Jim Hogg

Early years

Hogg was born in Cherokee County, Texas. His parents, Joseph L. Hogg and Lucanda McMath had moved to Texas in late 1836. During the Civil War, his father served as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. Joseph Hogg died in 1862, and Lucanda died the following year. Hogg and his two brothers were raised by their sister, Frances. The family had little money, and Hogg received only a basic education before being asked to go to work.

In 1866, Hogg went to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to study. Upon returning to Texas, he became a printer's devil at the Rusk Chronicle. In 1867, Hogg walked from East Texas to Cleburne, where he found a job with the Cleburne Chronicle. Soon after his arrival the building which housed the Cleburne Chronicle burned down, and Hogg returned to East Texas. For the next several years he worked as a farmhand and studied law. He later ran the Longview News and founded the Quitman News.

Public service

In 1873, Hogg was named Justice of the Peace at Quitman. Although legend states that the Hoggs also had a daughter named Ura, that allegation is false.

In 1876, he was defeated by John S. Griffith for a seat in the Texas legislature. He returned to public service in 1878 when he was elected Wood County's attorney, and he went on to serve from 1880 to 1884 as Texas' seventh district's attorney.

Hogg was one of the men responsible for making Smith County a Democratic stronghold during the 1884 national elections, as he helped convince the black vote for the Democratic party. Although encouraged to run for a seat in the United States Congress, Hogg declined and practiced law in Tyler.

Attorney general

Hogg was elected state Attorney General in 1886 with the platform of railroad regulation reform. He also put an end to pooling by the railroads and suggested that the legislature propose a constitutional amendment to create the Railroad Commission of Texas. In 1888 Hogg sued the rail companies for attempting to create a monopoly, among other charges. Hogg won, defeating the powerful rail baron Jay Gould and creating for himself a name in Texas politics.

Hogg also endeavored to rein in abuses by other large corporations. He tackled the "wildcat" insurance companies, forcing several of them to leave the state and requiring others to operate within the parameters of the law. Under his guidance, Texas became the second state to pass a workable antitrust law.

Governor

With the support of farmers, ranchers, and small merchants, Hogg won the election for Governor of Texas in 1890. At the same time, voters approved the constitutional amendment allowing for a Railroad Commission by a wide margin. Hogg also named an old friend, Captain Bill McDonald, to succeed Samuel A. McMurry as the captain of Texas Rangers Company B, Frontier Battalion, a position that he retained until 1907.

Hogg campaigned for a second term in 1892 on five principles: to uphold the state constitution, to support the Railroad Commission, to stop the railroads from issuing watered stocks, to regulate the issuance of county and municipal bonds, and to regulate alien land ownership. When his opponent for the Democratic nomination, George Clark, realized that Hogg would likely win the nomination, Clark's supporters left the Democratic convention and went to a new location. There they formed a new party, the Jeffersonian Democrats, and nominated Clark for governor. Hogg was easily nominated as the Democratic candidate by the remaining delegates.

The Republican Party endorsed Clark, and the Populist Party nominated lawyer Thomas Lewis Nugent. Hogg won a plurality of the votes to gain a second term as governor, but it was the first time in state history that the winning Democratic candidate did not receive a majority of the votes.

During his second term, Hogg endorsed three constitutional amendments. Voters defeated the proposals to charter state banks and to provide a pension for indigent Confederate veterans, but approved the amendment to allow for public election of the railroad commissioners. At his urging, the legislature passed a law allowing the Railroad Commission to fix rates based on fair valuation and to stop many of the practices the railroad companies had used to manipulate stocks. When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the commission in Reagan v. Farmers Loan and Trust in 1894, this law helped them to be fully equipped to fight the power of the railroads.

In April 1893, the legislature passed a law requiring that communities which issued bonds should also have a plan to collect sufficient taxes to pay the interest. Hogg's final campaign promise was fulfilled when the legislature passed the Perpetuities and Corporation Land Law, which required private corporations to sell all land they had held for speculative purposes within 15 years The law was full of loopholes and did not have the effect that Hogg wanted.

In 1894, Texas filed a lawsuit against John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and its Texas subsidiary, the Waters-Pierce Oil Company of Missouri. Hogg and his attorney general argued that the companies were engaged in rebates, price fixing, consolidation, and other tactics prohibited by the state's 1889 antitrust act. The investigation resulted in a number of indictments, including one for Rockefeller. Hogg requested that Rockefeller be extradited from New York, but the New York governor refused, as Rockefeller had not fled from Texas. Rockefeller was never tried, but other employees of the company were found guilty.

Hogg championed the causes of individuals and presided over a series of progressive reform measures during his tenure. an act that restricted (as noted by one study) “the amount of indebtedness by bond issues that county and municipal groups could legally undertake,” a law forcing land corporations to sell of their holdings in 15 years, a railroad stock and bond law to cut down on watered stock, and a Railroad Commission.

According to Democrat Edward M House, a Texas politician and top advisor to President Woodrow Wilson, Texas was “the pioneer of successful progressive legislation,” citing Hogg’s tenure as the catalyst:

In a National Geographic article in 1961, Stanley Walker wrote that Hogg was "remembered as a man of uncommon ability" and was one of Texas' greatest governors.

Later years

Hogg's term as governor ended in 1895, the same year his wife died. Although he was not wealthy when he left office, through his connections he became involved in land and oil deals and amassed a large fortune.

He spoke on behalf of William Jennings Bryan in Tammany Hall in 1896 and 1900. Hogg also became interested in the idea of what became the Panama Canal; having done well as an oil investor, Hogg had interest for a shipping route to open between Texas and South America, as well as between Texas and Asia. On April 19, 1900, he gave a speech in Waco, where he said the now legendary words: "Let us have Texas, the Empire State, (be) governed by the people, not Texas, the truckpatch, ruled by corporate lobbyists".

In 1901, Hogg founded the Texas Company, predecessor to Texaco, with Joseph S. Cullinan, John Warne Gates, and Arnold Schlaet.

Jim Hogg's popularity extended beyond Texas, particularly in New York. The "Man in the Street" column in the edition of September 6, 1903, of The New York Times related the following anecdote regarding him:

This proceeding naturally caused the desired silence on the part of the Italian, and the Governor was wrapped in his own thoughts, when suddenly a little newsboy ran up and asked him if he wanted a paper. Before he could reply the bootblack turned to the boy and said:

:"You nota talka to him. He deaf."

The newsboy looked him over, says the Governor, and then remarked in a loud voice:

:"Well, say, he's a fat old hog, ain't he?"

The Governor, who weighs 300 pounds or more, relishes telling the story, but he adds feelingly that he kept up his bluff after hearing the brutal comment of the newsboy.|"Man in the Street"|New York Times, 1903}}

In January 1905, Hogg was injured in a railroad accident while on a business trip. He never completely recovered and died in his sleep on March 3, 1906, at the age of 54. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas.

Jim Hogg County southeast of Laredo is named after him.

In addition James S. Hogg Middle School in Norhill, Houston, of the Houston Independent School District, is named after him.

Burial

Hogg asked that a pecan tree be planted at his grave instead of a traditional headstone, requesting that the seeds be distributed throughout the state to make Texas a "Land of Trees". His wish was carried out and this brought more attention to pecan trees. In 1919, the Legislature made the pecan tree the state tree of Texas.

The Texas town of San Saba claims to be "The Pecan Capital of the World". Several other American towns and regions host annual events celebrating the pecan harvest.

Legacy

Jim Hogg County, Texas is named after him.

A statue of Hogg was sculpted by Italian American sculptor Pompeo Coppini. The sculpture was commissioned in 1919 by George W. Littlefield to be included in the Littlefield Fountain on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.

A statue of Hogg was unveiled and erected in Rusk, Texas in October 2025.

Notes

References

• online

References

1. [https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Governors_and_the_Progressive_Movement/0ueZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=As+governor+brough+brought+more+funding+for+education&pg=PA123&printsec=frontcover Governors and the Progressive Movement By David R. Berman, 2019, P.123-126]
2. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0001788652&seq=12 General laws of the State of Texas yr.1892]
3. [https://archive.org/details/speechesstatepap00hogg/page/414/mode/2up Speeches and state papers of James Stephen Hogg, ex-governor of Texas : with a sketch of his life]
4. [https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Dallas/Dq8eAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Texas+1893+lien+law+mechanics&pg=RA1-PT26&printsec=frontcoverDallas The Making of a Modern City By Patricia Evridge Hill, 2010]
5. [https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/exec/governors/06.html Texas Politics Project Biography on James S. Hogg]
6. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=98o9AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=governor+Hogg+reforms+texas&article_id=6669,2067500&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijnr7NjIqNAxUiVUEAHXmQLT0Q6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=governor%20Hogg%20reforms%20texas&f=false Wood County Democrat 31 Oct 1974]
7. Cotner, Robert C.. "James Stephen Hogg". [[Handbook of Texas]].
8. Hendrickson (1995), p. 120.
9. On April 3, 1891, the legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill to create the Railroad Commission. Hogg appointed [[Lafayette L. Foster]] and [[William Pinckney McLean]] as commissioners, with [[John H. Reagan]], creator of the [[Interstate Commerce Act]], as chairman.Hendrickson (1995), p. 123.
10. "McDonald, William Jesse". tshaonline.org.
11. Hendrickson (1995), p. 124.
12. Miller, Worth Robert. (June 15, 2010). "Nugent, Thomas Lewis".
13. Hendrickson (1995), p. 125.
14. Hendrickson (1995), p. 126.
15. Hendrickson (1995), p. 127.
16. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nUA_AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=governor+Hogg+labor+texas&article_id=5420,4559984&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0v62VjIqNAxUwRkEAHUgnD3IQ6AF6BAgEEAM#v=onepage&q=governor%20Hogg%20labor%20texas&f=false Wood County Democrat 17 Aug 1988]
17. [https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Governors_and_the_Progressive_Movement/0ueZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=As+governor+brough+brought+more+funding+for+education&pg=PA123&printsec=frontcover Governors and the Progressive Movement By David R. Berman, 2019, P.123-126]
18. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0001788652&seq=12 General laws of the State of Texas yr.1892] Amongst others, these included a lien law,[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Dallas/Dq8eAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Texas+1893+lien+law+mechanics&pg=RA1-PT26&printsec=frontcoverDallas The Making of a Modern City By Patricia Evridge Hill, 2010]
19. [https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/exec/governors/06.html Texas Politics Project Biography on James S. Hogg] An alien land law was also introduced that guaranteed (as noted by one study) “Texas lands to be safe from ownsership without taxation by foreigners.” Public school systems were also upgraded while towns and cities were kept “from imposing extravagant public debts on the people.”[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=98o9AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=governor+Hogg+reforms+texas&article_id=6669,2067500&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijnr7NjIqNAxUiVUEAHXmQLT0Q6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=governor%20Hogg%20reforms%20texas&f=false Wood County Democrat 31 Oct 1974]
20. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3126585&seq=77&q1=progressive+legislation The intimate papers of Colonel House: behind the political curtain 1912-1915 Arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour, 1926, P.35]
21. Stanley Walker. (February 1961). "The Fabulous State of Texas".
22. (2002). "Giant Under the Hill, A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas in 1901". Texas State Historical Association.
23. Hendrickson (1995), p. 131.
24. "School Histories Middle Schools". [[Houston Independent School District]].
25. "Texas Pecan Growers official site".
26. "Town website for San Saba, Texas". Town of San Saba Texas.
27. Garcia, Michael. (2025-03-24). "Statue of 20th Texas Governor Jim Hogg unveiled in Rusk".