 Wall was a political ally of Bourbon Democrat leaders like William Freeman Vilas, and profited by the alliance.He had an arrangement with the Northern Pacific Railroad which allowed him a fee for every acre of land he was able to recover from public domain lands granted to the railroad and later confiscated; he credited much of his success to his friendship with Vilas, and with United States Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith and U.S. Chief Land Commissioner Silas W. Lamoreaux.In the United States presidential election of 1904, Wall was Wisconsin's favorite son candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination; a campaign pamphlet and at least two campaign ribbons for his candidacy are known.