30 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 
so potent an influence that today Wisconsin is without a peer in 
dairy production. 
In the early 70’s Mr. Hoarp 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. Hoarp 
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. Hoarp 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. Hoarp 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. 
