This paper works to uncover ideological relationships between language and morality in early Norwegian-American communities by examining article content from Eau Claire's Reform, the second longest running Norwegian-American newspaper in Wisconsin (1886-1941). Newspapers play a significant role in upholding and disseminating ideologies of all kinds. Waldemar Ager, Reform's chief editor, drove much of the discussion related to language ideologies, but also published the writings of his supporters and detractors. In the case of Reform, issues of morality were frequently and fervently argued as matters inseparable from, and even reliant on, the preservation of Norwegian language. The ideological compounding of morality and language meant that the two could work symbiotically to the benefit of the Norwegian-American community. Maintaining the Norwegian language safeguarded traditional values and moral integrity and vice versa—some believing that it was the only channel by which to achieve a meaningful and religious way of life. Expressing these ideologies through newspapers had the function of informing the local Norwegian-American population of the internal (parental and community failure) and external (anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation) threats to their language, livelihood, and religion, but also in hopes of influencing behavior, opinion, and political actions. While the Norwegian-American immigrant experience is just one point of reference, it contains multiple perspectives, and shares many commonalities with other immigrant experiences of that time and of today. Questions of morality and religion, as they relate to language, are as relevant now as they ever were.