During the 1890s the paper's circulation began to catch up to its main rival, the "Madison Democrat", due largely to the 1894 arrival of Yale-educated Amos Parker Wilder (father of playwright Thornton Wilder). Earning $30 a week as editor-in-chief, he later purchased a major interest in the paper. Wilder began to transform the "State Journal" into a more civic-minded newspaper, focusing on local problems but falling short of embarking on crusades. Originally a supporter of Governor Robert M. La Follette Sr. in 1900 and 1902, Wilder converted the paper's editorials to an anti-La Follette position for the price of $1,800, paid by a committee of seven Republican stalwarts fighting against La Follette's ultimately successful re-election in 1904. In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Wilder U.S. consul to Hong Kong.