Evening star., 1936-08-09

SAMUEL BECKER.
phrase they are gone and forgotten.
His quick smile fingers long enough
to appreciate anotherS remark or
share his own. Everything about the
man Is quick, darting, incredibly eX-
preSSive. His memory is prodigious.
He recountS IN minutest detail child
hood experiences that could not have
occurred much after the dress age.
For example, he says. "One of my
earliest remembranceS is of the noises
of Steel-tired wagons rolling over the
cobblestones in front of our house"
Since that was before automobiles
came into common use, and he was
not born until 1903, he must have
been little more than an infant at
the time And again. II always
wanted to be lawyer, even before
clearly understood what lawyer was,
except IN a general and childish way.
There was an old tailor in our block
who later committed suicide. He used
to talk to me about the colorful figures
CT the day-all famous attornyes,
with records to fire the imagination
Eob La Toilette, Francis McGovern.
There was never any question in my
mind, since 1 could think, 1 do be-
ieve, about what would be-
SAMUEL BECKER was born in Mil
waukee on the 10th of March.
His father was peddler. He sold
piece goods from door to door. Dress
materials. He was out on the road
most of the time. When the family
consisted of three children my mother
thought it high time he stayed home
that she should see more of him than
on those occasions when a new child
was born. He tried to get a job as
conductor, but his eyesight was not
good enough. So he bought a little
grocery store. He ran it for IS years"
Becker attended South Division
High School in Milwaukee and was
graduated at the age of IA. During
the early days of the war he worked
nights with one of his teachers, who
was secretary of a draft board. His
first academic year was spent at
Marquette University, Milwaukee. That
Summer, in an effort to earn enough
for Fall tuition, he sold brushes from
door to door. In the Fall of 1918 he
went to the University of Wisconsin
and majored there in political science.
Phil La Toilette was attending the
Law School at Wisconsin at the time
and Becker and he became excellent
friends. At the university, he was
active in debating, in inter-club ac-
tivities and in dramatics and his
broad interests brought him in contact
with the more interesting of the stu
dents. Fredric March and Henry
Scott Rubel he numbered among his
friends from the student body.
In 1922 he won his Phi Beta Kappa
key and his degree of A B. He also
left the University of Wisconsin with
the doubtful honor of being unofficial
pool champion. He was barely 19
when he was graduated
During these years, Becker had ia
ken up the study of the clarinet and
his knowledge of the instrument earn
ed him more than his long and ardu-
GUS Summer work in the shops and
factories. so imbued was I with my
art" says Mr.. Becker, that some
times after a late job I would begin
to practice at / or o'clock in the
bit of devotion that
neither my landlady nor the neigh
borS appreciated" Today one of the
fondest dreams he cherishes is some
day to conduct a big symphony or
chestra.
PROM the University of Wisconsin
Becker went to Harvard, to attend
the Law School. His first year he won
the Shelton Hale scholarship, the
only scholarship awarded in those
days and it carried with it about
$3.50 more than the cost of his tuition.
His income was likewise increased by
on the Board of Advisers,
for which he was paid $3.50 a year.
He was also member of Legal Aid.
During these years he became the
good friend of Dean Roscoe Pound,
Felix Frankfurter, zechariah Chafee
and Manley o. Hudson. These men
he esteemed and knew best and there
developed friendly group that has
maintained contacts to this day. He
was one of distinguished trio of
intimate friends at Law School, whose
careers have been notably
Identified with the New Deal-Tom
Corcoran, assistant general counsel
for the Reconstruction Finance Corp,
and Judge John Burns, former justice
of the Superior Court of Massachu-
sets and now general counsel of the
Securities and Exchange Commission,
with whom Becker shares an apart
ment in Washington.
After his graduation from Harvard
Law School, Becker taught law for a
year at Tulane. At the close of 1926,
he received the degree of doctor of
juridical science from Harvard. The
desire to open his own law Offices in
was strong upon him. AS
he put it, he wanted to see the law
in action, not in books"
He was offered a post on the claims |
commission that was established in |
New Orleans after the Spring floods,
when the levee was dynamited but |
ne refused and returned to his native |
State, where in 1927 he started active |
law practice, taking offices with an
other lawyer. For four months he |
didn't make a nickel" Word came |
that Mr.. Wheeler P. Bloodgood would |
ike the young attorney in his own
irm. In 1928, Becker started work
n Bloodgood's Offices. When the firm
,roke up at Mr.. Bloodgood's death
n 1880, Becker was not certain what |
lis next move would be. Fate, in the
,erson of Phil La Toilette, decided
or him.
He had known La Toilette for years,
md had seen him often In Madison.