bickett for Attorney-fleneral in IDOS. He was liorn in Union County in 1809, but had not been born into |iolitics till the suffrage amendment had been in existence for several years. Bickett was a man of whom no iue could say that he had served the party in thr daik ilays. Xo frieml vcnturi ' d to say that the party owed him any ■•political debt. He was nominated solely on one f niUud- his visoro is tdiilit - which the lawyers of the State had recognized in his addresses before tli ' Bar Assoiaation. The i)ublic did not know him till he made the notaljle sjicei ' h nominating Coliiiiel Ashley Home for ( l(i irn(ii-. The Bar Association already knew him. His nimiinating speech showed the party that a young David had come among them. It nominateil him for Attoi ii y-( leneral, told him to enter the campaign, anil thiust his sickle into the grain. The Kitchin-Craig campaign had been fought with m icli bitterness. It was one of those critical moments in a party ' s history when the rift may become dangerous. Bickett entered that campaign as the friend of all pai ' tics. From the mountains to the seashore he salved the wounds. All the Craig men were for Kitchin, and hiur years later all lln ' Kilchin men wci ' c for Craig. That is the peculiarity about Bickett ' s campaigning. He mollifies, but does not ruffle. He can ridicule the He])ublican party, but he does it in such a genial, goodna- tured way that a Republican will laugh at it. His description of how Hoosevelt had to call upon Ben Tillman to secure his railway legislation was rich, rare and lacy. This rich humor strikes one as fresh and invigorating. Like . ycock, he can strike, and strike hard- but you like the man all the sanu ' . He jiosscsscs the gifts that make a successful lawyer. He is ciuick to see the ))oint and to go to the heart of the matter. lie docs not caic to carry a case to the courthousi ' when it can be settled on the outside. .Vs .Vttorney- ( leneral he has been called ujion In appear in somi ' important cases. His descrip- tion of the so-called dissolution of the American Tobaceo C paiiy was so apt thai the cartoonists usimI it thmughoul the lountry. Anothei- notable case was that of railway rate legislation a (jucstion that has been si ' ltled, and will [irob- ably ri ' maiii so for se -er ' al years in North Cai ' cjiina. I ' rol.ably the brightest of his speeches was made bchire the Xiirth Carolina Club in New York. I ' ;specially tin ' was his tribute to the Boys ' Corn Clubs of North Carolina,.

Page 11 text:

TO THOMAS WALTER BICKETT CLASS 19 10 ON EVERY LEVEL OF A BRILLIANT CAREER STUDENT. TEACHER. LAWYER ATTORNEY -GENERAL STANDING IN THE MIDST OF A HOST OF FRIENDS

Page 13 text:

Bickett is not a lawj ' er simply. He feeds on the best books. He is fond of political and constitutional histor ' and stacks his librarj ' with the best of books. His information in this line is more like that of the English statesmen. He is distinctively an optimist who feels that life is too short to carry a grouch, that there is too nmch of goodness and beauty in the world to sound a croaking note. He is glad our fathers fought the liattles of the past, but feels that we must fight those of the present. He is well equipped for a useful career. He was graduated from Wake For- est College in 1890, where he took the regular course, not omitting Greek and Mathematics. For a time he taught school at Marion, but W. A. Blair — then head of the Winston schools — foun l him, recognized his ability and calletl him to Winston. Here he was allowed to teach as he pleased, but the law kept woo- ing him. After a course at the University of North Carolina he secured his license and was ready for clients. He located at Danbury, l)ut later he moved to Louisburg. Here he married Miss Fannie Yarlmmugh, a woman of rare attainments and fine character. Mr. Bickett is a great believer in home and is never happier than when under liis own vine and fig tree. This feeling colors his idea of civilization, for he tliinks that it rests on the little farm well tilled. He would like to see every tenant the owner of a little farm. He agrees with . rthur Young that the magic of jjroperty converts sand into gold. Politically Bickett eoiild never be a wild-eyed rel ' oinier jiroclaiming that the political salvation of the wmlil de])rnded on one idea that he had patented; neither could he become a mossl)ack standi)atter encased in an armor of insulation against all new ideas. He has too much sense to be the one, and too nmch humor to be the other. While in the legislature he was classed as a conservative- progressive. He was not always in the bell-tower ringing the alarm; neither was he in the cellar while the throng iiassed by. Nevertheless, he will always be at the fire and be a fifihter. The inore the people know of liilii the lietter they like him.