William D. Hoard

In 1870, Hoard founded a weekly newspaper named the Jefferson County Union in Lake Mills. Against trends of the time, Hoard expanded his paper's coverage to include surrounding areas. According to biographer George William Rankin, Hoard's use of local correspondents to expand his newspaper's reach was among the first by a county newspaper in the United States.[7]^: 58–60 Early editions of the Union were printed under contract with the Watertown Republican, for which Hoard had written prior to founding his own newspaper.[3]^: 38 Hoard moved the Union to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, in 1873 and by 1883, he had constructed a new building that included a printing press.[3]^: 49

Hoard also worked as editor of the Union; he included an editorial page in the paper, another rarity for small newspapers of the time. He used editorial columns to write about a variety of topics, most prominently the promotion of scientific agricultural practices.[3]^{: 40-42, 53–54} Readers received these editorials with skepticism due to Hoard's lack of experience in Wisconsin agriculture, and referred to him as a theorist and a "book farmer".[5]^: 49[7]^: 63-64 Hoard continued to write agriculture columns and after encouragement from his son Arthur and Ed E. Coe, publisher of the Whitewater Register, Hoard founded Hoard's Dairyman in 1885 as a folio supplement to the Union.[7]^: 64-65

The offices of the Jefferson County Union and Hoard's Dairyman in 2016

The Dairyman was initially financially supported by its parent newspaper but by 1889, it had become a separate magazine that focused primarily on dairy farming.[8]^: 368-369[9]^: 57 As was commonplace with dairy trade publications at the time, Hoard mixed reporting and advertising in Hoard's Dairyman, juxtaposing advertisements with articles promoting the advertised technique or technology.[9]^: 58[2]^: 46

In the Dairyman, Hoard advocated for agricultural practices that became commonplace in Wisconsin and beyond, including regular testing of herds for bovine tuberculosis, the growth and use of alfalfa as cattle feed, the use of particular breeds of cattle for milking or meat, the use of the Babcock test to test the butterfat content of milk, and the adoption of silos to store cattle feed.[9]^{: 62-63, 69, 120}[10][7]^: 164 By 1924, Hoard's Dairyman had readers in Japan, Australia, and England.[4]^: 109-110 It is considered the first agriculture publication to have a nationwide readership in the United States.[1]^: 133

Hoard founded the Jefferson County Dairymen's Association in 1871.[4]^: 106 Realizing the county-level group was too small to effectively advocate for dairying on a large scale, the following year, he founded the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association with Chester Hazen, Walter S. Greene, Stephen and A.D. Favill, H.C. Drake, and H.F. Dousman to improve and promote Wisconsin's dairy products.[7]^: 183[3]^: 70 The following year, Hoard traveled to Chicago to barter with rail lines to secure better prices and refrigerated railcars for the transport of cheese from Wisconsin to the U.S. East Coast. His efforts were a success; the Star Union Line took a refrigerated car to Watertown to transport cheese out of the state.[4]^: 108-109

Through the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association, Hoard and other founders successfully lobbied for the passage of agriculture-related laws and regulations, including legislation to ban filled cheese, and the establishment of farmers institutes and the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin.[3]^: 72[7]^: 185 At the University, the group campaigned for the establishment of the first dairy school in the U.S., which taught students to make butter and cheese.[10][11]^: 46 The group also campaigned for the showing of Wisconsin dairy products in Philadelphia and Chicago, increasing the reputation of Wisconsin dairy products.[7]^: 186 Hoard also helped found the Northwest Dairymen's Association and the Farmers National Congress.[7]^: 191

Hoard opposed the sale of adulterated dairy products, and advocated against the sale of oleomargarine, which became popular in the late 1800s. Oleomargarine, which is made by emulsifying lard with milk and water, was often dyed yellow to give it the appearance of butter and was sold as such.[6]^: 22[Note 1] The cost of producing oleomargarine was much lower than that of producing butter, and dairy farmers viewed it as a threat to their livelihoods.[6]^: 20 In 1894, Hoard founded the National Dairy Union and campaigned for an additional tax to be placed on the sale of dyed oleomargarine, which he viewed as a fraudulent product.[7]^: 201-202[Note 2] Hoard often testified before Congress about the fraudulent nature of oleomargarine between 1898 and 1902, and helped secure the passage of the Oleomargarine Act of 1902, which added an additional 10-cent tax on the sale of colored oleomargarine and briefly caused a decline in its production.[6]^: 25-26

Hoard was educated in politics as a child; in 1870, he was appointed as a deputy U.S. Marshal,[7]^: 77-79 and was assigned to be a census taker in Lake Mills and the surrounding area. While taking the census, Hoard met a family of German immigrants who could not speak English and had been tricked out of a large sum of money by English-speaking confidence tricksters. The experience influenced Hoard's opinions on education when he became governor. In 1872, Hoard was named the sergeant-at-arms for the Wisconsin Senate.[3]^: 43

By 1888, Hoard had become a popular speaker, lecturing on agricultural topics throughout the state. He was nominated as the Republican candidate for governor in an anonymous article in the Milwaukee Sentinel that year and received strong support from farmers throughout the state. He was elected as the 16th Governor of Wisconsin in the 1888 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, defeating Democratic candidate James Morgan.[8]^: 369-370 Hoard served a single, two-year term as governor. His administration saw the creation of one of the first food inspection agencies in the United States and the passage of a controversial compulsory education law that mandated schools to educate their pupils in English.

As Governor, Hoard established the Dairy and Food Commission to oversee dairy production in the state and enforce bans on skimmed cheese, a type of cheese that quickly spoils due to its reduced butterfat content, as well as other adulterated dairy products.[12]^{: 249–250} The Commission was the first government agency in the U.S. to regulate food quality.[10]

The first legislation Hoard signed was the Bennett Law, which was passed in April 1889 and mandated children in the state aged 7 to 14 to attend school in their district of residence for at least 12 weeks per year and receive instruction in English.[13]^: 70 The latter provision was added by Hoard, who advocated for the Americanization of immigrants in the state and viewed English literacy as an important step in the process.[8]^: 377[13]^: 69-70

By 1890, approximately 70% of the Wisconsin population was an immigrant or had at least one immigrant parent; many of that group had German ancestry.[13]^: 84[Note 3] German Lutherans and German Catholics in Wisconsin, who retained strong ethnic pride for Germany, felt the law targeted their parochial schools, many of which primarily taught their courses in German.[14]^: 12–13[13]^: 70-71 Hoard felt churches focused more on growing their congregations in these schools than on fostering American citizenship.[15]

In March 1890, the three Catholic bishops of Wisconsin published a manifesto opposing the law and three months later, the Wisconsin, Missouri, and Evangelical synods denounced it.[14]^: 10[8]^: 378 German-language publications throughout the state advocated for the law's repeal, and called for Catholics and Lutherans to campaign for the law's repeal after the election of 1890.[14]^: 14-15[13]^: 77-78 Scandinavian immigrants in the state supported the repeal of the law based on its clause requiring students be taught in their district of residence; Scandinavian communities had fewer parochial schools than their German counterparts and were convinced by opponents of the law that it would prevent their children attending their parochial schools.[14]^: 23 The Bennett Law became the primary issue of the contest, though economic pressures attributed to the McKinley Tariff also played a significant role.[16]^{: 292–293} Hoard defended the law but Republican-supporting German voters turned against the party in 1890.[16]^: 280[Note 4] Democrats won a supermajority in the Wisconsin Legislature and eight of nine available seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hoard was defeated by George Wilbur Peck for the governorship.[8]^{: 387-388, 390} The Bennett Law was repealed in February 1891, the first act of the new legislature.[13]^: 91 Historian Louise Phelps Kellogg noted the law's purpose of increasing English literacy in immigrant communities was still achieved; parochial schools sought to prove the legislation was not needed by introducing more English-language instruction in their classrooms.[14]^: 24