Congressman, farmer, b. near Bloomingdale, Vernon County. He graduated from Stevens Point State Normal School (1897). After four years of teaching school he moved to Madison where he continued his education and became active in the Progressive party ranks. He held minor political jobs while attending the Univ. of Wisconsin and, upon graduating in 1903, he was appointed head of the Wisconsin Commission of Labor and Industrial Statistics by Governor Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (q.v.). In 1911 when this department was enlarged into the Industrial Commission, Beck served as a member and, in 1916- 1917, as chairman. He was president of the International Association of Labor Bureau Officials (1911-1913). Beck returned to his farm near Viroqua, where he raised pure-bred cattle and promoted the Golden Guernsey Products cooperative. Elected to Congress in 1920 as a Progressive Republican, he served until 1929; in this capacity he sponsored legislation taxing oleomargarine and vegetable oils, promoting co-operative marketing, and prohibiting the manufacture of filled milk. Following his defeat for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1928, he resumed his agricultural pursuits until 1931, when Governor Philip La Follette appointed him a commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Markets, a position he held until his death. He was found guilty of contempt of court in 1932 for his anti-oleomargarine campaign, and was cleared of a libel suit in connection with the Moody milk strike in 1933. Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1950); Hist. of Dane Co. (Madison, 1906); Who's Who in Amer., 17 (1932); Madison Wis. State Journal, Nov. 9, 1936.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Joseph D. Beck Papers for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]