Bio of HICKS, Thomas Willing (b.1879), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical

THOMAS WILLING HICKS - Vol II, pg 622-627
Some term Thomas Willing Hicks an inventor, others an agronomist but the present
biographer would characterize him as a constructionist. He has been a builder
throughout his life, building those things which make the world a better place
in which to live, contributing to the material, intellectual and moral
advance­ment of the race, and his labors have not been local but universal. Mr.
Hicks was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1879, and comes of ancestry
distinctively American in its lineal and collateral lines through several
generations. He is a direct descendant of Thomas Willing, who was the first
mayor of Philadelphia and who was born in 1731, a son of Charles and Ann
(Shippen) Willing, representa­tives of two of the leading families of the city.
He was sent abroad to receive his education at Bath, England, and upon his
return was elected a member of the city council of Philadelphia, at the age of
twenty-four. He thereafter continued to fill positions of public honor and trust
until his demise, was city alderman, associate justice of the city court,
justice of the peace of the court of common pleas and mayor in 1763. He became
an influential factor in shaping public thought and opinion in the momentous
period that preceded the Revolutionary war. In his history of American finance
Dr. Burton Alva Konkle of Strathmore University, names Thomas Willing as the
first banker in America and credits him with the original idea on which the
Federal Reserve Bank of today was founded. The Hicks family is descended from
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, noted English statesman and chancellor of the exchequer
under Queen Victoria. The Hicks family settled in Virginia and Kentucky and a
later branch located in New York. The parents of Thomas W. Hicks were James S.
and Georgianna (Bennett) Hicks. On the mother's side he is descended from
Revolutionary war ancestry.
Thomas Willing Hicks was educated at St. Joseph, Missouri, in the grade and high
schools and then studied science through the university extension course of the
University of Minnesota. He has made scientific agriculture his life work. No
question is attracting more attention in America today and few men have advanced
so far in this line as has Thomas Willing Hicks. He is to agriculture what
Edison is to electricity or Westinghouse to railroading. He is an inventor, a
chemist, a thorough business man and. moreover, his creative genius is at all
times used for the benefit of his fellows. His name is today known in scientific
agricultural circles throughout the world as the result of his discovery that by
the proper use of carbon dioxide the soil can be made to produce one
hundredfold; and also as the inventor of the Once-Over tiller, which plows,
seeds, disks, pulverizes and fertilizes the soil, all in one operation, so that
all this is done with the same amount of work that was formerly needed in merely
plowing the field. He invented the tiller in 1916 and offered it to the American
government, but the World war prevented his invention receiving due attention in
Washington. However, it was noted by the British embassy with the result that
the English called a conference of the heads of the allied governments and the
great publicity given the invention introduced it into Europe. The tiller is now
being manufactured and financed in America by a ten million dollar corporation
in New York city. The food needs of war-time England prompted the importation of
Mr. Hicks tiller, which had been tried successfully on the national experimental
farm at Arlington, Virginia, in May, 1917. The first trial in England was made
in a field of tough and difficult clay in Sussex, and Eng­lish technical papers
were enthusiastic over the result. The machine more than fulfilled its promises
to perform the work of preparing a field for seed in one opera­tion, plowing,
disking and pulverizing together. Later recognition came to Mr. Hicks in his own
country when the Edward Longstreth medal was awarded to him by the Franklin
Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. On the occasion of the
presentation Dr. George A. Hoadley said: "Mr. President: While the committee on
science and the arts is pleased to recommend the inventor of any useful
mechanical device for recognition, it takes especial pleasure to note the
invention of a device having for its object an increased production from the
soil, thus adding to bur food supply. The fact that there is a direct relation
between the thoroughness with which the soil is prepared for the seed and the
quality and quantity of the resulting crop, led the inventor of the 'Once-Over'
tiller to devise a machine that in a single trip over the land would put it in
the best possible condi­tion for production. Taking the most modern form of plow
as a basis he added to it a vertical axis, supplied with steel cutting blades,
fixed in such a position that the furrow from the plow would be thrown against
these blades. Since the shaft upon which they are mounted rotates at a high rate
of speed, the result is that the entire furrow is finely pulverized and ready to
feed the rootlets of the growing plant. In consideration of the invention and
development to commercial form of a new exceedingly useful type of machine for
the preparation of a seed-bed for grain or other seeds, the Franklin Institute,
acting through its committee on science and arts, awards its Edward Longstreth
medal to Thomas Willing Hicks, Esquire, of Minne­apolis, Minnesota, for his
'Once-Over' tiller." The reply of Mr. Hicks was as follows and is given in full
as it suggests his attitude toward many of the world-wide vital problems: "Mr.
President, Fellow Scientists, Ladies and Gentlemen-Friends- Kinsmen: I am
entirely mindful of the great honor which it is my mission here to receive. But
I would make it plain that this token of your appreciation is accepted
conditionally-that is to say, only will I permit myself to accept the Edward
Long­streth medal after admitting to you and myself the conviction that I was
but the channel for the Thought, rather than the creator or originator of it.
There is but one Creator. I, of myself, gave nothing. Maybe I can better express
it in the fol­lowing lines:
'As it is He, alone, that has,
It is He, alone, that gives.
We are but messengers that bear
His gifts, with loving care
To those who trustingly rely
On God's omnipotent supply.'
"One would be dense, indeed, who did not sense the fact that the world is just
now passing through a crucial hour. The bravest are appalled-and inspired-by the
present situation. And I wonder if you gentlemen of this great Franklin
Insti­tute fully appreciate the extent of your importance as a vital factor in
helping to solve the problems now confronting us.
"When that monumental fool-mortal man-utterly debased himself by mur­dering in
cold blood, millions of his brothers-under the thin pretext of legalized
war-myriads of ideas, inventions, discoveries and thoughts were stilled,
withheld and delayed-which, if allowed to develop as they would, even now would
be mak­ing this a better world in which to live. But, as a good thought or a
right idea never dies, the heritage is ours, and this fact immeasurably
increases the respon­sibilities of that remnant of scientists, thinkers and
inventors who escaped the bloody deluge. And the great Franklin Institute of the
great state of Pennsylvania, by rewarding, recognizing and facilitating the art
of discovery and invention, makes it possible for those of us so endowed to
manifest new inventions, ideas, plans and methods that, in the end, make us
something better than ourselves. I disagree with Cowper; man's first invention
was not a stool, but steps-steps hewn in the face of a cliff-and how symbolic is
this of our present efforts to mount ever higher.
"When mortal man took the hand of humanity away from the work of Produc­tion,
and lent it, for five long years, to the crime of Destruction-while at the same
time increasing Consumption-the world was brought face to face with a condition
that called for radical thought and action. The fact that every morning the
whole human race wakes up hungry, and the necessity of the farmer producing more
food in less time and with fewer facilities-this was the white-hot crucible out
of which sprang the Invention of the Once-Over tiller, for which I am being
honored here tonight. And thus it has always been-necessity mothering its own
tools; and thus it will go 'on, until God gives us a higher method, infinitely
above that of human invention. True, man has sought out many inventions, only to
find that knowledge cannot save him from the dire effects of knowledge' and
while we can easily under­stand how the human desire for ease and comfort can
result in good inventions, we may well be perplexed at that awful
spectacle-human fear-resulting in many con­trivances of evil purport.
"Before Adam's time, man made war. And we tried to justify it, aye, even hallow
it. But, also during the same long ages, man believed, too, that there was more
than one God. And just as surely as the doctrine predicated on the theory of
'gods many' was proven false, just so will the belief in the justifiableness of
war go down with that other false idea bringing concord out of the age-old
discord. Do you doubt this? Then turn your eyes to our national capital. What a
stage-setting! What a drama! Never before in the whole history of Man has such a
gathering of super-mortals assembled. The very master-minds of the race are in
conference- bent on what? Peace. Think of it. World Peace! It marks this
planet's supreme effort.
"And we scientists and inventors cannot sit here sleek, warm, rich and fat, and
think that this conference is a thing apart. We are, we must be, active members
of it. They must not, they shall not, adjourn without accomplishing the great
aim. Justice, Mercy, the great Heart of Masonry-will not permit it. And how
easily we here can help. Let me ask: What would war do without invention? The
ques­tion answers itself. But in approaching this great aim we must all first
unlearn that age-old saying, 'There are two sides to every question.' How true,
how logical, that sounds. Yet it is neither true nor logical. The truth is,
there is but one side to every question-the right side.
"As for the inventor's part in the Peace Conference, I propose nothing more nor
less than an inventors' strike; a strike to be called at once; a strike on war.
Let the scientists and inventors refuse to conceive of, or work on, anything in
the shape of a 'war machine'-and then I ask you, Where would war be? Let man
once refuse to fabricate any machine built for the destruction of man and war
will die. And why not? Why not accept such an idea? Are we not all working for
the same thing? What are we all working and striving for? Does the following
story answer us?
"During the recent business depression a poor man approached a rich man and said
'I want work.' He was told to carry some stones from one place in the lot to
another. The poor man agreed, and asked 'How much money will I get for it?' The
rich man replied: 'Is it money you want, instead of work? Then here is five
dollars but you are not to spend it.' The poor man asked: 'Then how can I buy
food and clothing?' 'Oh,' replied the rich man, 'It is food and clothing you
want, not money. Well, here is food and clothing for you, but you are not to
wear the clothes nor eat the food.' The poor man turned on him in a rage and
said: 'Why do you mock me? You know I want work so that I may earn money with
which to buy food and clothing for my family-so that we will have peace,
happiness and contentment.' 'Oh,' replied the rich man, 'so that is what you
want-peace, hap­piness, and contentment. Well, that's what we all want; but let
me tell you, my good man, I have plenty of. work, I have lots of money and I
have clothing and food in abundance-but through none of these have I been able
to acquire peace, hap­piness and contentment. Such priceless blessings are the
gifts of God, and they come to you and I only through knowing and following His
precepts.'
"That's the answer for all of us. That's the big idea slowly working to the top
of this world-wide upheaval and unrest. I, too, like to believe with whoever it
was that wrote it, that
'Some day,
When our last little beastliness Shall fall away,
And all the higher thoughts
We ever knew
Will spread and grow like huge branches
Underneath the blue-
Then, Man,
Looking into any mirror- Be it bright or dim- Will find God Staring back at
him.'
"Once a sentiment like that was but a dream. But it's not a dream today. The age
that abolished slavery, developed democracy, enacted woman suffrage and pro
jected prohibition, is capable of attaining this higher spiritual realm of
thought up to which the best people of our earth are reaching. We of the great
West feel it. But we look to you here of the East, and to you of the great New
England states to lead the way. Out in our great West country where 'main
streets' flourish, it is but natural that we turn to you of the older
settlements for our examples. We look to the eastern states, for initiative and
we turn to the New England states for inspiration. We ask to be allowed to
continue to hold you up as our ideals. We have no Franklin Institute out
west-yet. So we must copy you. And here in the presence of His Excellency, the
Governor of Vermont, governor of one of the greatest of all the great New
England states, we ask permission to continue to assimilate your higher ideas *
* * at least to the same extent that we now counterfeit your pure maple syrup.
So if, in coming down here to receive an honor, I, at the same time bring you a
message from 'main street' land, let it be this: 'Lead on, you of the great
East, in the great fight for Truth and Light, and we of the great West will
follow; only asking that you continue to lead us ever-up.' "
In 1897 Mr. Hicks was united in marriage to Miss Rose Marie MacSpadden and they
became parents of a daughter, Margaret Gladys, who is now Mrs. Gordon Tucker. In
political belief Mr. Hicks is a republican and his religious faith is that of
the Christian Science church. He is a Mason of high standing, belonging to
Min­neapolis Consistory and to Zuhrah Temple of the Mystic Shrine and has also
taken the degrees in the York Rite bodies, becoming a member of the Commandery.
He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England and the Arts and Letters Society, of which
he is national secretary. He finds recreation in tennis, handball and golf but
he never loses sight of the high purposes of life, nor of any opportunity to do
con­structive work. While America and the allied forces were still at war with
Ger­many he wrote to King Albert of Belgium tendering him the patent on the
Once-Over tiller for that country, as his contribution to its agricultural
restoration fol­lowing the awful sacrifices that the nation had been called upon
to make as the buffer state in the great struggle. There has come to him
recognition of the value of his invention from all parts of the world and with
the bestowal of the Franklin Institute medal upon him public recognition placed
him in the class with Edison, Lorentz, Marconi, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, P.
Cooper-Hewitt, Sir Charles Par­sons, Owen Squires, Alexander Graham Bell, Doctor
Bosch, Sir William Crookes, Professor Diesel, Mergenthaler, Michelson-Morley,
Roentgen, Tesla, Goodyear, Bur­roughs, Hyatt, Atwater-Kent, Westinghouse, and
other men of this caliber, whose names are household words, all of whom have
received the same honor from the Franklin Institute. The entire career of Mr.
Hicks has been an expression of his belief in Christian principles as manifested
in human helpfulness.