30 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



SO potent an influence that today Wisconsin is without a peer in 

 dairy production. 



In the early 70's Mr. Hoard glimpsed the vision of what dairy- 

 ing in the west might become. At that time Wisconsin's total 

 production of cheese annually was less than a million pounds, 

 but in the absence of marketing facilities this seemed an enor- 

 mous amount to the people of his time. The Liverpool market 

 laid the price foundations for cheese, and the bulk of American 

 product was shipped there. New York and the Western Reserve 

 in Ohio were the great cheese producing sections, but Mr. Hoard 

 realized that suitable freight rates would increase Wisconsin's 

 cheese production by leaps and bounds. At that time it cost two 

 and one-half cents a pound to ship cheese by ordinary freight to 

 the port of New York. Interviews with representatives of the 

 different freight lines in Chicago proved fruitless, but as a last 

 resort he broached his scheme to W. W. Chandler, agent of the 

 Star Union Line, the first refrigerator line in America. Mr. 

 Chandler's "What do you want, sir?", snapped at him from a 

 wheeled chair, seemed none too promising. Mr. Hoard replied, 

 "I represent a million pounds of Wisconsin cheese, seeking an 

 outlet on the Atlantic seaboard ... I want you to make 

 a rate of one cent a pound from Wisconsin to the Atlantic in 

 refrigerated cars, and I also want you to send a refrigerator car 

 to Watertown, Wisconsin, to a meeting of our Dairy Board next 

 week, and come yourself to explain its advantages and workings." 

 The audacity of the request turned Mr. Chandler breathless, 

 and to his feeble inquiry, "Is there anything else you want?", 

 Mr. Hoard responded, "Not yet." The project was successful, 

 and the rate continued for approximately thirty-five years. In 

 the year 1913, Wisconsin cheese products exceeded one hundred 

 and ninety million pounds, while over one hundred and thirty- 

 three million pounds of butter were produced. 



