About William Hard

William Hard was born in 1878 on September 15 in a small town, Painted Post, New York. He grew up traveling with his father who was a missionary.

In 1900, William graduated college from Northwester University with the highest scholastic record made by any student there.

Hard began his own small newspaper, The Neighbor, in 1902. Robert W. Patterson became interested in Hard's newspaper and invited him to be an editoral writer for the Chicago Tribune. His writing carrer expanded and his editorials were published in many newspapers; he also wrote several books.

He then became part of the National Broadcasting Company and was involved in the world's first international newscast. The last twenty years of his life were spent as an editor for Reader's Digest. William died in New Canaan on January 30, 1962.

One of William Hard's most known writings is called "De Kid Wot Works at Night" published in 1908 in Everybody's Magazine. In this piece Hard narrarates a story of an Italian newsvendor in Chicago in the nighttime. The following is an excerpt from this story:

"I do not mean by this remark to disparage the newsboy. He occupies in Chicago a legal position superior to that of the president of a railway company. The president of a railway company is only an employee. He receives a weekly, a monthly, or at least a yearly salary. The newsboy does not receive a salary. He is not an employee. He is a merchant. He buys his papers and then resells them. He occupies the same legal position as Marshall Field & Co. Therefore he does not fall within the scope of the child-labor law. Therefore no rascally paternalistic factory inspector may vex him in a pursuit of an independent commercial career."

With this writing, Hard affected the American population by stating social issues such as working conditions, child labor, and women's status in society.