Title: The Letters of Franklin K. Lane, Personal and Political
Author: Lane, Franklin K.
Language: English
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THE LETTERS OF FRANKLIN K. LANE

Personal and Political

EDITED BY ANNE WINTERMUTE LANE AND LOUISE HERRICK WALL

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS



PREFACE

Prom the thousands of typewritten letters found in his files, and
from the many holograph letters sent to me from his friends in
different parts of the country, we have attempted, in this volume,
to select chiefly those letters which tell the story of Franklin
K. Lane's life as it unfolded itself in service to his country
which was his passion. A few technical letters have been included,
because they represent some incomplete and original phases of the
work he attempted,--work, to which he brought an intensity of
interest and devotion that usually is given only to private
enterprise.

In editing his letters we have omitted much, but we have in no way
changed anything that he wrote. Even where, in his haste, there
has been an obvious slip of the pen, we have left it. Owing to his
dictating to many stenographers, with their varying methods of
punctuation and paragraphing, and because the letters that he
wrote himself were often dashed off on the train, in bed, or in a
hurried five minutes before some engagement, we found in them no
uniformity of punctuation. In writing hastily he used only a
frequent dash and periods; these letters we have made agree with
those which were more formally written.

With the oncoming of war his correspondence enormously increased--
the more demanded of him, the more he seemed able to accomplish.
Upon opening his files it took us weeks to run through and destroy
just the requests for patronage, for commissions, passports,
appointments as chaplains, promotions, demands from artists who
desired to work on camouflage, farmers and chemists who wished
exemption, requests for appointments to the War Department;
letters asking for every kind of a position from that of night-
watchman to that of Brigadier-General. For his friends, and even
those who had no special claim upon him, knew that they could
count on his interest in them.

One of his secretaries, Joseph J. Cotter, a man he greatly
trusted, in describing his office work says: "Whatever was of
human interest, interested Mr. Lane. His researches were by no
means limited to the Department of the Interior. For instance, I
remember that at one time, before the matter had been given any
consideration in any other quarter, he asked Secretary of
Agriculture Houston to come to his office, in the Interior
Department, and went with him into the question of the number of
ships it would take to transport our soldiers to the other side.
And as a result of this conference, a plan was laid before the
Secretary of War. I remember this particularly because it
necessitated my looking up dead-weight tonnage, and other matters,
with which I was entirely unfamiliar. ...

"I have never known any one who could with equal facility follow
an intricate line of thought through repeated interruptions. I
have seen Mr. Lane, when interrupted in the middle of an involved
sentence of dictation, talk on some other subject for five or ten
minutes and return to his dictation, taking it up where he left it
and completing the sentence so that it could be typed as dictated,
and this without the stenographer's telling him at what point he
had been interrupted."

His letters are peculiarly autobiographical, for whenever his
active mind was engaged on some personal, political, or
philosophical problem, his thought turned naturally to that friend
with whom he would most like to discuss the subject, and, if he
could possibly make the time, to him he wrote just what thoughts
raced through his mind. To Ambassador Page he wrote in 1918, "I
have a very old-fashioned love for writing from day to day what
pops into my mind, contradicting each day what I said the day
before, and gathering from my friends their impressions and their
spirit in the same way." And in another letter he says, "Now I
have gossiped, and preached, and prophesied, and mourned, and
otherwise revealed what passes through a wandering mind in half an
hour, so I send you at the close of this screed, my blessing,
which is a poor gift."

At home on Sunday morning before the fire, he would often write
many letters--some of them twenty pages in length and some mere
scrappy notes. He wrote with a pencil on a pad on his knee,
rapidly stripping off the sheets for me to read, in his desire to
share all that was his, even his innermost thoughts.

To the many correspondents who have generously returned to me
their letters, and with no restrictions as to their use, I wish
particularly to express here my profound gratitude. The limits of
one volume have made it possible to use only a part of those
received, deeply as I have regretted the necessity of omitting any
of them. In making these acknowledgments I wish especially to
thank John H. Wigmore, since to him we owe all the early letters--
the only ones covering that period.

For possible future use I shall be grateful for any letters that I
have not already seen, and if in the preparation of these letters
for publication we have allowed any mistakes to slip in, I hope
that the error will be called to my attention.

Anne Wintermute Lane

March, 1922



CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

Youth--Education--Characteristics

II. POLITICS AND JOURNALISM.    1884-1894

Politics--Newspaper Work--New York--Buying into Tacoma News
--Marriage--Sale of Newspaper

LETTERS:
To John H. Wigmore
To John H. Wigmore
To John H. Wigmore
To John H. Wigmore

III. LAW PRACTICE AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.    1894-1906

Law--Drafting New City Charter--Elected as City and County Attorney--
Gubernatorial Campaign--Mayoralty Campaign--Earthquake
--Appointment as Interstate Commerce Commissioner

LETTERS:
To P. T. Spurgeon
To John H. Wigmore
To John H. Wigmore
To John H. Wigmore
To Lyman Naugle
To John H. Wigmore
To John H. Wigmore
To William R. Wheeler
To Orva G. Williams
To the Iroquois Club, Los Angeles, California
To Isadore B. Dockweiler
To Edward B. Whitney
To Hon. Theodore Roosevelt
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler
To William E. Smythe
To John H. Wigmore
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler
To William R. Wheeler
To John H. Wigmore
To William R. Wheeler

IV. RAILROAD AND NATIONAL POLITICS.    1906-1912

Increased Powers of Interstate Commerce Commission--Harriman
Inquiry--Railroad Regulation--Letters to Roosevelt

LETTERS:
To Edward F. Adams
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler
To Elihu Root
To E. B. Beard
To George W. Lane
To Charles K. McClatchy
To Lawrence F. Abbott
To John H. Wigmore
To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane
To Theodore Roosevelt
To John H. Wigmore
To William R. Wheeler
To Lawrence F. Abbott
To Charles K. McClatchy
To Charles K. McClatchy
To John Crawford Burns
To Theodore Roosevelt
To Samuel G. Blythe
To Sidney E. Mezes
To John H. Wigmore
To George W. Lane
To Carl Snyder
From Oliver Wendell Holmes
To Oliver Wendell Holmes
To John H. Wigmore
To Daniel Willard
To John McNaught

V. EXPRESS CASE--CABINET APPOINTMENTS 1912-1913

Politics--Democratic Convention--Nomination of Wilson --Report on
Express Case--Democratic Victory--Problems for New Administration
--On Cabinet Appointments

LETTERS:
To Albert Shaw
To Curt G. Pfeiffer
To George W. Lane
To Oscar S. Straus
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler,
To George W. Lane.
To John H. Wigmore.
To Timothy Spellacy.
To Adolph C. Miller.
To William F. McComba,
To Hugo K. Asher.
To Francis G. Newlands.
To Woodrow Wilson.
To William J. Bryan.
To James D. Phelan.
To Herbert Harley.
To Charles K. McClatchy.
To Ernest S. Simpson.
To Fairfax Harrison.
To James P. Brown.
To Adolph C. Miller.
To Edward M. House.
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To Sidney E. Mezes.
To John H. Wigmore.
To John H. Wigmore.
To Joseph N. Teal.
To Edward M. House.
To Mitchell Innes.

VI. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.    1913-1915

Appointment as Secretary of the Interior--Reorganization of the
Department--Home Club--Bills on Public Lands

LETTERS:

To John H. Wigmore.
To Walter H. Page.
To Edwin A. Alderman.
To Theodore Roosevelt.
To Lawrence F. Abbott.
To William M. Bole.
To Fairfax Harrison.
To Frank Reese.
To Mark Sullivan.
To Edward M. House.
To James H. Barry.
To Edward F. Adams.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson,
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To Albert Shaw.
To Charles K. Field.
To Frederic J. Lane.
To Edward E. Leake.
To William R. Wheeler.
To--.
To his Brother on his Birthday.
To Cordenio Severance.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Theodore Roosevelt.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Lawrence F. Abbott.

VII. EUROPEAN WAR AND PERSONAL CONCERNS. 1914-1915

Endorsement of Hoover--German Audacity--LL.D. from Alma Mater
--England's Sea Policy--Christmas letters

LETTERS:
To William J. Bryan.
To John Crawford Burns.
To Alexander Vogelsang.
To John H. Wigmore.
To John Crawford Burns.
To Edward J. Wheeler.
To John Crawford Burns.
To William P. Lawlor.
To William G. McAdoo.
To John Crawford Burns.
To E. W. Scripps.
To George W. Wickersham.
To Frederic J. Lane.
To John Crawford Burns.
To Eugene A. Avery.
To John F. Davis.
To Dick Mead.
To John Crawford Burns.
To Sidney E. Mezes.
To Cordenio Severance.
To Frederick Dixon.
To Robert H. Patchin.
To Francis R. Wall.
To John H. Wigmore.
To Mrs. Adolph C. Miller.
To Mrs. Magnus Andersen.
To Mrs. Adolph C. Miller.

VIII. AMERICAN AND MEXICAN AFFAIRS.

On Writing English--Visit to Monticello--Citizenship for Indians--On
Religion--American-Mexican Joint Commission

LETTERS:
To William M. Bole.
To Mrs. Adolph C. Miller.
To Edward F. Adams.
To Carl Snyder.
To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane.
To Will Irwin.
To--.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Frederic J. Lane.
To Frank L Cobb.
To George W. Wickersham.
To H. B. Brougham.
To Frederic J. Lane.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane.
To Mrs. Adolph C. Miller.
To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane.
To William R. Wheeler.
To James S. Harlan.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Alexander Vogelsang.
To Frederic J. Lane.
To Frank I. Cobb.
To R. M. Fitzgerald.
To James K. Moffitt.
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To Roland Cotton Smith.
To James H. Barry.

IX. CABINET TALK AND WAR PLANS. 1917

Cabinet Meetings--National Council of Defense--Bernstorff--War--Plan
for Railroad Consolidation--U-Boat Sinkings Revealed--Alaska

LETTERS:
To George W. Lane.
To George W. Lane.
To George W. Lane.
To Frank I. Cobb.
To George W. Lane.
To George W. Lane.
To Edward J. Wheeler.
To George W. Lane.
To Frank I. Cobb.
To George W. Lane.
To George W. Lane.
To Frank I. Cobb.
To Will Irwin.
To Robert Lansing.
To Henry Lane Eno.
To George B. Dorr.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To John O'H. Cosgrave.

X. CABINET NOTES IN WAR-TIME. 1918

Notes on Cabinet Meetings--School Gardens--A Democracy Lacks
Foresight--Use of National Resources--Washington in War-time--The
Sacrifice of War--Farms for Soldiers

LETTERS:
To Franklin K. Lane, Jr.
To George W. Lane.
To Albert Shaw.
To Walter H. Page.
To John Lyon.
To Frank Lyon.
To Miss Genevieve King.
To John McNaught.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Allan Pollok.
To E. S. Pillsbury.
To William Marion Reedy.
Notes on Cabinet Meetings.
To Daniel Willard.
To James H. Hawley.
To Samuel G. Blythe.
To George W. Lane.
To Edgar C. Bradley.

XI. AFTER-WAR PROBLEMS--LEAVING WASHINGTON. 1919

After-war Problems--Roosevelt Memorials--Americanization--Religion
--Responsibility of Press--Resignation

LETTERS:
To E. C. Bradley.
To George W. Lane.
To George W. Lane.
To William Boyce Thompson.
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To E. S. Martin.
To George W. Lane.
To Van H. Manning.
To E. C. Bradley.
To Mrs. Louise Herrick Wall.
To--.
To M. A. Mathew.
To Herbert C. Pell, Jr.
To Henry P. Davison.
To George W. Lane.
To C. S. Jackson.
To John Crawford Burns.
To Frank I. Cobb.
To Mrs. Louise Herrick Wall.
To Mrs. M. A. Andersen.
To George W. Lane.
To Daniel J. O'Neill.
To Hamlin Garland.
To Hugo K. Asher.
To Admiral Gary Grayson.
To Herbert C. Pell, Jr.
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson.
To Frank W. Mondell.
To Robert W. De Forest.

XII. POLITICAL COUNSEL--LINCOLN'S EYES. 1920

Suggestions to Democratic Nominee for President--On Election of
Senators--Lost Leaders--Lincoln's Eyes--William James's Letters

LETTERS:
To William Phelps Eno.
To Roland Cotton Smith.
To James M. Cox.
To Timothy Spellacy.
To Edward L. Doheny.
To Franklin D. Roosevelt.
To Mrs. George Ehle.
To Isadore B. Dockweiler.
To Hall McAllister.
To Mrs. George Ehle.
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To John W. Hallowell.
To John W. Hallowell.
To Robert Lansing.
To Carl Snyder.
To William R. Wheeler.
To George Otis Smith.
To George W. Wickersham.
Lincoln's Eyes.
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
To Lathrop Brown.
To Timothy Spellacy.
To Frank I. Cobb.
To John G. Gehring.
To John W. Hallowell.
To John G. Gehring.

XIII. LETTERS TO ELIZABETH. 1919-1920

LETTERS:
To Mrs. Ralph Ellis.

XIV. FRIENDS AND THE GREAT HOPE. 1921

Need for Democratic Program--Religious Faith--Men who have Influenced
Thought--A Sounder Industrial Life --A Super-University for Ideas
--"I Accept"--Fragment

LETTERS:
To Mrs. Philip C. Kauffmann.
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler.
To Lathrop Brown.
To Mrs. George Ehle.
To Mrs. William Phillips.
To James H. Barry.
To Michael A. Spellacy.
To William R. Wheeler.
To V. C. Scott O'Connor.
Letter sent to several friends.
To John G. Gehring.
To Lathrop Brown.
To Lathrop Brown.
To Adolph C. Miller.
To John G. Gehring.
To John W. Hallowell.
To Curt G. Pfeiffer.
To John G. Gehring.
To D. M. Reynolds.
To Mrs. Cordenio Severance.
To Alexander Vogelsang.
To James S. Harlan.
To Adolph C. Miller.
To Lathrop Brown.
To John G. Gehring.
To John H. Wigmore.
To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
To John W. Hallowell.
To John G. Gehring.
To Hall McAllister.
To Mrs. Frederic Peterson.
To Roland Cotton Smith.
To John G. Gehring.
To Adolph C. Miller.
To Robert Lansing.
To James D. Phelan.
To Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hertle.
To Alexander Vogelsang.
To John Finley.
To James H. Barry.
To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
To friends who had telegraphed and written for news.--"I accept."
To Alexander Vogelsang.
To John W. Hallowell.
To Robert Lansing.
Fragment.



ILLUSTRATIONS

FRANKLIN K. LANE

FRANKLIN K. LANE With his younger brothers, George and Frederic.

FRANKLIN K. LANE At eighteen.

FRANKLIN K. LANE As City and County Attorney.

FRANKLIN K. LANE, MRS. LANE, MRS. MILLER, AND ADOLPH C. MILLER

FRANKLIN K. LANE WITH Ethan Allen, Superintendent of Rainier
National Park, Washington

FRANKLIN K. LANE AND George B. Dorr
In Lafayette National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine.

FRANKLIN K. LANE IN 1917 Taken in Lafayette National Park.

"LANE PEAK," Tatoosh Range, Rainier National Park



DATES

1864.    July 15. Born near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
1871-76. Taken to California. Went to Grammar School at Napa,
         California.
1876.    Went to Oakland, California. Oakland High School.
1884-86. University of California, Berkeley, California. Special student.
1885.    Reporting on Alta California in San Francisco for John P. Irish.
1887.    Studied Hastings Law School.
1888.    Admitted to the Bar.
1889.    Special Newspaper Correspondent in New York for San
         Francisco Chronicle.
1891.    Bought interest in Tacoma News and edited that paper.
1892.    Campaigned in New York for Cleveland.
1893.    Married.
1895.    Returned to California. Practiced law.
1897-98. On Committee of One Hundred to draft new Charter for San
         Francisco.
1898.    Elected City and County Attorney to interpret new Charter.
1899.    Reelected City and County Attorney.
1901.    Reelected City and County Attorney.
1902.    Nominated for Governor of California on Democratic and
         Non-Partisan Tickets.
1903.    Democratic vote in Legislature for United States Senator.
1903.    Nominated for Mayor of San Francisco.
1905.    December. Nominated by President Roosevelt as Interstate
         Commerce Commissioner.
1906.    June 29. Confirmed by Senate as Interstate Commerce Commissioner.
1909.    Reappointed by President Taft as Interstate Commerce Commissioner.
1913.    Appointed Secretary of the Interior under President Wilson.
1916.    Chairman American-Mexican Joint Commission.
1918.    Chairman Railroad Wage Commission.
1919.    Chairman Industrial Conference.
1920.    March 1. Resigned from the Cabinet.
1920.    Vice-President of Pan-American Petroleum Company.
1921.    May 18. Died at Rochester, Minnesota.



FAMILY NAMES

Franklin K. Lane was the eldest of four children.
Father: Christopher S. Lane.
Mother: Caroline Burns.
Brothers: George W. Lane.
          Frederic J. Lane.
Sister: Maude (Mrs. M. A. Andersen).
He was married to Anne Wintermute, and had two children:
Franklin K. Lane, Jr. ("Ned").
Nancy Lane (Mrs. Philip C. Kauffmann).



THE LETTERS OF FRANKLIN K. LANE



I

INTRODUCTION

Youth--Education--Characteristics


Although Franklin Knight Lane was only fifty-seven years old when
he died, May 18, 1921, he had outlived, by many years, the men and
women who had most influenced the shaping of his early life. Of
his mother he wrote, in trying to comfort a friend, "The mystery
and the ordering of this world grows altogether inexplicable. ...
It requires far more religion or philosophy than I have, to say a
real word that might console one who has lost those who are dear
to him. Ten years ago my mother died, and I have never been
reconciled to her loss." Again he wrote of her, to his sister,
when their brother Frederic--the joyous, outdoor comrade of his
youth--was in his last illness, "Dear Fritz, dear, dear boy, how I
wish I could be there with him, though I could do no good. ... Each
night I pray for him, and I am so much of a Catholic, that I pray
to the only Saint I know, or ever knew, and ask her to help. If
she lives, her mind can reach the minds of the doctors. ... I don't
need her to intercede with God, but I would like her to intercede
with men. Why, Oh! why, do we not know whether she is or not? Then
all the Universe would be explained to me."

From those who knew him best from childhood, no word of him is
left, and none from the two men whose strength and ideality
colored his morning at the University of California--Dr. George
H. Howison, the "darling Howison" of the William James' Letters,
and Dr. Joseph H. Le Conte, the wise and gentle geologist. "Names
that were Sierras along my skyline," Lane said of such men. To Dr.
Howison he wrote in 1913, when entering President Wilson's
Cabinet, "No letter that I have ever received has given me more
real pleasure than yours, and no man has been more of an
inspiration than you."

The sealing of almost every source of intimate knowledge of the
boy, who was a mature man at twenty-two, has left the record of
the early period curiously scant. Fortunately, there are in his
letters and speeches some casual allusions to his childhood and
youth, and a few facts and anecdotes of the period from members of
his family, from school, college, and early newspaper associates.
In 1888, the story begins to gather form and coherence, for at
that date we have the first of his own letters that have been
preserved, written to his lifelong friend, John H. Wigmore. With
many breaks, especially in the early chapters, the sequence of
events, and his moods toward them, pour from him with increasing
fullness and spontaneity, until the day before he died.

All the later record exists in his letters, most of them written
almost as unconsciously as the heart sends blood to the remotest
members of the body; and they come back, now, in slow diastole,
bearing within themselves evidence of the hour and day and place
of their inception; letters written with the stub of a pencil on
copy-paper, at some sleepless dawn; or, long ago, in the wide-
spaced type of a primitive traveling typewriter, and dated,
perhaps, on the Western desert, while he was on his way to secure
water for thirsty settlers; or dashed off in the glowing moment
just after a Cabinet meeting, with the heat of the discussion
still in his veins; others on the paper of the Department of the
Interior, with the symbol of the buffalo--chosen by him--richly
embossed in white on the corner, and other letters, soiled and
worn from being long carried in the pocket and often re-read, by
the brave old reformer who had hailed Lane when he first entered
the lists. This is the part of the record that cannot be
transcribed.

Franklin Knight Lane was born on July 15, 1864, on his father's
farm near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, the eldest
of four children, all born within a few years. The low, white
farmhouse that is his birthplace still stands pleasantly
surrounded by tall trees, and at one side a huge, thirty-foot
hedge of hawthorn blooms each spring. His father, Christopher S.
Lane, was at the time of his son's birth a preacher. Later, when
his voice was affected by recurrent bronchitis, he became a
dentist. Lane speaks of him several times in his letters as a
Presbyterian, and alludes to the strict orthodoxy of his father's
faith, especially in regard to an active and personal devil.

In 1917, when in the Cabinet, during President Wilson's second
term of office, Lane wrote to his brother, "To-night we give a
dinner to the Canadians, Sir George Foster, the acting Premier,
and Sir Joseph Polk, the Under-Secretary of External Affairs, who,
by the way, was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and
says that he heard our father preach."

But it was from his mother, whose maiden name was Caroline Burns,
and who was of direct Scotch ancestry, that Franklin Lane drew
most of his physical and many of his mental traits. From her he
derived the firmly-modeled structure of his face; the watchful
Scotch eyes; a fine white skin, that weathered to an even brown,
later in life; remarkably sound teeth, large and regular, giving
firm support to the round contour of the face; and the fresh line
of his lips, that was a marked family trait. A description of him,
when he was candidate for Governor of California, at thirty-eight,
was written by Grant Wallace. Cleared of some of the hot sweetness
of a campaign rhapsody it reads:--

"Picture a man a little above the average height ... with the deep
chest and deep voice that always go with the born leader of men;
the bigness and strength of the hands ... the clear eye and broad,
firm, and expressive mouth, and the massive head that suggests
irresistibly a combination of Napoleon and Ingersoll."

These two resemblances, to Napoleon and to Robert Ingersoll, were
frequently rediscovered by others, in later years.

The description concludes by saying, "That Lane is a man of
earnestness and vigorous action is shown in ... every movement.
You sit down to chat with him in his office. As he grows
interested in the subject, he kicks his chair back, thrusts his
hands way to the elbows in his trouser pockets and strides up and
down the room. With deepening interest he speaks more rapidly and
forcibly, and charges back and forth across the carpet with the
heavy tread of a grenadier." As an older man this impetuosity was
somewhat modified. What an early interviewer called his "frank
man-to-manness" became a manner of grave and cordial
concentration. With the warm, full grasp of his hand in greeting,
he gave his complete attention to the man before him. That, and
his rich, strong laugh of pleasure, and the varied play of his
moods of earnestness, gayety, and challenge, are what men remember
best.

Lane's native bent from the first was toward public life. His
citizenship was determined when his father decided to take his
family to California, to escape the severity of the Canadian
climate. In 1902, Franklin Lane was asked how he became an
American. "By virtue of my father's citizenship," he replied, "I
have been a resident of California since seven years of age,
excepting during a brief absence in New York and Washington."

In 1871, the mother, father, and four children, after visiting two
brothers of Mrs. Lane's on the way, finally reached the town of
Napa, California.

"They came," says an old schoolmate of Napa days, "bringing with
them enough of the appearance and mannerisms of their former
environment to make us youngsters 'sit up and take notice,' for
the children were dressed in kilts, topped by handsome black
velvet and silk plaid caps. However, these costumes were soon
discarded, for at school the children found themselves the center
of both good--and bad-natured gibes, until they were glad to dress
as was the custom here." The "Lane boys," he says, were then put
into knee-trousers, "and Franklin, who was large for his age and
quite stout, looked already too old for this style," and so
continued to be annoyed by the children, until he put a forcible
end to it. "He 'licked' one of the ringleaders," says the
chronicler, and won to peace. "As we grew to know Franklin ... his
right to act became accepted ... . There was always something
about his personality which made one feel his importance."

The little California community was impressed by the close
intimacy of the home-life of the Canadian family--closer than was
usual in hurriedly settled Western towns. The father found time to
take all three boys on daily walks. Another companion remembers
seeing them starting off together for a day's hunting and fishing.
But it was the mother, who read aloud to them and told them
stories and exacted quick obedience from them, who was the real
power in the house. There were regular family prayers, and family
singing of hymns and songs.

This last custom survived among the brothers and sister through
all the years. Even after all had families of their own, and many
cares, some chance reunion, or a little family dinner would, at
parting, quicken memory and, with hats and coats already on,
perhaps, in readiness to separate to their homes, they would stand
together and shout, in unison, some song of the hour or some of
their old Scotch melodies with that pleasant harmony of voices of
one timbre, heard only in family singing.

Lane had a baritone of stirring quality, coming straight from his
big lungs, and loved music all his life. In the last weeks of his
life he more than once wrote of his pleasure in his brother's
singing. At Rochester, a few days before his operation, he
reassured an anxious friend by writing, "My brother George is
here, with his splendid philosophy and his Scotch songs."

His love and loyalty to past ties, though great and persistent,
still left his ideal of loyalty unsatisfied. Toward the end of his
life he wrote, "Roots we all have and we must not be torn up from
them and flung about as if we were young things that could take
hold in any soil. I have been--America has been--too indifferent
to roots--home roots, school roots. ... We should love stability
and tradition as well as love adventure and advancement." But the
practical labors of his life were directed toward creating means
to modify tradition in favor of a larger sort of justice than the
past had known.

Resignation had no part in his political creed. "I hold with old
Cicero 'that the whole glory of virtue is in activity,'" comes
from him with the ring of authentic temperament. And of a friend's
biography he wrote, "What a fine life--all fight, interwoven with
fun and friendship."

[Illustration with caption: FRANKLIN K. LANE WITH HIS YOUNGER
BROTHERS, GEORGE AND FREDERIC]

All the anecdotes of his boyhood show him in action, moving among
his fellows, organizing, leading, and administering rough-and-
tumble justice.

From grammar school in Napa he went, for a time, to a private
school called Oak Mound. In vacation, when he was eleven years
old, he was earning money as messenger-boy, and at about that
time as general helper to one of the merchants of the little town.
He left in his old employer's mind the memory of a boy
"exceedingly bright and enterprising." He recalls a fight that he
was told about, between Lane "and a boy of about his size," "and
Frank licked him," the old merchant exults, "and as he walked away
he said, 'If you want any more, you can get it at the same
place.'"

It was in Napa--so he could not have been quite twelve years old--
that Lane started to study Spanish, so that he might talk more
freely to the ranchers, who drove to town in their rickety little
carts, to "trade" at the stores.

In 1876, the family moved from the full sunshine of the valley
town, with its roads muffled in pale dust, and its hillsides
lifting up the green of riotous vines, to Oakland, cool and
cloudy, with a climate to create and sustain vigor. In Oakland,
just across the bay from San Francisco, Lane entered the High
School. Again his schoolmates recall him with gusto. He was
muscular in build, "a good short-distance runner." His hands--
always very characteristic of the man--were large and well-made,
strong to grasp but not adroit in the smaller crafts of tinkering.
"He impressed me," an Oakland schoolmate writes, "as a sturdy
youngster who had confidence in himself and would undoubtedly get
what he went after. Earnest and straightforward in manner," and
always engrossed in the other boys, "when they walked down Twelfth
Street, on their way to school, they had their arms around each
other's shoulders, discussing subjects of 'vast importance.'"

His capacity for organized association developed rapidly. He had
part in school orations, amateur plays, school and Sunday school
clubs. Many of these he seems to have initiated, so that, with his
school work, his life was full. He says somewhere that by the time
he was sixteen he was earning his own way. His great delight in
people, and especially in the thrust and parry of controversial
talk, held him from the solitary pleasures of fishing and hunting,
so keenly relished by his two younger brothers. One of them said
of him, "Frank can't even enjoy a view from a mountain-peak
without wanting to call some one up to share it with him." He
writes of his feeling about solitary nature to his friend George
Dorr, in 1917, in connection with improvements for the new
National Park, near Bar Harbor, "A wilderness, no matter how
impressive or beautiful does not satisfy this soul of mine (if I
have that kind of a thing). It is a challenge to man. It says,
'Master me! Put me to use! Make me more than I am!'" About his
"need of a world of men," he was equally candid. To his wife he
writes, "I am going to dinner, and before I go alone into a
lonesome club, I must send a word to you. ... The world is all
people to me. I lean upon them. They induce thought and fancy.
They give color to my life. Thrown on myself I am a stranded
bark."...

His love for cooperation and for action, "dramatic action," some
one says, never left him. In his last illness, in apolitical
crisis, he rallied the energy of younger men. He wrote of the need
of a Democratic program, suggested a group of compelling names,
"or any other group," he adds, "put up the plan and ask them what
they think of it--tentatively--just a quiet chat, but START!" And
about the same matter he wrote, "The time has come. Now strike!"

To a friend wavering over her fitness for a piece of projected
work, he said drily, "There is only one way to do a thing, and
that is to do it." Late in life, the summation of this creed of
action seemed to come when he confessed, "I cannot get over the
feeling that we are here as conquerors, not as pacifists."

And words, written and spoken words, were to him, of course, the
instrument of conquest. But the search for the fit and shining
word for his mark did not become research. In a droll letter,
about how he put simpler English into the Department of the
Interior, he tells of finding a letter written by one of the
lawyers of the Department to an Indian about his title to land,
that was "so involved and elaborately braided and beaded and
fringed that I could not understand it myself." So he sent the
ornate letter back and had it put into "straightaway English."

His own practicable English he believed he had learned through his
newspaper training. He first worked in the printing office of the
Oakland Times, then became a reporter for that paper. He went
campaigning and made speeches for the Prohibition candidate for
Governor in 1884--before he was twenty-one. The next year he was
reporting for the Alta California, edited by Colonel John P.
Irish, himself a fiery orator, of the denunciatory type. Colonel
Irish recalls that he was at once impressed with the "copious and
excellent vocabulary" of his ambitious reporter, who was, even
then, he says, "determined upon a high and useful career." In a
letter to Colonel Irish, in 1913, Lane wrote, "That simple little
card of yours was a good thing for me. It took me for a minute out
of the maelstrom of pressing business and carried me back, about
thirty years, to the time when I was a boy working for you--an
unbaked, ambitious chap, who did not know where he was going, but
was trying to get somewhere."

It is interesting to notice that in youth he did not suffer from
the usual phases of revolt from early teachings. His father was a
Prohibitionist, and Lane's first campaign was for a Prohibition
candidate for Governor; his father had been a preacher and Lane,
when very young, thought seriously of becoming a minister, so
seriously that he came before an examining board of the
Presbyterian church. After two hours of grilling, he was, though
found wanting, not rejected, but put upon a six months' probation
--the elders probably dreaded to lose so persuasive a tongue for
the sake of a little "insufficiency of damnation" in his creed.
One of his inquisitors, a Presbyterian minister, went from the
ordeal with Lane, and continued to try to convert him to the
tenets of Presbyterianism. Then suddenly, at some turn of the
talk, the clergyman abandoned his position and said carelessly,
"Well, Lane, why not become a Unitarian preacher?"

The boy who had been walking the floor at night in the struggle to
reconcile the teachings of the church with his own doubts--knowing
that Eternal Damnation was held to be the reward for doubt of
Christ's divinity--was so horrified by the casuistry of the man
who could be an orthodox minister and yet speak of preaching as
just one way to make a living, that he swung sharply from any wish
to enter the church.

The strictness of the orthodoxy of his home had not served to
alienate his sympathies, but he was chilled to the heart by this
indifference. He remembered the episode all his life with emotion,
but he was not embittered by it. He was young, a great lover,
greatly in love with life.

[Illustration with caption: FRANKLIN K. LANE AT EIGHTEEN]

In 1884, when he entered the University of California, it was as a
special not as a regular student. "I put myself through college,"
he writes to a boy seeking advice on education, "by working during
vacation and after hours, and I am very glad I did it." He seems
to have arranged all his college courses for the mornings and
carried his reporting and printing-office work the last half of
the day.

College at once offered a great forum for debate, and a richer
comradeship with men of strong mental fiber. Lane's eagerness in
discussion and love of large and sounding words made the students
call him "Demosthenes Lane." In his letters it is easy to trace
the gradual evolution from his early oratorical style into a final
form of free, imaginative expression of great simplicity.
Meanwhile, as he debated, he gathered to himself men who were to
be friends for the rest of his life. The "Sid" of the earliest
letters that we have is Dr. Sidney E. Mezes, now President of the
College of the City of New York, to whom one of his last letters
was addressed. His friendship for Dr. Wigmore, Dean of Law at the
Northwestern University, in Chicago, dates almost as far back.

In college, Lane seized what he most wanted in courses on
Philosophy and Economics. "His was a mind of many facets and
hospitable in its interest," says his college and lifelong friend,
Adolph C. Miller, "but his years at Berkeley were devoted mainly
to the study of Philosophy and Government, and kindred subjects.
He was a leading figure in the Political Science Club, and intent
in his pursuit of philosophy. Often he could be seen walking back
and forth in a room in the old Bacon library, set apart for the
more serious-minded students, with some philosophical book in
hand; every line of his face expressing deep concentration, the
occasional light in his eye clearly betraying the moment when he
was feeling the joy of understanding."

In two years, not waiting for formal graduation, Lane was back in
the world of public affairs that he had scarcely left. In the same
short-cut way he took his Hastings Law School work, and passed his
Supreme Court examination in 1888, in much less than the time
usually allowed for the work.

By the time he left the law school, "a full fledged, but not a
flying attorney," his desire for aggressive citizenship was fully
formed. In fact, the whole active campaign, that was his life, was
made by the light of early ideals, enlarged and reinterpreted as
his climb to power brought under his survey wider horizons.

The sketchiest summary of his early and late activities brings out
the singleness of the central purpose moving through his life. His
first fight, in 1888, for Ballot Reform was made that the will of
the people of the State might be honestly interpreted; later, in
Tacoma, Washington, he sided with his printers, against his
interest as owner, in their fight to maintain union wages; once
more in San Francisco, he took, without a retaining fee, the case
of the blackmailed householders whose titles were threatened by
the pretensions of the Noe claimants, and with his brother,
cleared title to all of their small homes; he joined, with his
friend, Arthur McEwen, in an editorial campaign against the
Southern Pacific, in the day of its tyrannous power over all the
shippers of California; later he drafted into the charter of San
Francisco new provisions to improve the wages of all city
employees; as its young city and county attorney, he aggressively
protected the city against street railway encroachments,
successfully enforcing the law against infractions; as Interstate
Commerce Commissioner, he disentangled a network of injustices in
the relations between shippers and railroads, exposed rebating and
demurrage evils; formulated new procedures in deflating,
reorganizing, and zoning the business of all the express companies
in the country; as Secretary of the Interior, he confirmed to the
people a fuller use of Federal Lands, and National Park Reserves,
laid the foundation for the development, on public domain, of
water powers, and the leasing of Government oil lands, and built
the Government railroad in Alaska; during the War, he contributed
to the Council of National Defense his inexhaustible enthusiasm
for cooperation, with definite plans for swift action, to focus
National resources to meet war needs; and finally, his last
carefully elaborated plan--killed by a partisan Congress--was to
place returned soldiers upon the land under conditions of hopeful
and decent independence. These were some of the "glories" of
activity into which he poured the resources of his energy and
imagination.

But no catalogue of the work or the salient mental characteristics
of Franklin Lane gives a picture of the man, without taking into
account his temperament, for that colored every hour of his life,
and every act of his career. The things that he knew seized his
imagination. Even when a middle-aged man he sang, like a
troubadour, of the fertility of the soil; he was stirred by the
virtue and energy of what he saw and touched; his heart leaped at
the thought of the power of water ready to be unlocked for man's
use--most happy in that the thing that was his he could love.

"To lose faith in the future of oil!" he cries, in the midst of a
sober statistical letter, "Why! that is as unthinkable as to lose
faith in your hands. Oil, coal, electricity, what are these but
multiplied and more adaptable, super-serviceable hands? They may
temporarily be unemployed, but the world can't go round without
them." A man who feels poetry in petroleum suffers from no wistful
"desire of the moth for the star." To his full sense of life the
moth and the star are of one essential substance, parts of one
glorious conquerable creation--and the moth just a fleck of star-
dust, with silly wings.

In truth, both then and throughout most of the days of his life he
was completely oriented in this world, at home here, with his
strong feet planted upon reality. He liked so many homely things,
that his friendly glance responded to common sunlight without
astigmatism.

That his sympathies should have outrun his repugnances was of
great practical moment in what he was able to achieve in a life
shortened at both ends, for though he had to lose time by earning
his own professional equipment, he lost little energy in friction.
He wrote to a political aspirant for high office, in 1921, "Pick a
few enemies and pick them with discretion. Chiefly be FOR things."
To a man who was making a personal attack on an adversary of
Lane's, while in 1914, as Secretary of the Interior, he was
engrossed in establishing his "conservation-by-use" policy, in
opposition to the older and narrower policy of conservation by
withdrawal, Lane wrote, "I have never seen any good come by
blurring an issue by personal conflict or antagonisms. ... I have
no time to waste in fighting people ... to fight for a thing the
best way is to show its advantages, and the need for it ... and my
only solicitude is that the things I care for should not be held
back by personal disputes." ...

This lesson he had learned more from his own temperament than from
political expediency. It was bound up in his love of efficiency
and also in his sense of humor. During this same hot conservation
controversy he writes to an old friend, "I have no intention of
saying anything in reply to Pinchot. He wrote me thirty pages to
prove that I was a liar, and rather than read that again I will
admit the fact."

This preoccupation with the main issue, in getting beneficial
results was one thing that made him glad to acclaim and use the
gifts of other men. Through his sympathies he could follow as well
as lead, and he caught enthusiasms as well as kindled them. He
believed in enthusiasm for itself, and because he saw in it one of
the great potencies of life. In writing of D'Annunzio's placing
Italy beside the Allies, he rejoices in the beautiful spectacle of
the spirit of a whole people "blown into flame by a poet-patriot."
But "the ideal," he urges, "must be translated into the possible.
Man cannot live by bread alone--nor on manna."

His gay and challenging attitude toward life expressed only one
mood, for he paid, as men must, for intense buoyancy of temper by
black despairs. "Damn that Irish temperament, anyway!" he writes.
"O God, that I had been made a stolid, phlegmatic, non-nervous,
self-satisfied Britisher, instead of a wild cross between a crazy
Irishman with dreams, desires, fancies--and a dour Scot with his
conscience and his logical bitterness against himself--and his
eternal drive!"

His exaggerations of hope and his moods of broken disappointment,
his ever-springing faith in men, and in the possibility of just
institutions, were more temperamental than logical. Moods of
astonished grief, when men showed greed and instability, gave
place to humorous and tolerant analysis of characters and events.
Even his loyalty to his friends was subject to the slight magnetic
deflections of a man of moods. He was true to them as the needle
to the pole; and with just the same piquing oscillations, before
the needle comes to rest at the inevitable North.

Because he had caught, in its capricious rhythms, the subtle
movements of human intercourse he trusted himself to express to
other men the natural man within his breast, without fear of
misconstruction. He contrived to humanize, in parts, even his
government reports. They brought him, year by year, touching
letters of gratitude from weary political writers. The patient,
logical Scot in him that said, "I am going to take this thing up
bit by bit without trying to get a whole philosophy into the
work," anchored him to the heaviest tasks as if he were a true-
born plodder, while the "wild Irishman" with dreams and desires
lighted the way with gleams of Will-o'-the-Wisp. The quicksilver
in the veins of the patient Mercutio of railroad rates and
demurrage charges lightened his work for himself and others. Just
as in the five years when he served San Francisco, as City and
County Attorney, he labored to such effect that not one of his
hundreds of legal opinions was reversed by the Supreme Court of
the State, so he toiled on these same Annual Reports, so immersed
that, as he says, "I even have to take the blamed stuff to bed
with me." Fourteen and sixteen hours at his official desk were not
his longest hours, and sometimes he snatched a dinner of shredded
biscuit from beside the day's accumulations of papers upon his
heaped-up desk. He laid upon himself the burden of labor,
examining and cross-examining men for hours upon a single point of
essential fact--quick to detect fraud and intolerant of humbug,--
but infinitely patient with those who were merely dull, evading no
drudgery, and, above all, never evading the dear pains of
building-up and maintaining friendship.

LOUISE HERRICK WALL

MARCH, 1922



II

POLITICS AND JOURNALISM

1884-1894

POLITICS--NEWSPAPER WORK--NEW YORK--BUYING INTO TACOMA NEWS--
MARRIAGE--SALE OF NEWSPAPER


FRANKLIN K. LANE'S earliest political association, in California,
after reaching manhood, was with John H. Wigmore. Wigmore had
returned from Harvard, in 1883, with a plan, already matured, for
Civic Reform. The Municipal Reform League, created by Wigmore,
Lane, and several other young men, was to follow the general
outline of boss control, by precinct and ward organization, the
difference being that the League members were to hold no offices,
enjoy no spoils, and work for clean city politics. Each member of
the inner circle was to take over and make himself responsible for
a definite city district, making a card index of the name of each
voter, taking a real part in all caucus meetings--in saloon
parlors or wherever they were held--and studying practical
politics at first hand. "Blind Boss Buckley" was the Democratic
dictator of San Francisco, and against his regime the initial
efforts of the League were directed.

It was a giant's task, an impossible task, for a small group of
newspaper writers and college undergraduates. The short career of
the Municipal Reform League ended when Wigmore went East to study
law, leaving Lane determined to increase his efficiency by earning
his way through college and the Hastings Law School.

The first letters of this volume follow the theme of the political
interests of the two young men.



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Oakland, February 27, 1888

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--I am thinking of getting back in your part of
the world myself, and this is what I especially wanted to write
you about. I desire to see the world, to rub off some of my
provincialisms, to broaden a little before I settle down to a
prosaic existence. So, as I say, I want to live in Boston awhile
and my only possibility of so doing is to get a position on some
Boston paper, something that will afford me a living and allow
some little time for social and literary life. However I don't
care much what the billet is. I can bring letters of
recommendation from all the good newspaper men in San Francisco,
both as to my ability at editorial work (I have done considerable
for the San Francisco NEWS LETTER and EXAMINER), and at all kinds
of reportorial work. ...

I passed the law examination before the Supreme Court last month,
so I am now a full-fledged--but not a flying, attorney. I have not
determined definitely on going into law. ...

Politically speaking we Mugwumps out here are happy. ...
California has been opposed to Cleveland on every one of his great
proposals (civil service reform, silver question, tariff reform),
and yet the Republicans must nominate a very strong man to get
this State this year. The people admire old Grover's strength so
much, he is a positive man and an honest man, and when the people
see these two exceptional virtues mixed happily in a candidate
they grow to love and admire him out of the very idealism of their
natures.

But I must not bother the Boston attorney any longer. Write me all
you know of opportunities there and believe me always your friend,

FRANK K. LANE



TO JOHN B. WIGMORE

Oakland, May 9, 1888

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--Of course I would have to stand my chances in
getting a position. Newspaper men, perhaps more than any other
class, are rated by ability. Civil Service Reform principles rule
in every good newspaper office to their fullest extent. When I
wrote you, I was unsettled as to my plans for the coming year. My
brother desired to spend a year or so in Boston and I thought of
accompanying him. He has changed his plans and so have I. ... I am
regularly on the Chronicle staff, chiefly writing sensational
stories. I get a regular salary of twenty-five dollars a week
besides some extras, and have as easy and pleasant a billet as
there is on the paper, though editorial work would be more to my
liking.

These arrangements do not interfere, however, with my Boston plan,
for sooner or later I shall breathe its intellectual atmosphere,
that I may outgrow provincialism and become intellectual by force
of habit rather than will. How long it will be before the wish can
be gratified I cannot tell. Probably next year. You see the law is
not altogether after my taste. I feel it a waste of time to spend
days quarreling like school-boys over a few hundred dollars. I
feel all the time as if I must be engaged in some life work which
will make more directly for the good of my fellows. I feel the
need which the world manifests for broader ideas in economics,
politics, the philosophy of life, and all social questions.
Feeling so, I cannot coop myself in a law library behind a pile of
briefs, spending my days and nights in search of some authority
which will save my client's dollar. I am unsettled, however, as to
my permanent work. ...

Oakland, September 20, 1888

... The copies of the Massachusetts law have been duly received
and put to the best of use. On my motion our Young Men's League
appointed a Committee to draft a law for presentation to the
Legislature. Judge Maguire, Ferd, [Footnote: Ferdinand Vassault, a
college friend. ] and two others, with myself, are on that
Committee and we are hard at work. I send to-day a copy of the
Examiner containing a ballot reform bill just introduced by the
Federated Trades. It is based on the New York law but is very
faulty. We are working with that bill as a basis, proposing
various and very necessary amendments. We hope to get our bill
adopted in Committee as a substitute for the one introduced, and
believe that the Federated Trades will be perfectly willing to
adopt our measure. ...

Tell me, please, how you select your election officials in your
large cities. Our mode of selection is really the weak point with
us, for no matter how good a law we might procure, its enforcement
would be left to "boss" tools--corruptionists of the worst
class. ...

Oakland, December 2, 1888

... Your letter breathes the sentiments of thousands of
Republicans who voted against Cleveland. They are now "just a
little" sorry that so good a man is beaten. I never quite
understood your political position. Your letter to Ferd giving
your reason was, I must say, not conclusive, for I cannot believe
that you can find a greater field of usefulness or power in the
Republican than in the Democratic party, surely not now that the
new Democracy--a party aggressive, filled with the reform spirit,
and right in the direction it takes, now that such a party is in
the field.

You surely ought to join us on the tariff fight, but then I wish
you the best of fortune whatever your choice. Ferd and several
others with myself are now organizing what will some day be a
great state, if not a great national institution. We call it the
Young Men's Democratic League [Footnote: This plan seems to have
been to enlarge the influence of the League mentioned in a former
letter.]--it is to be made up of young men from twenty-one to
forty-five; its scope--national politics, election of President
and Congressmen, and its immediate purpose to inform the people on
the tariff question. When our Constitution is published you shall
have one. We expect to organize branches all over the State and in
a year or two will be strong in the thousands.

Your election article was of a singular kind but VERY good. I have
loaned it out among the old crowd. I spoke of it to Judge
Sullivan, who is compiling authorities on the "intention of the
voter" as governing, where the spelling is wrong on a ballot.
Sullivan ran for Supreme Justice and ran thousands ahead of his
ticket (the Democratic) but thinks that he was defeated by votes
thrown out in Alameda and Los Angeles counties because of
irregularities in the ballot--in one case his initials were
printed "J. D." instead of "J, F."--in another instance, his name
was printed a little below the title of the office, because of the
narrowness of the ticket. If these ballots were counted for him he
thinks he would have won. ...

Fourteen years later, when the electoral count was made of
Franklin K. Lane's ballots for Governor of the State of
California, between eight and ten thousand ballots were thrown out
on similar ground of "irregularities," and he was counted out,
"the intention of the voter" being again frustrated.



To John H. Wigmore

San Francisco, California, January 29, 1889

My dear Wigmore,-- ... I want to report progress. We now have our
bill complete. ... The bill I send has been adopted by the
Federated Trades and will be substituted by them for their bill
now before the House. ...

On Saturday evening there will be one of those huge "spontaneous"
mass meetings (which require so much preparation) in support and
endorsement of the bill. The most prominent men in both Houses of
the Legislature will speak. ...

San Francisco, February 17, 1889

... I never have been busier in my life than in the last two
weeks. Ballot Reform has taken up a very great portion of my time.
I have just returned from a lobbying trip to Sacramento. The bill
will not pass, though the best men in both Houses favor it. I went
up on the invitation of the chairman of the Assembly Committee to
address the Committee. I spoke for an hour and a half. At the end
of that time only one man in the group openly opposed the scheme,
and he confessed that the bill would do just what I claimed for
it, and made this confession to the Committee. "But," said he, "it
tends to the disintegration of political parties and as they are
essential to our life we must not help on their destruction." ...

The Committee of the Senate decided without any debate on the bill
to report adversely to it. I got them to reconsider their vote,
and we will have a hearing at any rate before the bill is killed.
The Legislature is altogether for boodle. ...

Your book has been of the greatest assistance to me. I virtually
made my speech from it and left the book with the chairman of the
Committee at his special request. ... If it had come out a month
sooner we would have stood fifty per cent better chance of getting
the bill through, because the papers would have come to the front
so much sooner and we would have been thirty days ahead with our
bill. I tell you I felt quite proud in addressing the
distinguished legislature to refer to "my friend Wigmore's book."
...

San Francisco, May 10, 1889

... I am coming nearer to you. On Monday I leave to take up my
residence in New York, as correspondent for the San Francisco
Chronicle. I do not know where I will be located, but mail
addressed to me at the Hoffman House will reach me when I arrive,
which will be in about ten days.

My purpose is to breathe a new atmosphere for a while so that I
may broaden. We must make arrangements soon to meet. I want to
know your New York reform friends. ...

New York, June 21, 1889

... This lapse of a couple of weeks means that I have been
enjoying the delights of a New York summer, in which only slaves
work and many of these find refuge in suicide. ...

Not a single reformer, big or little, have I yet met. Your friend
Bishop [Footnote: Joseph Bucklin Bishop, editor of Theodore
Roosevelt and His Time.] I have not called on, though I have twice
started to do so, and have been switched off. ... I will go within
a couple of days for the spirit must be revived. One day early in
this week I had an intense desire to visit you immediately and was
almost on the verge of letting things go and rush off, but duty
held me. ...

I see that Bellamy has captured Higginson, Savage, and others and
that they are going to work over the Kinsley-Maurice business.
Well, I would to God it would work. Something to make life happier
and steadier for these poor women and men who toil and never get
beyond a piece of meat and a cot! There is justification here for
a social-economic revolution and it will come, too, if things are
not bettered.

If you have a stray thought let me know it and soon.

Your friend,

F. K. L.

Lane's desire for stimulating companionship in New York was
quickly gratified. A spontaneous association of friendships, based
upon a young delight in life and a vast curiosity of the mind,
sprang up among a little group of men of very diverse types. All
were strangers in New York with no immediate home ties. "Women
played no part in our lives," one of them recalls. "We came
together to discuss plays, poetry, politics, anything and
everything--the great actors, comic operas, the songs of the
streets, science, politics." John Crawford Burns, Lane, Brydon
Lamb, Curt Pfeiffer formed the nucleus of what spread out
irregularly into larger groupings.

John Crawford Burns, who was slightly older than the rest, a
purist, and something of a "dour Scot," was a man of conservative
and cultivated tastes and the dean of the group. He was in a
business house that imported linens, and lived in a "glorious room
with two outside windows, and ample seating capacity," so the
friends often met there and learned something of Gothic
architecture and of the abominations of slang, in spite of
themselves. With Burns, and of his firm, was Brydon Lamb, "also of
Scotch descent, but born in America, a delightful combination of
strength, sweetness and light. The simple grace of his manner, his
unhurried speech, his urbanity, captivated us all. We loved him
for what he was, and we considered him our arbiter elegantiarum"
Of Lane at that period the same friend writes, "I remember a fine,
stocky, muscular presence with a striking head. A massive,
commanding man, he was, a persuasive and compelling leader." But
none of the men had any sense of anything but complete friendly,
boyish equality. "Lane was," Pfeiffer says, "interested in human
beings, not problems, excepting as their solution might be made
serviceable to the needs of individuals. He had great tolerance
for the most unusual opinions. I don't think Lane ever had much
interest in the dogmas of science, religion, or philosophy; he
lived by the spirit of them, that cannot be expressed in formulae.
He had the peculiar sensitiveness of a poet for words, for colors
and sounds, and for moral beauty, and blended with it the
statesman's observant awareness of conditions in the world of
affairs."

At the beginning of their friendship, in 1889, Curt Pfeiffer
himself was only nineteen years old, a youth whose family had come
from Holland and Germany. He appeared in the boarding-house on
32nd near Broadway, where Burns lived, fresh from three months at
the Paris Exposition, a vacation that had followed a course of
scientific study at Zurich, Switzerland. The wonders of Paris,
a-glitter with the blaze of undreamed-of electrical beauty, and the
greater wonder of the scientific discoveries and speculations, of
the eighties, as taught at the University of Zurich, gave the
young traveler an instant place among the others. Because of his
love for exact statement and his scientific approach in
discussion, young as he was, he contributed something very real to
the group whose chief preoccupation--aside from the joy of living-
was with art, government, and literature.

They read separately, and when a book seemed intolerably good to
the discoverer, he brought it in and insisted on their reading
parts of it together. Browning, Darwin, the Vedic Hymns,
Stevenson, Taine, Buckle, Spencer, Kipling, Sir Henry Maine, on
primitive law, and Emerson! The relation of the men was almost
impersonal in the fervor of their explorations into life.
Differences of blood and tradition were not only easily bridged
but welcomed, because they assured, to the group as a whole,
sharper angles of mental refraction--breaking the ray of truth
they sought into more of its component colors.

Pfeiffer recalls that "one Saturday night, under the influence of
reading from the Vedic Hymns, and a talk on astronomy, we went up
on the roof of our boarding-place, and observed a complete
revolution of the starry heavens, from dusk to dawn. We drifted
into talk, ... and when we finally descended to our beds on Sunday
morning, we found ourselves drenched to the skin from the
drizzling dew. We never forgot that experience, but we never
repeated it either."

His political interests brought Lane into the Reform Club where
Progress and Poverty, Henry George's new book, was the center for
discussion upon the whole problem of the distribution of taxation.
Lane and Henry George established a cordial friendship.

John Crawford Burns says that in 1889 "Lane's chief hero was
Cleveland, and his oracle Godkin, of the EVENING POST"--later, the
NATION. "When I knew him in New York he represented a San
Francisco newspaper, the CHRONICLE, I think, as correspondent. He
was not whole-heartedly in sympathy with his proprietor, nor
indeed with the sensational aspect of journalism, and he always
scoffed at the idea of newspaper writers constituting a modern
priesthood. He laughingly justified his association with the
CHRONICLE by saying he gave tone to it. For this and other
services, he received, I think, two thousand dollars a year, which
even thirty years ago did not admit of luxury and riotous living."

Lane's whole stay in New York was less than two years in length,
but the vital ideas that he shared with disinterested minds made
of this period the seed-bed for future intellectual growth.

In 1891, in spite of the delights of personal friendships, in New
York, Lane grew increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of
newspaper corresponding. He wanted a paper of his own, in which he
could express without reserve the ideals of social and political
betterment with which his mind was teeming. In this mood, the
first acclaim of the rapid growth of the pioneer towns of the far
Northwest reached him. He saw in this his opportunity, and acted
quickly and decisively. He gathered together his own savings,
borrowed from his friend, Sidney Mezes, a few more thousand
dollars and went to Tacoma, Washington, to buy the Tacoma Evening
News.

As soon as the transfer was well made, Lane threw himself
enthusiastically into the politics of the new town, already
suffering from boss rule. By his editorials he succeeded in
stirring up the City Hall, and drove into Alaskan exile the Chief
of Police--who, by the way, was said to have become immensely rich
in Alaska while Lane's paper was running into bankruptcy in
Tacoma. But Lane's misadventure was not wholly due to his civic
virtue. He had "bought in" at just the moment when the instruments
were tuning up for the prelude to the great panic crash of 1893.
Tacoma, and the whole Northwest, had been mainly developed by
casual investments of speculative Eastern capital, and this
capital, sensitive to change, was being withdrawn to meet home
needs. Investors, to protect real interests, were willing to
sacrifice their "little Western flyers," at almost any discount.

As the terminal of the new Northern Pacific Railroad, Tacoma--
lying on the bluffs overlooking the great inland sea of Puget
Sound, guardianed by the vastness of its mountain--was backed by
forests whose wealth could scarcely be exaggerated, even by
promoter's advertisements. She was noisily proclaimed to be the
"Gateway to the Orient," but trade was not yet firmly established
with the Orient, and, indeed, what was Washington's wealth of
uncut timber when the capital to develop it was slowly ebbing
Eastward?

No paper without heavy capitalization, could have sustained a
policy of political reform, when, in the picturesque vernacular of
the time and place, "the bottom had dropped out of the town." A
rival newspaper, the LEDGER, in order to retrench, began a war on
the Printers' Union, to break wages. Lane repudiated the effort
made to "rat" his paper and to force the Union out. He sustained
his men in their fight to keep the Union rate, and lent them his
presses to carry on their propaganda. In after years he said, "As
to my labor record, it is a consistent one of thirty years length,
ever since I stood by the Union in Tacoma, and went broke." Again
he wrote to an acquaintance, "I often think of the old days in
Tacoma. We were a fighting bunch, and I think most of us are
fighting for the same things that we fought for then; a little bit
more decency and less graft in affairs, and a chance for a man to
rise by ability and not by pull alone."

In April, 1893, Lane had married Anne Wintermute--he needed all
he could find of cheer in those depressing days. The whole town
was beaten to its knees by loss and fore-closure. Lane was
struggling to hold together his paper, and save his friend's
investment and his own little stake. The one bright interlude of
that time for him lay in reading, and in his new friendships. He
loved to chant aloud to a group of stranded young fellows gathered
in his rooms, in his gay trumpeting way, brave passages from the
Barrack-Room Ballads, of Kipling, that were lifting the spirits
of the English-speaking world with their freshness and daring.
Stevenson, too, with his polished optimism delighted Lane. "I can
remember," says one of the group, "just how I heard him read aloud
the last words from Stevenson's essay, Aes Triplex, in those
melancholy Tacoma days--'those happy days when we were so
miserable!'":--

"All who have meant good work with their whole hearts, have done
good work, although they may die before they have the time to sign
it. ... Does not life go down with a better grace, foaming in full
body over a precipice, than miserably straggling to an end in
sandy deltas? When the Greeks made their fine saying that those
whom the Gods love die young, I cannot help believing they had
this sort of death also in their eye. For surely, at whatever age
it overtake the man, this is to die young. Death has not been
suffered to take so much as an illusion from his heart. In the
hot-fit of life, a-tip-toe on the highest point of being, he
passes at a bound on to the other side. The noise of the mallet
and chisel is scarcely quenched, the trumpets are hardly done
blowing, when, trailing with him clouds of glory, this happy-
starred, full-blooded spirit shoots into the spiritual land."

Still believing in the good work he had meant with his whole
heart, Lane turned from the bankruptcy of his paper, sold at
auction, to write to his friend of new adventures.



To John H. Wigmore

Tacoma, October 25, 1894

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--I have not heard from you for a year. You are in
my debt at least one, and I think two, letters. I have sent you an
occasional paper, just to let you know I was alive and I am
hazarding this letter to the old address. ...

My affairs here have not prospered and I am thinking of going
somewhere else. ... Do you think Japan has anything to offer a
man such as myself? Would there be any chance there for a
newspaper run by an American? Are there any wealthy Americans
there who would be likely to put up a few thousands for such an
enterprise? ... Life is not the "giddy, reeling dream of love and
fame" that it once was, and I have decided on gathering a few
essential dollars. Now Japan may not be the place I am looking
for, ... but unless I am greatly mistaken, a man who is up on
American affairs and alive to business opportunities could do well
in Japan. But then this is all a guess, and I want you to put me
right ...

Yours very truly,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



III

LAW PRACTICE AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 1894-1906

Law--Drafting New City Charter--Elected as City and County
Attorney--Gubernatorial Campaign--Mayoralty Campaign--Earthquake
--Appointment as Interstate Commerce Commissioner


Late in the fall of 1894 Lane returned to San Francisco and for
some months associated himself with Arthur McEwen, on Arthur
McEwen's Letter, a lively political weekly which attacked various
forms of civic corruption in San Francisco, and made an especial
target of the Southern Pacific Railroad, then in practical control
of the State.

He also formed a law partnership with his brother, George W. Lane,
under the firm name of Lane and Lane. In 1895 a curious case,
estimated as involving about sixty million dollars worth of
property, was brought to the young attorneys. The Star, of San
Francisco, described the issue at stake by saying, "One Jose Noe
and four alleged grand-children of Jose Noe appear, who pretend
that they can show a clear title to an undivided one-half interest
in nearly forty-five hundred acres within the city, on which land
reside some five thousand or more owners, mostly men of small
means."

Upon investigation Lane and his brother became convinced that the
suit had been instituted as a blackmailing scheme, in an attempt
to force the owners to pay for quit-claim deeds; they took and
energetically fought the case for the defendants, without asking
for a retainer. Their clients formed themselves into what they
called the San Miguel Defense Association. In a year the title of
the householders to their little homes was established beyond
peradventure.

With the warmth of Latin gratitude this service was remembered. In
1898 when Lane ran for his first political office, as City and
County Attorney, the San Miguel Defense Association revived its
energies, formed a Franklin K. Lane Campaign Club and sent out
vivid circulars about Franklin K. Lane, "who nobly fought for us.
... It is now our turn to stand by him and see that he is elected
by a very large majority." Their proclamation ended with the
appeal, "Vote for Franklin K. Lane, the Foe to Blackmailers."

As Lane's plurality in this first election was eight hundred and
thirty-two votes, there is little doubt that his grateful clients
played a real part in that success.

The Tacoma printers had also sent a testimonial, which was widely
distributed in the campaign, as to Lane's friendship to labor,
saying that they, in gratitude, had made him an honorary member of
their Typographical Union. The campaign was made on the rights of
the plain people, for its chief issue.

In the letter that follows, Lane, in 1913, tells of his formal
entry into politics, in 1898.



To P. T. Spurgcon Herald, McClure Newspaper Syndicate

Washington, December 30, 1913

DEAR MR. SPURGEON,--In reply to your inquiry of December 29,
permit me to say that I got into politics in this way:--

One day, while on my way to lunch, I met Mayor Phelan, of San
Francisco, who asked me if I would become a member of the
committee to draft a charter for the city. I said I would, and was
appointed. At that time I was practising law and had no idea
whatever that I would at any time run for public office, or take
any considerable part in public affairs. I helped to draft the
charter, and as it had to be submitted to the people for
ratification, I stumped the city for it. Later, when the first
election was held under it, my friends on the charter committee
insisted that I should accept the Democratic nomination for City
Attorney. Under the charter, the City Attorney was the legal
adviser of all the city and county officials, and it was his
business to define and construe this organic law, and the friends
of the charter wished some one who was in sympathy with the
instrument to give it initial construction.

I was nominated by the Democratic party by an independent movement
and was elected; later re-elected, and elected for a third term.
After an unsuccessful candidacy for the governorship, I was
appointed a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission by
President Roosevelt.

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John H. Wigmore

San Francisco, November 14, 1898

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--This is a formal note of acknowledgment of the
service rendered me in the campaign, which has just closed
successfully. There were only three Democrats elected on the
general ticket, the Mayor, Assessor, and myself. I ran four
thousand five hundred votes ahead of my ticket. It was a splendid
tribute to worth! I never before realized how discriminating the
American public is. A man who scoffs at Democratic institutions
must be a tyrant at heart, or a defeated candidate. I tell you the
people know a good man when they see one.

My opponent was the present Attorney General of the State, W. F.
Fitzgerald, a very capable man, and probably the best man on the
Republican ticket. He has been steadily in office for thirty
years, in Mississippi, Arizona, and California, and this is his
first defeat; and I sincerely regret that I had to take a fall out
of such a gentleman.

Now, the perplexing problem arises as to how long I shall hold
office. The term is for two years. The new charter comes up before
the coming Legislature for approval in January, and that
instrument provides for another election next fall, to fill all
City and County offices. ...

I don't want to stay in politics, two years in the office will be
long enough for me. I hope that I shall make a creditable record.
I can foresee that strong pressure will be brought to bear upon me
to act with the Examiner in making things disagreeable for the
corporations, and I will have no easy task in gaining the approval
of my own party, and of my conscience and judgment at the same
time.

Let me thank you again very earnestly for what you did, and
believe me. Yours sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

The City Charter that Lane had helped to draft, with its many new
provisions, never before adjudicated, made his first term as City
and County Attorney one requiring an especial amount of laborious
legal study. To meet the pressing need, Lane organized his corps
of assistants to include several men of marked legal ability and
the industry that the task demanded, appointing his brother,
George W. Lane, as his first assistant.

It was partly due to the good team-work of the office that his
opinions rendered in four years were as "numerous as those
heretofore rendered by the department in about sixteen years," and
that during one of the years of his incumbency "snot a dollar of
damages was obtained against the city."

[Illustration with caption: FRANKLIN K. LANE AS CITY AND COUNTY
ATTORNEY]



To John H. Wigmore

San Francisco, September 25, [1899]

MY DEAR WIGMORE,-- ... As an evidence of what I am doing I sent
you a brief three or four days ago in the Charter case. I have
another just filed on the question of county officers holding over
under the Charter, a third on the new primary law which is a grand
thing if we can make it stick, and a fourth on the taxation of
bonds of quasi-public corporations, and a fifth on the taxation of
National Bank stock.

I have hardly seen my baby for six weeks; have been at the office
from nine A.M. to eleven P.M. regularly. And now that I am nearly
dead a new campaign is on and I must run again. And, of course, I
have enemies now which I hadn't last year.

Thank you once again for so kindly remembering me.

Yours sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Lane's first child, a son, was born in the spring of 1898. He is
the "Ned" of the letters--Franklin K. Lane, Jr. Lane's attitude
toward children is shown in many of his letters. His own boy gave
a strong impetus to his most disinterested social ideals. In
writing of the birth of a friend's baby he said, "For the child we
act nobly, its call to us is always to our finer side.



To John H. Wigmore

San Francisco, November 10

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--This is to be a mere bulletin. I am elected once
again--10,500 majority, the largest received by any candidate. You
expected me to run for Mayor I know. Well, it was offered me--the
nomination, I mean--and all my campaign expenses promised. But I
couldn't accept, having told the Labor Union people that I was a
candidate for City Attorney and not for Mayor. This Labor Union
Party is a new one, the outgrowth of the recent strike. They have
elected their Mayor, a musician named Schmitz, a decent,
conservative young man, who will surprise the decent moneyed
people and anger the laboring people with his
conservatism.[Footnote: Lane lived to smile at his too charitable
characterization of this San Francisco Mayor.] I didn't have one
single word of praise from a newspaper in the campaign. They
hardly mentioned the fact that I was a candidate. It was jolly
good therefore to win as I did.

And my congratulations to you, my honored friend, Dean Wigmore.
Next year I am to publish my Opinions, a copy of which, of course,
will go to you, but not by virtue of your office, old man. You are
arriving, of course, but there is something better in store. A
Federal Judgeship is the thing for you; and when I get into the
Cabinet you shall have it. But don't wait till then. I'm gray and
bald now and my boy patronizes me. So don't wait, but get your
lines out, and one of these days you'll make it. Where next I
shall land I don't know, probably in a law office, praying for
clients. ... Always yours,

F. K. L.

Lane's first majority in 1898 of 832 votes was increased to 10,500
in 1899, when he was re-elected; and two years later he won by a
still larger majority. A number of his opinions, as City Attorney,
were collected and bound in a volume, as none of them had been
reversed by the Supreme Court of the State.

He took much pleasure in a dinner club that he helped to form. The
members were University professors, lawyers, newspaper men, and a
few business men. "But," says one of them, "in spirit they were
poets, philosophers and prophets. They were aware that their
solutions of problems vexing to the brains of other men, would be
Utopian, but as they were not willing to be classed with ordinary
Utopians they named their club Amaurot, after the capital of
Utopia, thus signifying that while they dwelt in Utopia, they were
not subject to it but were lords of it--the teachers of its wisdom
and the makers of its laws."

His home life absorbed much of his leisure. He and his family had
moved into a modest house on Gough Street, in San Francisco, with
a view of the bay, Alcatraz Island, and the Marin Hills from the
upstairs living-room window--for no house was a home to Lane that
had no view--and in the back-yard, among its red geraniums and
cosmos bushes, he played Treasure Island and Wild West with his
boy.

In the summer of 1902, Lane was nominated as the Democratic and
Non-Partisan candidate for Governor of California. At the
Democratic Convention at Sacramento, an onlooker described the
excitement among the delegates before a selection was made,
"Throughout the night until late afternoon of the second day,
without any clear solution of the problem, came the roll-call of
the counties, then a wild stampede for the young City and County
Attorney of San Francisco, who was borne to the platform. ...

"It was Franklin K. Lane who stood a goodly and confident figure,
waving a palm-leaf fan for quiet. He said:--

"'I was in the rear of the hall when Governor Budd made his speech
and voiced the call of the party for a winner, and, in response to
his call, I have taken this platform.'"

This note of joyous truculence, with the little out-thrust of the
underlip, brought, as so often before and since, laughter and
applause.

A hot and spirited campaign followed. California is naturally
Republican, and Lane had many times challenged and attacked the
great powers of the State. He made as his chief issues,
Irrigation, Prison Reform, and a fairer share in the world's goods
for all the people. He traveled far and fast, often speaking six
times in a day, at different places, and sometimes riding a
hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours, over the rough roads
of remote counties.

While campaigning he outlined his notion of public service in this
way, "No man should have a political office because he wants a
job. A public office is not a job, it is an opportunity to do
something for the public. Once in office it remains for him to
prove that the opportunity was not wasted. ..." And again he
said,--"There is nothing that touches me so, in the little that I
have seen in political life, as this, that while it is a game in
which men can be mean, contemptible and dastardly, it is a game
also that brings out the finer, better, and nobler qualities. I
know why some men are in politics to their own financial loss.
Because they find it is a great big man's game, which calls for
men to fight it, and they want to stand beside their fellows and
do battle."

In regretting that he could not attend a Democratic meeting, at
Richmond, California, he sent this letter,--



TO LYMAN NAUGLE

MY DEAR MR. NAUGLE,-- ... The cause of Democracy is being given
more sincere and thoughtful interest this campaign than for many
years. One of its cardinal principles is that the individual is
more important to the State than mere property, and that the
welfare of the majority of our citizens must always be paramount
and their rights prevail, no matter what the weight of influence
in the other side of the balance. It is work and personal worth
which make a State great both politically and industrially, and in
my estimation they are to be found in largest proportions in the
Democratic party. For these reasons I believe there will be a very
large change in the vote of this State in our coming election.
Reports have reached me from many parts of the State, and I am
entirely satisfied that we shall win this fight provided that we
do our full share of earnest work, if that be lacking we don't
deserve it. ... Yours for honest victory,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

At first Hearst's powerful paper, the San Francisco Examiner, took
a negative tone toward Lane's candidacy but soon became
dangerously, if covertly, antagonistic. Of Hearst's methods of
attack Lane wrote, in detail, on July 3, 1912, to Governor Woodrow
Wilson, then Democratic nominee for the Presidency. After
enumerating one specific count after another against the Examiner
Lane said:--

"When a boy putting myself through college I was business manager
of a temperance paper which advocated prohibition. He [Hearst]
published extracts from this paper and credited them to me, and on
the morning of election day sent a special train throughout the
whole of Northern California containing an issue of his paper,
appealing to the saloon-keepers and wine-growers for my defeat.

"... No editorial word of his disfavor appeared, but in every news
article there was in the headline a cunning turn or twist,
calculated to arouse prejudice against me. I notice in this
morning's issue of the American the same policy is being pursued
regarding you.

"Now the great mistake I made was in not boldly telling the public
just what I knew. ... I felt that it was a personal matter with
which the public was not concerned, but I know now, as I have
gotten older and seen more of politics, that it was a public
matter of the first importance, as to which the public should have
had knowledge.

"Later when he [Hearst] budded as a candidate for President, in
1904, he sought an interview with me and said that he was not to
blame for the policy that had been pursued. Our interview closed
with this dialogue:--

"'Mr. Lane, if you ever wish anything that I can do, all you will
have to do will be to send me a telegram asking, and it will be
done.'"

"To which I responded, 'Mr. Hearst, if you ever get a telegram
from me asking you to do anything, you can put that telegram down
as a forgery.'"

In a State like California, one of whose chief industries was the
growing of wine-grapes, and where the Examiner was the farmer's
paper, at least one phase of the attack upon Lane bore heavy
fruit. Upon election day the count between Lane and Dr. George
Pardee, the Republican candidate, was found to be close. In the
end several thousand votes, unmistakably intended for Lane, were
thrown out upon technicalities. Lane was defeated, and Dr. Pardee
took office. It was a bitter blow.

The night when the final bad news was brought to Lane in his home,
he called his son, of four, to him, leaning down he put his arm
around the boy very gravely and tenderly, and said, "Ned, it isn't
my little son, it is Dr. Pardee's little boy that is going to have
that white pony."

The boy caught the emotion in his father's voice, and said
cheerily, "O, that's all right, Dad. That's all right."

Lane found that in spite of the loss of the Governorship his
circle of personal contacts had been greatly widened by his
campaign. He had come to know, and be known by, the men most
prominent in California public affairs and he had made, and
confirmed, many friendships with men who had given themselves
whole-heartedly to his advancement. Of these friendships he wrote,
in 1920, to his friend Timothy Spellacy, "Eighteen years I have
known you and never a word or act have I heard of, or seen, that
did not make me feel that the campaign for Governor was worth
while because it gave me your acquaintance, friendship,
affection. ... When I get mad, as I do sometimes, over something
that the Irish do, I always am tempted to a hard generalization
that I am compelled to modify because of you and Mike and Dan
O'Neill, in San Francisco--and a few more of the Great Irish."

Lane's second child, Nancy, was born January 4, 1903.

Early in that year Lane was given the complimentary vote of his
party in the California Legislature for United States Senator.

He was chosen in April to go to Washington to argue the case of
the need of the City of San Francisco for a pure water supply from
the Hetch-Hetchy Valley, an unused part of the Yosemite Park.

A curious opposition to this measure had been worked up in the
East by a small group of well-intentioned nature lovers who did
not, perhaps, realize that this was one of many thousand valleys
in the Sierras, and one not, in any sense, unique in its beauty.
The plan proposed to convert a remote, mosquito-haunted marsh,
dreaded even by hunters because of the "bad-going" into a large
lake-reservoir to feed the city of San Francisco. This was the
first of Lane's fights to assure to man the use of neglected
resources, and at the same time, by great care, to protect natural
beauty for his delight.

While in Washington on this errand, he met President Roosevelt
several times. Their informal talks served to increase Lane's
strong liking for the vigorous man of action, then at the height
of his powers.

To his friend he writes of all this.



To John H. Wigmore San Francisco, May 9,1903

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--My trip East was a great success. After leaving
you I stayed three or four days in Washington, where I found the
Department of the Interior pretty well stacked against me; I,
however, succeeded in having a day fixed upon which an argument
would be listened to, and after this victory went to New York,
where I met many old friends and made some new ones. ...

Upon my return to Washington I had several days of argument before
the Department, saw the President [Roosevelt] twice and lunched
with him, and then went South; was invited by the Legislature of
Texas to speak before them, which I did with much satisfaction,
especially as there were but two Republicans in both houses.

I stopped with my old friend Mezes, in Austin, who is the dean of
the University, ... and easily the most influential man socially,
politically, and educationally in the institution. ...

I am having an extremely disagreeable time. The Democrats here
insist upon my running for Mayor, urging it as a duty which I owe
to the party, because they say I am the only man who can be
elected; and as a duty to the city, because they say that the
scoundrels who are now in office will continue, and worse ones
come in, unless we can elect some clean Democrat. I urge
everything against the thing, that comes to my mind, including my
poverty, the fact that I made four campaigns in five years, my
personal aversion to the office of Mayor, the inability of any one
to please the people of San Francisco as Mayor, the conspiracy of
the newspapers that exists against a government that is not
controlled by them, and the fact that to insist upon my taking
this office would be an act of political murder on the part of my
friends. ... Yours as always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

Heavy and continued pressure, through the spring and summer, was
brought, by his party, to bear upon Lane to accept the nomination
for Mayor of San Francisco. His letters show his reluctance and
distress. The appeal was made personal, with reminders of
sacrifices made for him. He at last agreed to run. His judgment of
the situation was fully confirmed in the final event. His defeat
was unequivocal. San Francisco had no idea of accepting a
Democratic mayor with a leaning toward reform. Lane analysed the
political situation in this letter:--



To John H. Wigmore

San Francisco, January 26, 1904

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--What the effect of my defeat for Mayor will be,
it is of course impossible to say. Its immediate effect has been
to throw me into the active practice of law, and thus far I have
not starved. It will, of course, not lead to my retirement from
politics, but it will postpone no doubt, the realization of some
ambitions. I think I wrote you just what my state of mind was
previous to the nomination. I did not wish to make the fight, did
everything that was in my power to avoid the nomination, and even
went so far as to hold up the convention in a formal letter which
I addressed to it, telling them that I did not wish to be Mayor of
San Francisco and begging them to get some one else.

The fight was along class lines entirely; the employers on one
side and the wage earners on the other. The Republican nominee
represented the employers, the Union Labor nominee, the wage
earners. I stood for good government, and in the battle my voice
could hardly be heard. It was a splendid old fight in which every
interest that was vicious, violent, or corrupt was solidly against
me. And while I did not win the election, I lost nothing in
prestige by the defeat, save among politicians who are always
looking for availability. It was not, in the nature of things, up
to me to run for Mayor, but my people all believed that I was
assured of election and felt that I was the only man who could
possibly be elected. I acted out of a sense of loyalty to my party
and a desire to do something to rid the city of its present cursed
administration. However, it may in the end be a very fortunate
thing, for I know no career more worthless than that of a
perpetual office-seeker.

I received a letter from a friend in New York yesterday telling me
that Senator Hill [Footnote: In campaigning New York for
Cleveland, Lane had met David B. Hill.] had told him that the New
York delegation would cast its vote for me for Vice-President at
the Democratic National Convention, and that he regarded me as the
most available man to nominate; but, of course, I sent back word
that that was not to be considered.

I should judge from the EXAMINER here, that Hearst was making a
very strong fight for a delegation from Illinois. His boom seems
to me to be increasing. That it is possible for such a man to
receive the nomination, is too humiliating to be thought of. ...
Very sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

The day after his defeat Lane had written to thank a generous
friend:--



TO WILLIAM R. WHEELER

San Francisco, Wednesday [November, 1908]

MY DEAR WILL,--I can't go to the country without saying to you
once more that your self-sacrifice and manliness throughout this
campaign have endeared you to me to a degree that words cannot
convey.

I had hoped the last day or two that I would be able to make your
critics ashamed to look you in the face, and that they would in
time come pleading to you for recognition. But now you must be
content with knowing that you did a man's part, and set a standard
in friendship and loyalty which my boy shall be taught to strive
for.

I earnestly hope that your business relations will not be
disturbed by this trouble into which I got you. Had I been out of
it Crocker couldn't have won. My vote would largely have gone for
Schmitz.

Give my love to Mrs. Wheeler and believe me, always your friend,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

Wheeler, himself a Republican, belonged, at the time, to a firm of
irreconcilable Republicans, who had expressed sharp disapproval of
his activity in Lane's behalf.

Out of office and back to the practise of the law, Lane soon built
his private practise on a firmer basis than before. His close
identification with the Democratic Party was not impaired, but the
frequent demands for attendance at public conventions and meetings
he could not leave his practise to accept. In declining one of
these invitations he replied:--



TO ORVA G. WILLIAMS IROQUOIS CLUB, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

San Francisco, April 7, 1904

... Permit me to say that we of the West look to you who are
closer to the center of things for leadership. ... This means only
that we must be true to the principles that make us Democrats. ...
The law must not be severe or lenient with any man simply because
he is rich nor because he is poor. It must not become the tool of
class antagonism for either the persecution of the well-to-do or
for the repression of the masses of the people.

... We must resist the base opportunism which would abandon our
strong position of devotion to these fundamental principles of
good government for the sake of gaining temporary strength from
some passing passion of the hour. To identify our party with an
idea which springs from class distrust or class hatred is to gain
temporary stimulation at the expense of permanent weakness. If we
are to heed the voice which bids us cease to be Democrats in order
that we may win, we shall find that we have lost not only the
victory of being true, but also the victory at the polls, which
can be ours only in case we are true.

... Our creed is simple and clear, but it cannot be recited by
those who would make our organization an annex to the Republican
party by catering to that conservatism which seeks only to bring
greater benefit to the already wealthy, nor by those who would
make it an annex to the Socialist party by joining in every
attack, no matter how unjust, upon the wealthy. Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To the Iroquois Club of Los Angeles on the same day he wrote,--"It
becomes us to consider well the meaning of the signs of the times.
Miracles may not be worked with these waves of prosperity. It is
in no man's power to say 'Peace, be still' and quiet the troubled
sea of panic. But we may make sure that men of steady nerve, of
clear head and highest purpose are at the helm. I expect to see
the time when the Democratic party will, by fixed adherence to a
well-defined course, gain and hold the approval and support of the
majority of our people, not for a single election but for a long
series of elections, and if we begin now with this end in view we
certainly will be prepared for whatever may happen--victory or
defeat; and in both alike we will be proud of our party and give a
guarantee for the future."

While campaigning California for Governor, in 1902, Isadore B.
Dockweiler ran on Lane's ticket, for the office of Lieutenant
Governor, and Dockweiler still looked to him for counsel.



TO ISADORE B. DOCKWEILER

San Francisco, April 16, 1904

MY DEAR DOCKWEILER,--You ask in your favor of the 14th whether
California will send a delegation to St. Louis pledged to Mr.
Hearst and if this program has been agreed upon, as is the report
in Los Angeles.

I cannot tell what the Democrats of California will do, but I know
what they should do. A delegation should go from this state that
is free, unowned, unpledged, made up of men whose prime interest
is that of their party and whom the party does not need to bind
with pledges. To pledge the delegation is to make the delegates
mere pawns, puppets, counters, coins to trade with,--so much
political wampum.

The object in holding a national convention is not to please the
vanity nor gratify the ambition of any individual, but to select a
national standard bearer who will proudly lead the party in the
campaign and be a credit to the party and an honor to the nation,
if elected. Surely the Democracy of California can select
candidates who can be depended upon to be guided by these
considerations. To tie the delegates hand and foot, toss them into
a bag, and sling them over the shoulder of one man to barter as he
may please, is not consistent with my notion of the dignity of
their position, nor does it appeal to me as the most certain
manner of making them effective in enlarging and emphasizing the
power of the state. ...

As to your suggestion of a program to deliver this state to one
candidate--if there is such a program--I am not a party to it,
never have been, and never will be. ... The Democrats of
California ... will do much for the sake of harmony so long as
party welfare and public good are not sacrificed; but they must be
permitted to make their own program irrespective of the personal
alliances, affiliations, or ambitions of politicians.

Personally, I am not in active political life. My views upon party
questions I do not attempt to impose upon my party, yet I know of
no reason why I should hesitate to give them expression. I cannot
but believe that if many a man were more indifferent to his
future, he would be more certain to have a future.

There is one reason which to my mind should forbid my active
direction of any organized movement against Mr. Hearst, namely the
attitude of his paper during my recent campaign for the
governorship. I do not wish it to be said or thought that I am
seeking to use our party for purposes of personal retaliation.
Whatever reasons for bitterness I may have because of that
campaign I am persuaded it does not affect my judgment that it is
the part of wisdom to send an unpledged delegation to the national
convention.

The Democrats of California should determine with calmness and
without passion what course will be most likely to prove a matter
of pride to themselves, their state, and the nation, and in that
sober judgment act fearlessly.

Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



The Pacific Coast, in 1904, still suffered from transportation
problems of great complexity. The railroads, whose terminals were
here, were few and extraordinarily powerful and had, heretofore,
controlled rail traffic, to a large extent, in their own interest.
They wanted no regulation or interference from the Interstate
Commerce Commission and no Pacific Coast representative on that
Commission. The fruit, wheat, and lumber producers of the Western
Coast, on the other hand, felt the need of a strong representative
to protect their interests against the railroads, and to stabilize
freight rates. Lane's record for independence of sinister control,
his legal training and energy made him the natural choice of the
shippers for this position.

Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California,
was a friend of Lane's and also a friend of President Roosevelt's.
While in the East, in the spring of 1904, Wheeler had a talk with
Roosevelt, about Lane's qualifications for the Interstate Commerce
appointment. He told Roosevelt why the producers in California
needed a man that they could trust to be fair to their interests
on the Commission. Roosevelt heartily concurred, and promised to
name Lane for the next vacancy.

When the vacancy occurred, however, just after an overwhelming
Republican victory, Roosevelt impulsively gave the appointment to
an old friend--Senator Cockrill of Missouri, a Democrat. Wheeler
at once telegraphed the President reminding him of the oversight,
and to this Roosevelt telegraphed this reply:--

"Am exceedingly sorry, had totally forgotten my promise about Lane
and have nothing to say excepting that I had totally forgotten it
when Senator Cockrill was offered the position. I can only say now
that I shall put him in some good position suitable to his great
talents and experience when the chance occurs. Of course when I
made the promise about Lane the idea of getting Cockrill for the
position could not be in any one's head. This does not excuse me
for breaking the promise, which I should never have done, and of
course, if I had remembered it I should not have offered the
position to Cockrill. I am very sorry. But as fortunately I have
another term, I shall make ample amends to Lane later."

In September, 1905, while matters were in this position, Lane went
to Mexico, as legal adviser for a western rubber company. In
October, Roosevelt announced his intention to place Lane on the
Interstate Commerce Commission, to fill the annual vacancy that
occurred in December. The announcement caused much newspaper
comment, especially in the more partisan Republican press, as the
coming vacancy would leave two Republicans and two Democrats on
the Commission.

When Lane reached the United States he wrote:--



TO EDWARD B. WHITNEY

San Francisco, November 13,1905

MY DEAR WHITNEY,--I have just returned from a two months' trip
through Mexico, from the Rio Grande to Guatemala, and from the
Gulf to the Pacific, and know nothing whatever concerning the
Interstate Commerce Commissionership, save what I have seen in the
papers since my return. ... I have not put myself in the position
of soliciting, either directly or indirectly, this appointment; I
have never even stimulated to a slight degree the activity ... of
my friends on my behalf. There is some misgiving in my own mind as
to whether acceptance of the position would be of benefit to me
either politically, or otherwise. I have no doubt the nomination
for Governor can be mine next year without effort, and what the
outcome of an election would be in 1906, even in a Republican
State, is not now to be prophesied, in view of the somersaults in
Ohio and Pennsylvania of a week ago. Of course, ... it is a great
opportunity to prove or disprove the capacity of this government
to control effectively the corporations which seem determined to
be its master.

It does look to me as if the problem of our generation is to be
the discovery of some effective method by which the artificial
persons whom we have created by law can be taught that they are
not the creators, the owners, and the rightful managers of the
government. The real greatness of the President's policy, to my
notion, is that he has determined to prove to the railroads that
they have not the whole works, and the policy that they have
followed is as short-sighted as it can be. It will lead, if
pursued as it has been begun, to the wildest kind of a craze for
government ownership of everything. Just as you people in New York
City were forced, by the delinquency and corruption of the gas
combine, to undertake the organization of a municipal ownership
movement, so it may be that the same qualities in the railroads
will create precisely the same spirit throughout the country.

I appreciate thoroughly your position in New York. ... [Hearst]
knows public sentiment and how to develop it very well, and will
be a danger in the United States, I am afraid, for many years to
come. He has great capacity for disorganization of any movement
that is not his own, and an equal capacity for organization of any
movement that is his personal property. He feels with the people,
but he has no conscience. ... He is willing to do whatever for the
minute the people may want done and give them what they cry for,
unrestrained by sense of justice, or of ultimate effect. He is the
great American Pander.

Reverting again to the Interstate Commerce Commissionership, I
think the railroads here are determined that no Pacific Coast man
shall be appointed. That has been the policy of the Southern
Pacific since the creation of the Commission. ...

One of the amusing reports that has come to me is that the
railroad feels friendly toward me. I think probably the extent of
their friendliness is in acknowledging that I am not a
blackmailer. They know that I would not hold them up, just as well
as they know that I could not be held up. In the various campaigns
that I have made, it has never been suggested that the railroads
had any more influence with me than they ought to have, or that
anybody else had, and in my fight for the Governorship they did
not contribute so much as a single postcard, nor did an individual
railroad man contribute a dollar to the campaign fund. I
say this because I heard yesterday that word had gone to the
President that I was something of a railroad man, which is about
the most amusing thing that I have heard for sometime. The charge
never was made in any of my five campaigns, and certainly is made
only for foreign consumption, end not for home consumption.

Do not in any way put yourself out regarding this matter. I am
satisfied that the President will do just what he wants to do and
just what he thinks right, without much respect to what anybody
says to him, and I don't want to bring pressure to bear upon him;
but, of course, I want him to know that I have friends who think
well of me. I am very appreciative of your offer and efforts, and
hope that, whether I am given this position or not, I shall before
very long have the opportunity of seeing you in New York. Very
sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO HON. THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE WHITE HOUSE

San Francisco, December 9, [1905]

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I have not written you before because of
my expectation that I would see you soon, but as there now seems
some doubt as to immediate confirmation I will not longer delay
expressing the deep gratification which the nomination gave me.
You gave the one answer I could have wished to the whispered
charge that I was bound by obligation of some sort to the
railroads--a charge never made in any form here, not even in the
hottest of my five campaigns. My honor stood pledged to you--by
the very fact of my willingness to accept the post--that I was
free, independent, self-owned, capable of unbiased action. And
that pledge remains.

As to my confirmation, it has been suggested that it was the
customary and expected thing for me to go to Washington and help
in the fight. This I feel I should not do and have so written to
Senator Perkins and others. I do not wish to appear indifferent in
the slightest degree to the honor you have done me, or to the
office itself, but I feel that you will appreciate without my
setting them forth on paper the many reasons which hold me here.
This is no time for an Interstate Commerce Commissioner to be on
his knees before a United States Senator or to be thought to be in
that position. Very respectfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Benjamin Ide Wheeler President, University of California

San Francisco, December 15, 1905

MY DEAR MR. WHEELER,--I enclose copy of a letter sent this morning
to Mr. Smythe of San Diego, who is temporarily with Senator
Newlands in Washington.

I wanted to tell you last night that I had written to the
President thanking him for the confidence he had shown in me, and
telling him that I did not think it was the right thing for me to
go to Washington under present circumstances. He may have a
different notion in this respect, and of course I should be guided
by his judgment ... I have no doubt that many of the Senators
would be quite willing to let the President have the law if they
could have the Commission ...

Personally I should be most pleased to meet these critical
gentlemen of the Senate and give them a very full account of my
eventful career. But the fact that I am a Democrat could not be
disproved by my presence in Washington, and I am not likely to
apologize for what one of my kindly Republican critics calls "this
error of his boyhood." I am concerned in this matter because I do
not wish to cause the President any embarrassment. He is fighting
for far larger things than this appointment represents. He knows
his own game, and I am quite willing to stand on a side line and
see him play it to a finish, or get in and buck the center if I am
needed. I must apologize for troubling you with this matter, but I
do not wish you to regard me as indifferent or unappreciative. And
if you think that I am too far up in the clouds I want you frankly
to tell me so. Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To William E. Smythe

San Francisco, December 15,1905

MY DEAR MR. SMYTHE,--I have been out of town for a few days, else
I would have acknowledged your kind letter of congratulation
sooner. I sent a note the other day to our friend Senator Newlands
in recognition of the effort he has been making to secure action
upon my appointment, and I certainly regard myself as very
fortunate in having one who knows me upon that Committee.
[Footnote: The Interstate Commerce Committee.]

According to the press despatches here I am regarded as something
of a monster by the more conservative Senators, a sort of cross
between Dennis Kearney and Eugene Debs with a little of Herr Most
thrown in ... I wish for confirmation, but not at the price of
having it thought that I in any way compromised myself to obtain
the Senate's favorable action. I know that you are not alone in
this view as to the wisdom of my going on, for I have received
other messages to the same effect. But, as you know, the President
made this appointment upon grounds quite superior to those of
political expediency and upon recommendations not at all political
in their nature ... Very truly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John H. Wigmore

San Francisco, December 21, [1905]

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--Your letter bore good fruit ... As for
confirmation it is not as likely as I could wish. However, I am
enjoying the situation hugely, and if the fight is kept up I may
enlarge into a national issue.

The Press of California (notice the respectful capital) is
practically a unit for me ... My information is that the President
will stand pat. But the fight with the Senate is growing so large
that no one can tell what will happen. I have been urged to go to
Washington and meet the Senators, but I have refused. ... Am I not
right?

Remember me very kindly to your wife, and to you both a Merry
Christmas. As always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Benjamin Ide Wheeler President, University of California

San Francisco, December 22, [1905]

MY DEAR MR. WHEELER,--It was mighty good of you to bring me that
message of good cheer last night. I have not told you, and cannot
now tell you the very great pleasure and gratification you have
given me by the many evidences of your personal friendship. To me
it is better to have that kind of friendship than any office.

I have just received a letter from the President [Roosevelt] that
is so fine I want you to know of it at once--but the original I
keep for home use. Here it is:--

"... I thank you for your frank and manly letter. It is just the
kind of a letter I should have expected from you. You are
absolutely right in refraining from coming here. I shall make and
am making as stiff a fight as I know how for you. I think I shall
carry you through; but of course nothing of this kind is ever
certain. ..."

Please remember me most kindly to Mrs. Wheeler and believe me
always, faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



The California earthquake, of April 18, 1906, occurred at about
five o'clock in the morning. Lane was living in North Berkeley,
across the bay from San Francisco. His house built of light wood
and shingles, rocked, and his chimneys flung down bricks, in the
successive shocks, but with no serious damage. Meanwhile San
Francisco sprang into flames from hundreds of broken gas mains.
Lane reached the city early in the morning, and was at once put,
by the Mayor, upon the Committee of Fifty to look to the safety of
the City.

Will Irwin wrote this picturesque story of the episode after
having heard his friend describe this adventure:--

"Lane has said since that, although he was brought up in the old
West, his was a city life after all. He had never tested himself
against primitive physical force, tried himself out in an
emergency, and he had always longed for such a test before he
died. When the test came it was a supreme one: the San Francisco
disaster. ...

"On the last day but one of this visitation the fire, smoldering
slowly in the redwood houses, had taken virtually all the district
east of Van Ness Avenue, a broad street which bisects the
residence quarter. ... By this time the authorities had given up
dynamiting. Chief Sullivan, the one man among them who understood
the use of explosives in fire fighting, was dead. The work had
been done by soldiers from the Presidio, who blew up buildings too
close to the flames and so only scattered them. Lane stood on the
slope of Russian Hill, watching the fire approach Van Ness Avenue,
when a contractor named Anderson came along. 'That fire always
catches at the eaves, not the foundations,' said Lane. 'It could
be stopped right here if some one would dynamite all the block
beyond Van Ness Avenue. It could never jump across a strip so
broad.' 'But they've forbidden any more dynamiting,' said
Anderson. 'Never mind; I'd take the chance myself if we could get
any explosive,' replied Lane. 'Well, there's a launch full of
dynamite from Contra Costa County lying right now at Meigs's
Wharf,' said Anderson. Just then Mr. and Mrs. Tom Magee arrived,
driving an automobile on the wheel rims. Lane despatched them to
Meigs's Wharf for the dynamite. He and Anderson found an electric
battery, and cut some dangling wires from a telephone pole. By
this time the Magees were back, the machine loaded with dynamite;
Mrs. Magee carrying a box of detonators on her lap. Lane,
Anderson, and a corps of volunteers laid the battery and strung
the wires. 'How do you want this house to fall?' asked Anderson,
who understands explosives. 'Send her straight up,' replied Lane.

"'And I've never forgotten the picture which followed,' Lane has
told me since. 'Anderson disappeared inside, came out, and said:
"All ready." I joined the two ends of wire which I held in my
hands. The house rose twenty feet in the air--intact, mind you! It
looked like a scene in a fairy book. At that point I rolled over
on my back, and when I got up the house was nothing but dust and
splinters.'

"They went down the line, blowing up houses, schools, churches.
Then came bad news. To the south sparks were catching on the eaves
of the houses. Down there was a little water in cisterns.
Volunteers under Lane's direction made the householders stretch
wet blankets over the roofs and eaves. Then again bad news from
the north. There the fire had really crossed the avenue. It
threatened the Western Addition, the best residence district. The
cause seemed lost. Lane ran up and looked over the situation. Only
a few houses were afire, and the slow-burning redwood was
smoldering but feebly. 'Just a little water would stop this!' he
thought. The whole water system of San Francisco was gone, or
supposedly so, through the breaking of the mains. 'But I had a
hunch, just a hunch,' said Lane, 'that there was water somewhere
in the pipes.' He had learned that a fire company which had given
up the fight was asleep on a haystack somewhere in the Western
Addition. He went out and found them. They had been working for
thirty-six hours; they lay like dead men. Lane kicked the soles of
the nearest fireman. He returned only a grunt. The next fireman,
however, woke up; Lane managed to get him enthusiastic. He found a
wrench, and together he and Lane went from hydrant to hydrant,
turning on the cocks. The first five or six gave only a faint
spurt and ceased to flow. Then, and just when the fireman was
getting ready to go on strike, they turned a cock no more
promising than the others, and out spurted a full head of water.
No one knows to this day where that water came from, but it was
there! They shut off the stream. 'It will take three engines to
pump it to that blaze,' said the fireman. He, Lane, and Anderson
scattered in opposite directions looking for engines. When twenty
minutes later, Lane returned with an engine and company two others
had already arrived. But they had not yet coupled the hose up. The
companies were quarreling as to which, under the rules of the
department, should have the position of honor close to the
hydrant! Lane settled that question of etiquette with speed and
force. They got a stream on the incipient fire, and the water held
out. The other side of Van Ness Avenue gradually burned out and
settled down into red coals. The Western Addition was saved, and
the San Francisco disaster was over."

A few days later Lane started to Washington in an attempt to raise
money for the rebuilding of San Francisco. When he found that
Congress would not act in this matter, he, with Senator Newlands,
of Nevada, and some others, went to the President and the
Secretary of the Treasury to see if Federal help could be secured
for the ruined city.



To William R. Wheeler

New York, June 23, [1906]

MY DEAR WILL,--I have just returned from Washington, where I hope
we have accomplished some good for San Francisco, although it was
mighty hard to move anyone except the President and the Secretary
of the Treasury. But I did not intend to write of anything but
your personal affairs. Yesterday, on the train, I discovered that
you had met with another fire. This is rubbing it in, hitting a
man when he is down. The Gods don't fight fair. The decent rules
of the Marquis of Queensberry seem to have no recognition on
Olympus, or wherever the Gods live. I can quite appreciate the
strain you are under and the monumental difficulties of your
situation, dealing as you are with dispirited old men and
indifferent young ones, I hope this last blow will have some
benefit which I cannot now perceive, else it must come like almost
a knock-out to the concern. Brave, strong, bully old boy, no one
knows better than I do what a fight you have been making these
last few years and how many unkindnesses fortune has done you.
There is not much use either in preaching to one's self or to
another, the advantages of adversity. I don't believe that men are
made by fighting relentless Fate, the stuff they have is sometimes
proved by struggle,--that is the best that can be said for such
philosophy.

More power to you my dear fellow! I took occasion to give M ... a
warm dose of Bill Wheeler. He is an old sour-ball who thinks he is
alive but evidently has been in the cemetery a long time. He
talked all right about you, but all wrong about San Francisco ...

Give my regards to the dear wife whose heart is stout enough to
meet any calamity, and remember me most warmly to the Boy.
Sincerely and affectionately yours, FRANKLIN K. LANE



The Hepburn Bill provided for seven men on the Interstate Commerce
Commission, instead of five. Roosevelt intimated that he would
appoint two Republicans. All opposition to Lane was then
withdrawn.



To John H. Wigmore

New York, June 27, [1906]

MY DEAR WIGMORE,--Thanks, and again thanks, for your letter to
Senator Cullom and yours to me. It looks now as if with a seven
man Commission the objection to my Democracy would cease. Senator
Cullom's letter is very reassuring, and I wish that I had met him
when in Washington. ...

Before another week this business of mine will have come to a
head, and I hope soon after to start West, via Chicago.

If the report to-day is true that Harlan of Chicago is to go on
the Commission, you will have two friends on the body. I
personally think most highly of Harlan and would be mighty proud
to sit beside him. His political fortune seems to have been akin
to mine, and we have one dear and cherished enemy in common.

Remember me most kindly to your wife and believe me, faithfully
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Telegram. To John H. Wigmore

New York, June 30, [1906]

Confirmation has to-day arrived thanks to a friend or two like
Wigmore.

LANE



To William R. Wheeler

Washington, July 2, [1906]

MY DEAR BILL,--I have waited until this minute to write you, that
I might send you the first greeting from the new office. I have
just been sworn in and signed the oath, and to you I turn first to
express gratitude, appreciation, and affection.

My hope is to leave here tomorrow and go to Chicago at once on
your affair, and then West.

Remember me most affectionately to your wife, and believe me
always most faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



At the same time an affectionate letter of appreciation went to
Benjamin Ide Wheeler.



IV

RAILROAD AND NATIONAL POLICIES

1906-1912

Increased powers of Interstate Commerce Commission--Harriman
Inquiry--Railroad Regulation--Letters to Roosevelt


During the late summer of 1906, Lane was in Washington or
traveling through the South and West to attend the hearings of the
Interstate Commerce Commission. The Hepburn Act of 1906, among
other extensions of power to the Commission, brought the express
companies of the United States under its jurisdiction, and the
Commission began the close investigation into the rates, rules,
and practises, that finally resulted in a complete reorganization
and zoning of the companies. The new powers given the Commission,
by this Act, inspired fresh hope of righting old abuses,
associated with railroad finance, over-capitalization and stock-
jobbing. The Commission set itself to finding a way out of the
ancient quarrel between shippers and railroads in the matters of
rebating and demurrage charges.

In the latter part of the year, President Roosevelt called an
important meeting at the White House, for the purpose of deciding
whether an inquiry should not be made into the merging of the
Western railroads, then under the control of E. H. Harriman. Elihu
Root, then Secretary of State; William H. Taft, Secretary of War;
Charles Bonaparte, Attorney General, were present; Chairman Martin
A. Knapp and Franklin K. Lane of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, and the special Counsel for the Commission--Frank B.
Kellogg. The matter of the proposed inquiry was discussed, each
man being asked, in turn, to express his opinion. Root and Knapp
were not in favor of beginning an investigation of the railroad
merger, Bonaparte, Kellogg, and Lane favored an immediate inquiry.
Lane declared that, in a few weeks, when the report of the
Interstate Commerce Commission was published, it would be
impossible to avoid making the inquiry.

At this point, President Roosevelt turned to William H. Taft, who
as yet had expressed no opinion, saying, "Will, what do you think
of this?" Mr. Taft said quietly, "It's right, isn't it? Well, damn
it, do it then." And the plans for the famous Harriman Inquiry,
the first real step taken toward curbing the power of public
utilities, were then taken under consideration.

During the inquiry, when E. H. Harriman was on the stand for
hours, the Commissioners trying to extract, by round-about
questioning, the admission from him that he would like to extend
his control over the railroads of the country, Lane, who had been
silent for some time, suddenly turned and asked Harriman the
direct question. What would he do with all the roads in the
country, if he had the power? With equal candor and simplicity,
Harriman replied that he would consolidate them under his own
management. This answer rang through the country.



TO EDWARD F. ADAMS

Washington, February 16, 1907

MY DEAR ADAMS,-- ... I think the standpoint taken by our railroad
friends in 1882 is that which possesses their souls to-day. I am
conscious each time I ask a question that there is deep resentment
in the heart of the railroad official at being compelled to
answer, but that he is compelled to, he recognizes. The operating
and traffic officials of the railroads are having a very hard time
these days with the law departments. They can not understand why
the law department advises them to give the information we demand,
and I have heard of some most lively conferences in which the
counsel of the companies were blackguarded heartily for being
cowards, in not fighting the Commission. You certainly took
advanced ground in 1882, ... --there can be no such thing as a
business secret in a quasi-public corporation. ... Very truly
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Washington, March 31,1907

MY DEAR MR. WHEELER,-- ... I have taken the liberty of giving Mr.
Aladyin, leader of the Group of Toil in the Russian Duma, a note
of introduction. He's an immensely interesting young man, a fine
speaker and comes from plain, peasant stock. He will talk to your
boys if you ask him. During these days of panic in Wall Street the
President [Roosevelt] has called me in often and shown in many
ways that he in no way regrets the appointment you urged. I have
been much interested in studying him in time of stress. He is one
of the most resolute of men and at the same time entirely and
altogether reasonable. No man I know is more willing to take
suggestion. No one leads him, not even Root, but no one need fear
to give suggestion. He lives up to his legend, so far as I can
discover, and that's a big order. The railroad men who are wise
will rush to the support of the policies he will urge before the
next Congress, or they will have national ownership to face as an
immediate issue, or a character of regulation that they will
regard as intolerable.

You will be here again soon and I hope that you will come directly
to our house and give us the pleasure of a genuine visit. ...
Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO ELIHU ROOT

Washington, February 14, 1908

My DEAR MR. SECRETARY,--I have lately been engaged in writing an
opinion upon the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce
Commission over ocean carriers engaged in foreign commerce, and it
has occurred to me that an extensive American merchant marine
might be developed by some legislation which would permit American
ships to enjoy preferential through routes in conjunction with our
railroad systems. The present Interstate Commerce Law, as I
interpret it, gives to the Commission jurisdiction over carriers
to the seaboard. It is the assumption of the law that rates will
be made to and from the American ports and that at such ports all
ships may equally compete for foreign cargo.

Might it not be possible to extend the jurisdiction of the
Commission over all American vessels engaged in foreign trade, and
with such ships alone--they alone being fully amenable to our law
--permit the railroad which carries to the port to make through
joint rates to the foreign point of destination? There is so vast
a volume of this through traffic that the preference which could
thus be given to the American ship would act as a most substantial
subsidy. There may be objections to this suggestion arising either
out of national or international policy which render it unworthy
of further consideration. It has appealed to me, however, as
possibly containing the germ of what Mr. Webster would have termed
a "respectable idea." Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO E. B. BEARD

Washington, December 19, 1908

MY DEAR MR. BEARD,--I have not seen the article in the CALL, to
which you refer, but have heard of it from a couple of
Californians, much to my distress. Of course I appreciate that at
a time of strain such as that which you shippers and business men
of California are now undergoing, it is to be expected that the
most conservative language will not be used. ... The trouble is
with the law. ... It is only upon complaint that an order can be
made reducing a rate, and I understand that such complaints are at
present being drafted in San Francisco and will in time come
before us but such matters cannot be brought to issue in a week
nor heard in a day, and when I tell you that we have on hand four
hundred cases, at the present time, you will appreciate how great
the volume of our work is, and that you are not alone in your
feeling of indignation or of distress. If you will examine the
docket of the Commission, you will find that the cases of the
Pacific Coast have been taken care of more promptly within the
last two years than the cases in any other part of the United
States. I have seen to this myself, because of the long neglect of
that part of the country. ...

I want to speak one direct personal word to you. You are now
protesting against increased rates. I have outlined to you the
only remedy [a change in the law] that I see available against the
continuance of just such a policy on the part of the railroads,
and I think it might be well for you to see that the Senators and
Representatives from California support this legislation. It is
not calculated in any way to do injustice or injury to the
railroads. ... This is a plan which I have proposed myself, and
for which I have secured the endorsement of the Commission. The
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce has endorsed it. The whole
Pacific Coast should follow suit enthusiastically.

Please remember that I am not the Commissioner from California;
that I am a Commissioner for the United States; and that it is not
my business to fight the railroads, but to hear impartially what
both sides may have to say and be as entirely fair with the
railroads as with the shippers. I am flattered to know that the
railroad men of the United States do not regard me as a deadhead
on this Commission. My aggressiveness on behalf of the shipping
public has brought upon my head much criticism, and it would be
the greatest satisfaction for those who have been prosecuted for
rebating or discovered in illegal practises to feel that they were
able in any degree to raise in the minds of the shippers any
question of my loyalty to duty.

I expect to be in California during January, for a few days, and
hope that I may see you at that time. Very sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, February 13, 1909

MY DEAR GEORGE,--... I suppose you haven't seen my interview on
the Japanese question. I gave it at the request of the President
[Roosevelt], because he said that the Republican Senators and
Congressmen would not stand by him if it was going to be a
partisan question in California politics. So I said that I would
give the value of my name and influence to the support of his
policy, so that Flint, Kahn, ET AL., could quote me as against any
attack by the Democrats. The President has done great work for the
Coast. Congress never would have done anything at this time, and
by the time it is willing to do something the problem will
practically be solved. I am expecting to be roasted somewhat, in
California, but I felt that it was only right to stand by the man
who was really making our fight without any real backing from the
East, and without many friends on the Pacific--so far as the
"pollies" are concerned.

... The Harriman crowd seems to think that they will all be on
good terms with Taft, but unless I'm mistaken in the man they will
be greatly fooled. ...

Have you noticed that nice point of constitutional law, dug up by
a newspaper reporter, which renders Knox ineligible as Secretary
of State? He voted for an increase in the salary of the Secretary
of State three years ago. They will try to avoid the effect of the
constitutional inhibition by repealing the act increasing the
salary. Technically this won't do Knox any good, altho' it will
probably be upheld by the Courts, if the matter is ever taken into
the Courts.

Roosevelt is very nervous these days but as he said to me the
other day, "They know that I am President right up to March
fourth." I took Ned and Nancy to see him and he treated them most
beautifully. Gave Ned a pair of boar tusks from the Philippines
and told him a story about the boar ripping up a man's leg just
before he was shot, and to them both he gave a personal card.

F. K. L.

With this letter he sent a copy of a verse written by his
daughter, not yet seven.

    "On through the night as the willows go weeping
    The daffodils sigh,
    As the wind sweeps by
    Right through the sky."

TO CHARLES K. MCCLATCHY SACRAMENTO BEE

Washington, March 20, 1909

My Dear McClatchy,--I am just in receipt of your letter of March
15th, with reference to my running for Governor next year.

There is nothing in this rumor whatever. I have been approached by
a good many people on this matter, and perhaps I have not said as
definitely as I should that I had no expectation of re-entering
California politics. When I was last in California some of my
friends pointed out to me the great opening there would be for me
if I would become a Republican and lead the Lincoln-Roosevelt
people. There does not seem to be any line of demarcation between
a Democrat and a Republican these days, so that such a change
would not in itself be an act of suicide. My own personal belief
is that the organization in California on the Republican side
could be rather easily beaten, and we could do with California
what La Follette did with Wisconsin. But I am trying not to think
of politics, and I told those people who came to me that I thought
my line of work for the next few years was fixed.

... No one yet knows from Mr. Taft's line of policy what kind of a
President he will make. Everybody is giving him the benefit of the
doubt. The thing, I find, that hangs over all Presidents and other
public men here to terrify them is the fear of bad times. The
greatness of Roosevelt lay, in a sense, in his recklessness. These
people undoubtedly have the power to bring on panics whenever they
want to and to depress business, and they will exercise that power
as against any administration that does not play their game, and
the "money power," as we used to call it, allows the President and
Congress a certain scope--a field within which it may move but if
it goes outside that field and follows policies or demands
measures which interfere with the game as played by the high
financiers, they do not hesitate to use their "big stick," which
is the threat of business depression. ...

There are a lot of things to be done in our State yet before we
both pass out. ... As always, very truly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO LAWRENCE F. ABBOTT OUTLOOK

Washington, September 22, 1909

MY DEAR ABBOTT,-- ... President Taft's suggestion of a Commerce
Court is a very sensible one. We suggested the institution of such
a Court some years ago, so that the question of nullifying our
order will be brought up before men who have special experience.
... The trouble with the Courts is that they know nothing about
the question. Fundamentally it is not ... law but economics that
we deal with. The fixing of a rate is a matter of politics. That
is the reason why I have always held that the traffic manager is
the most potent of our statesmen. So that we should have a Court
that will pass really upon the one question of confiscation--the
constitutionality of the rates fixed--and leave experienced men
to deal with the economic questions. ...

I have long wanted to see you and have a talk about our work. At
times it is rather disheartening. The problem is vast, and we pass
few milestones. The one great accomplishment of the Commission, I
think, in the last three years, has been the enforcement of the
law as against rebating. We have a small force now that is used in
this connection under my personal direction, and I think the
greatest contribution that we have made, perhaps, to the railroads
has been during the time of panic when they were kept from cutting
rates directly or indirectly and throwing each other into the
hands of receivers.

The great volume of our complaints comes from the territory west
of the Mississippi River and practically all of the larger cities
in the inter-mountain country have complaints pending before us
attacking the reasonableness of the rates charged them, and it is
to give consideration to these that the Commission, as a body,
goes West the first of the month. ...

I have just returned from a trip to Europe, and I find that what I
said two or three years ago about the United States being the most
Conservative of the civilized countries is absolutely true.

By the way, at the Sorbonne at Paris they are exhibiting the chair
in which President Roosevelt will sit when he comes to deliver his
address and I am thinking that he will have quite as hearty a
reception in Paris as in any of our cities.

Very truly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Washington, December 3, 1909

MY DEAR DOCTOR,--... I think there is but little doubt that De
Vries will receive the appointment, though of course everything
here is in absolute chaos. ... The best symptom in my own case is
that I have been called in twice to consult over proposed
amendments to the law, and the President's [Taft's] reference
thereto in his forthcoming message. He seems to think my judgment
worth something--more than I do myself, in fact--for down in my
heart, though I do not let anybody see it, I am really a modest
creature.

Since my return from the West we have had one merry round of
sickness in the house ... but all are on their feet once more and
as gay as they can be with a more or less grumpy head of the
household in the neighborhood, (assuming for the nonce that I am
the head of the household).

The President is going to appoint Lurton. [Footnote: To the
Supreme Bench.] He should have said so when he made up his mind to
do it, which was immediately after Peckham's death. He would have
saved himself an immense amount of trouble. Lurton seems to have
been very hostile to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and is
too old, but otherwise I hear nothing said against him. I really
would like to see Bowers put on the bench very much. He has made a
very favorable impression here, and is a clear lawyer, a very
strong man, and in sympathy with Federal control that's real.

By the way, I had a talk the other day with Attorney General
Wickersham regarding the treatment of criminals, and I believe you
can secure through him the initiation of an enlightened policy in
this matter. He told me that he was going to make some
recommendations in his report, and perhaps the President may deal
with the matter slightly in his message. Wickersham is a
thoroughly modern proposition, and as he has charge of all the
penitentiaries, and his recommendations, with relation to parole
and such things, absolutely go with the President, I believe you
could do more good in an hour's talk with him than you could
effect in a year otherwise. If you could run down, during the
holiday vacation, I would bring you two together for a talk on
this matter, and you, also, might take up the very live question
with the President of cutting off red-tape in the courts. Give my
love to Mrs. Wigmore, and tell her, too, that we would be most
delighted to see her here. Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

On December 9,1909, President Taft reappointed Franklin K. Lane as
a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission.



TO MRS. FRANKLIN K. LANE

En route to California, Monday, March [1910]

... I have spent a rather pleasant day reading, and looking at
this great desert of New Mexico and Arizona. No one on board that
I know or care to know, but the big sky and my books keep me busy.
Do you remember that picture in the Corcoran Gallery with a wee
line of land at the bottom and a great high reach of blue sky
above, covering nine-tenths of the canvas? I have thought of it
often to-day--"the high, irrepressible sky." It is moonlight and
the rare air gives physical tone, so that I feel a bit more like
myself, as was, than is ordinary. ...

I have thought of a lecture to-day and you must keep this letter
as a reminder and make me do it one of these days: THE PROBLEMS OF
RAILROAD REGULATION. THE TRAFFIC MANAGER AS A STATESMAN: THE
UNEARNED INCREMENT OF OUR RAILROADS.

And another: THE NEED OF A WORLD BANK: INTERNATIONAL AND
INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL AUTHORITY, which shall fix standards of
value, based on no one metal or commodity, but on a great number
of staples.

I have thought much of the farm. It will be so far away and so
impracticable of use! But such an anchor to windward, for two most
hand-to-mouth spendthrifts! ...



TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Washington, April 29, 1910

MY DEAR MR. ROOSEVELT,--Mr. Kellogg tells me that he expects to
see you in Europe, and I avail myself of his offer to carry a word
of welcome to you, inasmuch as I must leave for Europe the day
after your arrival in New York, the President having appointed me
as a delegate to the International Railway Congress at Berne.

The country is awaiting you anxiously--not out of mere curiosity
to know what your attitude will be, but to lead it, to give it
direction. The public opinion which you developed in favor of the
"square deal" is stronger to-day than when you left, and your
personal following is larger to-day than it ever has been. There
is no feeling (or if there is any it is negligible) that the
President [Taft] has been consciously disloyal to the policies
which you inaugurated or to his public promises. He is patriotic,
conscientious, and lovable. This was your own view as expressed to
me, and this view has been confirmed by my personal experience
with him. It is also, I believe, the judgment of the country at
large. But the people do not feel that they control the government
or that their interests will be safeguarded by a relationship that
is purely diplomatic between the White House and Congress. In
short we have a new consciousness of Democracy, largely resulting
from your administration, and it is such that the character of
government which satisfied the people of twenty years ago is found
lacking to-day. Practically all the criticism to which this
administration has been subjected arises out of the feeling of the
people that their opinions and desires are not sufficiently
consulted, and they are suspicious of everything and everybody
that is not open and frank with them.

Outside of a few of the larger states the entire country is
insurgent, and insurgency means revolt against taking orders. The
prospect is that the next House will be Democratic, but the
Democrats apparently lack a realization of the many new problems
upon which the country is divided. Their success would not
indicate the acceptance of any positive program of legislation; it
would be a vote of lack of confidence in the Republican party
because it has allowed apparent party interest to rise superior to
public good. The prospect is that every measure which Congress
will pass at this session will be wise and in line with your
policies, but the people do not feel that THEY are passing the
bills.

I have presumed to say this much, thinking that perhaps you would
regard my opinion as entirely unbiased, and in the hope that I
might throw some light upon what I regard as the fundamental
trouble which has to be dealt with. Whether you choose to re-enter
political life or not, men of all parties desire your leadership
and will accept your advice as they will that of none other.

Pardon me for this typewriting, but I thought that you might
prefer a letter in this form which you could read to one in my own
hand which you could not read. Believe me, as always, faithfully
yours.

FRANKLIN K. LANE

From Berlin, Lane received from Theodore Roosevelt, dated May 13,
1910, these lines,--

" ... I think your letter most interesting. As far as I can judge
you have about sized up the situation right. With hearty good
wishes, faithfully yours,

THEODORE ROOSEVELT



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Washington, March 2, 1911

MY DEAR JOHN,--No other letter that I have received has done me as
much good or given me as much pleasure, or has been as much of a
stimulus, as has yours. The fact that you took the time to go
through the REPORT so carefully is an evidence of a friendship
that is beyond all price, and of which I feel most unworthy. I
have had the figures checked over, resulting in some slight
changes, and will send you a revised copy as soon as it is
printed. The newspaper criticisms are generally very friendly,
although the FINANCIAL CHRONICLE, the WALL STREET JOURNAL, and
other railway organs are extremely bitter. The Western papers do
not seem to have been very much elated over the decision. It has
appeared to me from the beginning as if they had been "fixed" in
advance and that their reports were always biased for the
railroads, but the country at large will realize, I think, before
long, that the decisions are sound, sensible, and in the public
interest. Some of the least narrow of the railroad men also take
this view. The best editorial I have seen is in the New York
EVENING POST. Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

P. S. I got this note from Roosevelt this morning, headed THE
OUTLOOK:--

"Fine! I am really greatly obliged to you, and I shall read the
REPORT with genuine interest. More power to your elbow! Faithfully
yours."

"This report was known," Commissioner Harlan explains, "as the
Western Advance Rate Case. It was one of the first of the great
cases covering many commodities and applying over largely extended
territories. In his opinion denying the rate advances proposed by
the carriers, Commissioner Lane discussed the Commission's new
powers of suspending the operation of increased rates pending
investigation and the burden of proof in such cases. He marshalled
a vast array of facts and figures and announced conclusions that
were accepted as convincing by the public at large. He then
pointed out that the laws enforced by the Commission sought
dominion over private capital for no other purpose than to secure
the public against injustice and thereby make capital itself more
secure."



TO WILLIAM R. WHEELER TRAFFIC BUREAU, MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE SAN
FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Washington, June 27, 1911

DEAR SIR,--Adverting to yours of June 22, IN RE express rates, I
beg to advise that nothing can be added to my previous letter
unless it is the expression of my personal opinion that a rate
should not be made for the carriage of 20,000 pound shipments by
express.

We are receiving daily similar complaints to yours, respecting the
nonadjustment of express rates, and if you will call at this
office we shall be pleased to reveal the reason for our failure,
hitherto, to grant the relief desired. It is extremely warm in
Washington at the present time, but if anything could add to the
disagreeableness of life in the city it is the unreasoning
insistence on the part of the traffic bureaus of the country that
express rates shall be fixed overnight.

I desire to say that I have given some year or two of more or less
profane contemplation to this question, and have now engaged a
large corps of men, under the direction of Mr. Frank Lyon as
attorney for the Commission, to seek a way out of the inextricable
maze of express company figures. Whether we will be able to find
the light before the Infinite Hand that controls our destinies
cuts short the cord, is a question to which no certain answer can
be given. Would you kindly advise the importunate members of a
most worthy institution, that express rates to San Francisco
possess me as an obsessment. My prayer is at night interfered with
by consideration of the question--"What should the 100 pound rate
be by Wells Fargo & Co. from New York to San Francisco?" And at
night often I am aroused from sleep, feeling confident in my
dreams that the mystic figure of "a just and reasonable rate,"
under Section One, on 100-pound shipments to San Francisco, had
been determined, and awaken with a joyous cry upon my lips, to
discover that life has been made still more unhappy by the torture
of the subconscious mind during sleep.

No doubt your shippers are being treated unfairly, both by the
express companies and by the Interstate Commerce Commission. This
is a cruel world. Congress itself adds to the torture, by almost
daily referring to us some bill touching express rates or parcels
post, or some such similar service, and while the thermometer
stands at 117 degrees in the shade we are requested to advise as
to whether express companies should not be abolished. It has only
been by the exercise of a rare and unusual degree of self-control
on my part, and by long periods of prayer, that I have refrained
from advising Congress that I thought express companies should be
abolished and designating the place to which they should be
relegated.

As perhaps you may have heard, I shall visit the Pacific Coast in
person during the next few weeks, and there I trust I may have the
pleasure of meeting you and your noble Governing Committees, to
whom I shall explain in person and in detail the difficulties
attaching to the solution of this problem. ... Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO LAWRENCE F. ABBOTT OUTLOOK

Washington, December 4, 1911

MY DEAR ABBOTT,-- ... We are making history fast these days, and
at the bottom of it all lies the idea, in the minds of the
American people, that they are going to use this machine they call
the Government. For the centuries and centuries that have passed,
government has been something imposed from above, to which the
subject or citizen must submit. For the first century of our
national life this idea has held good. Now, however, the people
have grown in imagination, so that they appreciate the fact that
the government is very little more than a cooperative institution
in which there is nothing inherently sacred, excepting in so far
as it is a crystallization of general sentiment and is a good
working arrangement. And the feeling with relation to big
business, when we get down to the bottom of it, is that if men
have made these tremendous fortunes out of privileges granted by
the whole people, we can correct this by a change in our laws.
They do not object to men making any amount of money so long as
the individual makes it, but if the Government makes it for him,
that is another matter.

I have been meeting ... with some of the committees, in Congress
and out, that are drafting bills regulating trusts, and I expect
something by no means radical as a starter.

You ask as to leadership in both Houses. There is not much in the
Lower House that can be relied upon to do constructive work, so
far as I can discover. Our Democratic leaders all wear hobble
skirts. But in the Senate there is some very good stuff.

I expect to be in New York in January, and then I hope to see you.
Very truly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

When he was running for Governor in 1902, Lane made prison reform
one of the foremost issues of his campaign. Several years later
when a movement was started petitioning the Governor to parole
Abraham Ruef, who had served a part of his term in the
penitentiary for bribery in San Francisco, Lane signed the
petition. This brought a letter of remonstrance from his friend
Charles McClatchy, editor and owner of the Sacramento Bee, who
felt that such a movement was ill-timed and not in the interest of
the public good.



TO CHARLES K. MCCLATCHY SACRAMENTO BEE

Washington, December 12, 1911

MY DEAR CHARLES,--I have your letter regarding the paroling of
Abraham Ruef, and, far from taking offense at what you say, I know
that it expresses the opinion of probably the great body of our
people, but I have long thought that we dealt with criminals in a
manner which tended to keep them as criminals and altogether
opposed to the interests of society. I am not sentimental on this
proposition, but I think I am sensible. We are dealing with men
convicted of crime more harshly and more unreasonably than we deal
with dogs. Our fundamental mistake is that we utterly ignore the
fact that there is such a thing as psychology. We are treating
prisoners with the methods of five hundred years ago, before
anything was known about the nature of the human mind. ... There
are, of course, certain kinds of men who should for society's sake
be kept in prison as long as they live, just as there are kinds of
insane people that should be kept in insane asylums until they
die. ...

I think if you will get the thought into your mind that our
present penal system is Silurian and unscientific--the same to-day
as it was 10,000 years ago--you will see my stand-point. Our
penitentiaries develop criminals, they make criminals out of men
who are not criminals to begin with--boys, for instance. They
debase and degrade men. The state by its system of punishment
reaches into the heart of a man and plucks out his very soul. I am
speaking of men who are when they enter responsive to good
impulses. ...

I thoroughly appreciate the spirit in which you have written me,
and I hope that you will get my point of view. I have known Abe
Ruef for over twenty-five years. He was a perfectly straight young
man and anxious to help in San Francisco. I do not know the
influences that turned him into the direction that he took, but I
am absolutely certain that that man has suffered mental tortures
greater than any that he would have ever suffered if he had gone
to a physical hell of fire. He may appear brave, but he is in
fact, I will warrant you, a heart-broken man, because he has
failed of realizing his own decent ideals. ... He never was my
friend, politically, socially, or otherwise, but my judgment is
that society will be better off if he is allowed the limited
freedom that a parole gives and given an opportunity to live up to
his own ideal of Abe Ruef.

Regards to Val, your wife, and family. As always, faithfully
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO CHARLES K. MCCLATCHY SACRAMENTO BEE

[Washington, January, 1912]

MY DEAR CHARLES,--I have your note regarding Ruef. ... It seems to
me you have made one good point against me, and only one,--that
there are poor men in jail who ought to be paroled at the end of a
year. Very well, why not parole them? If they are men who have
been reached by public opinion and are subject to it, I see no
reason why they should be kept in jail. Every case must be dealt
with by itself and to each case should be given the same kind of
treatment that I give to Ruef. You will be advocating this thing
yourself one of these days, calling it Christian and civilized and
denouncing those who do not agree with you as being barbarians. It
may be that Ruef fooled me when he was just out of college, but I
was a member of the Municipal Reform League which John H. Wigmore,
now Dean of the Northwestern University Law School, Ruef and
myself started. It did not last very long, but I think that Ruef
was as zealous as any of us for good government.

With many wishes for the New Year, believe me always, my dear
Charles, yours faithfully,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS LONDON, ENGLAND

December 13, 1911

MY DEAR BURNS,--I have felt grievously hurt, at hearing from
Pfeiffer several times, that you had written him, and nary a word
to me. The idea that I should write to you when you had nothing in
the world to do but write me, never entered my head. I want you to
understand distinctly the position which you now occupy in the
minds of your friends. You are a gentleman of leisure, traveling
in Europe with an invalid wife, necessarily bored, and anxious to
meet with anything that will give you an interesting life. Under
the circumstances, you may relieve your mind at any time, of any
intellectual bile, by correspondence. ... If you wish something
serious to do, I will formally direct you to make a report upon
Railway Rates and Railway Service in Europe. This will give you
some diversion in between your attacks of religion and
architecture.

Pfeiffer, I presume, has returned from the Far West, but so far I
have not heard from him. The last letter I got was from the
Yosemite. He seems to have been enchanted with that country. He
says there is nothing in Europe to compare with it. It is splendid
to see a fellow of his age, and with all of his learning, keep up
his enthusiasm. It seems to me that he is more appreciative and
buoyant than he was twenty years ago, and he is really very sane.
His sympathies, unlike yours, are with the present and not with
the dead past.

You will be interested in knowing that Mr. T. Roosevelt is likely
to be the next Republican nominee for President. Within the last
six weeks it has become quite manifest that Taft cannot be
elected. ... And so you see, the whirligig of time has made
another turn. Big Business in New York is looking to Roosevelt as
a statesman who is practical. The West regards him as the champion
of the plain people. He is keeping silent, but no doubt like the
negro lady he is quite willing to be "fo'ced."

On the Democratic side all of the forces have united to destroy
Wilson, who is the strongest man in the West. The bosses are all
against him. They recently produced an application which he had
made for a pension, under the Carnegie Endowment Fund for
Teachers, which had been allowed to lie idle, unnoticed for a year
or so after its rejection, but owing to campaign emergencies was
produced, at this happy moment, to show that Wilson wanted a
pension. As a Philadelphia poet whom you never heard of says:--

    "Ah, what a weary travel is our act,
    Here, there, and back again, to win some prize,
    Those who are wise their voyage do contract
    To the safe space between each others' eyes."

This line is in keeping with my reputation as an early Victorian.
... Do write me some good long letters. You have a better literary
style than any man who ever wrote a letter to me, and I love you
for the prejudices that are yours. Give my love to your wife. As
always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANES



TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Washington, December 10, 1911

MY DEAR COLONEL,--I have been thinking over what I said yesterday,
and I am going to presume upon my friendship and, I may say, my
affection for you to make a suggestion:

Even though the call comes from a united party and under
circumstances the most flattering, do not accept it unless you are
convinced of two things: (1) that you are needed from a national
standpoint and not merely from a party standpoint; (2) that you
are certain of election.

Sacrifice for one's country is splendid, but sacrifice for one's
party is foolish. You must feel assured before acceding to the
call, which I believe will certainly come, that it is more than
party-wide, and that it is sufficiently strong to overcome the
trend toward Democratic success. If I were asked I would say that
I think both of these conditions are present--that the desire to
have you again is much broader than any party, and so large that
it would insure your victory;--but no man is as wise a judge of
these things as the man himself whose fortunes are at stake.

Thanking you again for the pleasure of a luncheon, believe me, as
always, faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Roosevelt in a letter marked PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL replied:--
... "That is a really kind and friendly letter from you, and I
appreciate it. Now I agree absolutely with you that I have no
business under any circumstances to accept any such call, even in
the greatly improbable event of its coming, unless I am convinced
that the need is National, a need of the people and not merely a
need of the Party. But as for considering my own chances in any
such event, my dear fellow, I simply would not know how to go
about it. I am always credited with far more political sagacity
than I really possess. I act purely on public grounds and then
this proves often to be good policy too. I assure you with all
possible sincerity that I have not thought and am not thinking of
the nomination, and that under no circumstances would I in the
remotest degree plan to bring about my nomination. I do not want
to be President again, I am not a candidate, I have not the
slightest idea of becoming a candidate, and I do not for one
moment believe that any such condition of affairs will arise that
would make it necessary to consider me accepting the nomination.
But as for the effect upon my own personal fortunes, I would not
know how to consider it, because I would not have the vaguest idea
what the effect would be, except that according to my own view it
could not but be bad and unpleasant for me personally. From the
personal standpoint I should view the nomination to the Presidency
as a real and serious misfortune. Nothing would persuade me to
take it, unless it appeared that the people really wished me to do
a given job, which I could not honorably shirk. ..."



TO SAMUEL G. BLYTHE

Washington, January 6, 1912

MY DEAR SAM,--... I, too, have been reading William James. His
VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE is the only philosophic work
that I was ever able to get all the way through. This thing gave
me real delight for a week.

Have just read Mr. John Bigelow's REMINISCENCES, or bits thereof,
and find that the aforesaid John is much like another John that we
know in this city, the fine friend of the Pan-American Bureau. He
seems to have been a dignified and solemn gentleman who carried on
correspondence with a great many men for a number of years,
without ... having indulged in a flash of humor in all his
respectable days. ...

Will you support me for Supreme Court Justice? I see that I am
mentioned. Between us, I am entirely ineligible, having a sense of
humor. As always yours,

LANE



TO SIDNEY E. MEZES PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

Washington, February 15,1912

MY DEAR SID,--Your weather has been no worse than ours, I want you
to understand; in fact, not so bad. I think the glacial period is
returning and the ice cap is moving down from the North Pole.

The Supreme Bench I could not get because I am a Democrat, and the
President could not afford to appoint another Democrat on the
Bench. I do not know when McKenna goes out, and I am not going to
be disturbed about it anyway. If I had not been unlucky enough to
be born in Canada I could be nominated for President this year.
Things are in a devil of a condition. We could have elected
Wilson, hands down, if it had not been for Hearst's malevolent
influence. He is at the bottom of all this deviltry. His aim is to
kill Wilson off and nominate Clark, and Clark is in the lead now,
I think. God knows whether he can beat Taft or not. It looks to me
as if Taft will be nominated. I have a feeling somehow that the
Roosevelt boom won't materialize.

My love to the Missis and to Mr. House. As always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Washington, February 19, 1912

MY DEAR JOHN,--For two weeks there has been standing on my desk a
most elegantly bound set of your CASES ON TORTS sent to me by
Little, Brown & Co. at your request. You do not need to be told, I
know, how much I appreciate a thing that comes from you and how
poverty stricken I am when it comes to making adequate return. I
can prove that I have been working hard, but my work does not
crystallize into anything which is worth sending to a friend.

The fact is that I have never worked as hard in my life as I have
lately. I get to my office about nine, and without going out of my
room (for I take my lunch at my desk), stay until six, and work at
home every night until half past eleven, and then take a volume of
essays or poems to bed with me for half or three-quarters of an
hour, and so to sleep.

If the man in the White House had as much sense as I have, he
would name you for the Supreme Bench without asking, and "draft"
you, as Roosevelt says. By the way, I gave the suggestion of
"draft" in a talk I had with him a month or so ago.

The political situation is interesting, but altogether un-lovely.
... It looks as if Clark might be the nominee on the Democratic
side. Taft is gaining in strength, and somehow I cannot feel that
Roosevelt will ever be in it, although you know how I like him.
The situation seems a bit artificial.

Give my love to Mrs. John. As always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, February 23, 1912

MY DEAR GEORGE,-- ... Yesterday I delivered an address before the
University of Virginia on A Western View of Tradition--which when
it is printed I will send out to you--and in the afternoon was
taken up to Jefferson's home, Monticello. It is on a mountain, the
top of which he scraped off. It overlooks the whole surrounding
country, most of which at that time he owned. He planned the whole
house himself, even to the remotest details, the cornices and the
carvings on the mantels, the kind of lumber of which the floors
were to be made, the character of the timbers used, the carving of
the capitals on the columns, the folding ladder that was used to
wind up the clock over the doorway, the registers on the porch
that recorded the direction in which the wind was coming, as moved
by the weather-vane on the roof, the little elevator beside the
fireplace ... and a thousand other details.

... I would like nothing better if I had any kind of skill in
using my hands than to take a year off and build a house. It is a
real religion to create something, and you do not need a great
deal of money to make a very beautiful little place. You must have
one large room, and the house must be on some elevation, and you
must get water, water, and water. ... It is water that makes land
valuable in California or anywhere else. Affectionately yours,

F. K. L.



TO CARL SNYDER

Washington, March 6, 1912

MY DEAR CARL,--I have this minute for the first time seen the copy
of COLLIER'S, for February 24, 1912, and therefore for the first
time my eyes lighted upon your most delicious roast of the
Commerce Court. ...

I do not know what the outcome of this movement will be. The only
settled policy of government is inertia. The House of
Representatives Committee on Appropriations, I believe, proposes
to abolish the appropriation for the Court, which looks like a
cowardly way to get at the thing, but perhaps it is most
effective. However, I really doubt if they will have the nerve to
do this. It is a mighty critical year, I think, in our history. It
looks to me as if the reactionaries were going to get possession
of both parties, and that a third party will be needed and nobody
will have the nerve to start it. Roosevelt has got everything west
of the Mississippi excepting Utah and Wyoming, in my judgment.
That he will be able to get the nomination I am not so sure; but
he does not care a tinker's damn whether he gets it himself or
not. That is the worst of it because the people won't give
anything to a man that he does not want. ... Well, we are living
in mighty interesting times anyway.

As always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

On February 22, 1912, Lane delivered the annual address at the
University of Virginia. He spoke on American Tradition, saying
that as Americans are physically, industrially, and socially the
"heirs of all the ages" our supreme tradition is a "hatred of
injustice." That one of the great experiments that a Democracy
should make is to find a more equitable distribution of wealth
"without destroying individual initiative or blasting individual
capacity and imagination." This address brought a letter from
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Justice of the Supreme Court.



TO FRANKLIN K. LANE

March 17, 1912

MY DEAR SIR,--Let me thank you at once for your Virginia address,
which I have just received and just read--read with the greatest
pleasure. I admire its eloquence, its imagination, its style. I
sympathize with its attitude and with most of its implications. I
gain heart from its tone of hope. I am old--by the calendar at
least--and at times am more melancholy, so that it does me good to
hear the note of courage. One implication may carry conclusions to
which I think I ought to note my disagreement,--the reference to
unequal distribution. I think the prevailing fallacy is to
confound ownership with consumption of products. Ownership is a
gate, not a stopping place. You tell me little when you tell me
that Rockefeller or the United States is the owner. What I want to
know is who consumes the annual product, and for many years I have
been saying and believing that to think straight one should look
at the stream of annual products and ask what change one would
make in that under any REGIME. The luxuries of the few are a drop
in the bucket--the crowd now has all there is. The difference
between private and public ownership, it seems to me, is mainly in
the natural selection of those most competent to foresee the
future and to direct labor into the most productive channels, and
the greater poignancy of the illusion of self-seeking under which
the private owner works. The real problem, under socialism as well
as under individualism, is to ascertain, under the external
economic and inevitable conditions, the equilibrium of social
desires. The real struggle is between the different groups of
producers of the several objects of social desire. The bogey
capital is simply the force of all the other groups against the
one that is selling its product, trying to get that product for
the least it can. Capital is society purchasing and consuming--
Labor is society producing. The laborers unfortunately are often
encouraged to think capital something up in the sky which they are
waiting for a Franklin to bring down into their jars. I think that
is a humbug and lament that I so rarely hear what seem to me the
commonplaces that I have uttered, expressed. Your fine address has
set me on my hobby and you have fallen a victim to the charm of
your own words. Very truly, yours,

O. W. HOLMES

P. S. Of course I am speaking only of economics not of political
or sentimental considerations--both very real, but as to which all
that one can say is, if you are sure that you want to go to the
show and have money enough to buy a ticket, go ahead, but don't
delude yourself with the notion that you are doing an economic
act. I make the only return I can in the form of the single speech
I have made for the last nine years.



TO OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT

Washington, March 20, 1912

MY DEAR MR. JUSTICE,--I sincerely thank you for the warmth and
generosity of your comment on my Virginia speech. Your economic
philosophy is fundamentally, I think, the same as mine--that the
wealth produced is a social product. And men may honestly differ
as to how best that stream of foods and other satisfactions may be
increased in volume, or more widely distributed. May I carry your
figure of the stream further by suggesting that the riparian owner
in England has the superior right, but in an arid country the
common law rule is abandoned because under new conditions it does
not make for the greatest public good? The land adjoining feels
the need of the water, and society takes from one to give to the
other.

The last century was devoted to steaming up in production. This
century, it appears to me, will devote itself more definitely to
distribution. It is nonsense, of course, to say that because the
rich grow richer the poor grow poorer; but the poor are not the
same poor, they, too, have found new desires. Civilization has
given them new wants. Those desires will not be satisfied with
largesse, and with the machinery of government in their hands the
people are bound to experiment along economic lines. They will
certainly find that they get most when they preserve the captain
of industry, but may it not be that his imagination and
forethought may be commanded by society at a lower share of the
gross than he has heretofore received, or in exchange for
something of a different, perhaps of a sentimental nature? ...
Please pardon this typewritten note, but my own hand, unlike your
copper-plate, is absolutely illegible. I have been raised in a
typewriter age.

Again thanking you for your letter, believe me, with the highest
regard, faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Washington, April 3, 1912

MY DEAR JOHN,--You overwhelm me. ... You have no right to say such
nice things to an innocent and trusting young thing like myself.
The flat, unabashed truth is that I appreciate your letter more
than any other that I have received concerning that speech. By way
of indicating the interest which it has excited I send you copies
of some correspondence between Mr. Justice Holmes and myself.

Our plans for the summer are very unsettled. The probability is
that we will go up to Bras D'Or Lakes, in Cape Breton, where we
can have salt-water bathing and sailing and be most primitive. I
should like greatly to run over with you to Europe, and, by way of
making the temptation harder to resist, let me know how you expect
to go, and where.

Give my love to the Lady Wigmore. As ever yours,

F, K. L.



TO DANIEL WITTARD PRESIDENT, BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY

Washington, June 19, 1912

MY DEAR MR. WILLARD,--That was a warm cordial note that you sent
me regarding my University of Virginia address, and what you say
of my sentiments confirms my own view that property must look to
men like yourself for protection in the future--men who are not
blind to public sentiment and whose methods are frank. The worst
enemy that capital has in the country is the man who thinks that
he can "put one over" on the people. An institution cannot remain
sacred long which is the creator of injustice, and that is what
some of our blind friends at Chicago do not see. Very truly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN MCNAUGHT NEW YORK WORLD

Washington, March 23, 1912

MY DEAR JOHN,--I am very glad indeed to hear from you and to know
that you are in sympathy with my "eloquent" address at the
University of Virginia. You give me hope that I am on the right
track. As for Harmon and representative government, you won't get
either. ... Please see Mr. R. W. Emerson's Sphinx, in which occurs
this line:

    "The Lethe of Nature can't trance him again
    Whose soul sees the perfect, which his eye seeks in vain."

Fancy me surrounded by maps of the express systems of the United
States, digging through the rates on uncleaned rice from Texas to
the Southeast, dribbling off poetry to a man who sits in a tall
tower overlooking New York, who once had poetry which has per
necessity been smothered! Dear John, read your Bible, and in
Second Kings you will find the story of one Rehoboam, that son of
Solomon, who was also for Harmon and representative government.

I am looking out of the window at the funeral procession for the
Maine dead, and it strikes me that our dear friend Cobb has
overlooked one trick in his campaign against T. R. Of course he
has other arrows in his quiver, and no doubt this one will come
later, but why not charge T. R. with having blown up the Maine? No
one can prove that he did not do it. He then undoubtedly was
planning to become President and knew that he never could be
unless he was given a chance to show his ability as a soldier-
patriot. He stole Panama of course, and is there any reason to
believe that a man who would steal Panama would hesitate at
blowing up a battleship?

I hope you ... are giving over the life of a hermit--not that I
would advise you to take to the Great White Way, but the side
streets are sometimes pleasant. As always, devotedly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



V

EXPRESS CASE--CABINET APPOINTMENTS

1912-1913

Politics--Democratic Convention--Nomination of Wilson --Report on
Express Case--Democratic Victory--Problems for New Administration
--On Cabinet Appointments


TO ALBERT SHAW REVIEW OF REVIEWS

Washington, April 30, 1912

MY DEAR DOCTOR,-- ... You certainly are very much in the right.
Everything begins to look as if the Republican party would prove
itself the Democratic party after all. Our Southern friends are so
obstinate and so traditional, and so insensible to the problems of
the day, that while they are honest they are too often found in
alliance with the Hearsts and Calhouns. The Republican party, on
the other hand, seems to have courage enough to take a purgative
every now and then.

We must find ways of satisfying the plain man's notion of what the
fair thing is, or else worse things than the recall of judges will
come to pass. Every lawyer knows that the law has been turned into
a game of bridge whist. People are perfectly well satisfied that
they can submit a question to a body of fair-minded and honest
men, take their conclusion, and get rid of all our absurd rules of
evidence and our unending appeals.

And as to economic problems, people are going to solve a lot of
these along very simple lines. I think I see a great body of
opinion rising in favor of the appropriation by the Government of
all natural resources.

We saw a lot of the Severances while they were here. Cordy made a
great argument in the Merger Case, but if he wins, we won't get
anything more than a paper victory--another Northern Securities
victory.

Please remember me very kindly to Mrs. Shaw, and believe me, as
always sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO CURT G. PFEIFFER

Washington, May 21, 1912

MY DEAR PFEIFFER,--I am acknowledging your note on the day when
Ohio votes. This is the critical day, for if T. R. wins more than
half the delegation in Ohio, he is nominated and, I might almost
say, elected. But I find that the Democrats feel more sure of his
strength than the Republicans do. Have you noticed how extremely
small the Democratic vote is at all of the primaries, not
amounting to more than one-fourth of the Republican vote?

... The Democrats are in an awkward position. If Roosevelt is
nominated, one wing will be fighting for Underwood, to get the
disaffected conservative strength, while the other wing will be
fighting for Bryan, so as to hold as large a portion of the
radical support as possible. Oh, well, we have all got to come to
a real division of parties along lines of tendency and temperament
and have those of us who feel democratic-wise get into the same
wagon, and those who fear democracy, and whose first interest is
property, flock together on the tory side. As always, yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, July 2, 1912

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I am off tomorrow for Baddeck, Cape Breton, where
I shall probably be until the 1st of September or thereabouts--if
I can endure that long period of country life and absence from the
political excitement of the United States.

It looks, as I am writing, as if Wilson were to be nominated at
Baltimore. If he is he will sweep the country; Taft won't carry
three states. [Footnote: Taft carried Vermont and Utah.] Wilson is
clean, strong, high-minded and cold-blooded. To nominate him would
be a tremendous triumph for the anti-Hearst people. I have been
over at the convention several times. Hearst defeated Bryan for
temporary chairman by making a compact with Murphy, Sullivan and
Taggart. ... Bryan has fought a most splendid fight. I had a talk
with him. He was in splendid spirits and most cordial. The
California delegation headed by Theodore Bell has been made to
look like a lot of wooden Indians. Bell himself was shouted down
with the cry of "Hearst! Hearst!", the last time he rose to speak.
The delegation is probably the most discredited one in the entire
convention. ...

My summer, I presume, will be put in chiefly in sailing a small
yawl with Gilbert Grosvenor, rowing a boat, fishing a little, and
walking some. My diet for the next two months will consist
exclusively of salmon and potatoes, cod-fish and potatoes, and
mutton and potatoes.

I have just completed my report in the Express Case, a copy of
which will be sent you. It has been a most tremendous task, and
the work has not yet been completed for we have to pass upon the
rates in October; but I am in surprisingly good condition--
largely, perhaps, because the weather has been so cool for the
last month ...

All happiness, old man! Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

"Lane had a long look ahead," says James S. Harlan, "that often
reminded one of the extraordinary prevision of Colonel Roosevelt.
One striking instance of this was in connection with this Express
Case.

"Early in the progress of the investigation of express companies
undertaken by him in 1911, at the request of the Interstate
Commerce Commission, Lane warned a group of high express officials
gathered around him that unless they promptly coordinated their
service more closely to the public requirements, revised their
archaic practices, readjusted and simplified their rate systems so
as to eliminate discriminations, the frequent collection of double
charges and other evils, and gave the public a cheaper and a
better service, the public would soon be demanding a parcel post.

"The suggestion was received with incredulous smiles, one of the
express officials saying, apparently with the full approval of
them all, that a parcel post had been talked of in this country
for forty years and had never got beyond the talking point, and
never would. As a matter of fact, there was little, if any,
movement at that time in the public press or elsewhere for such a
service by the government. But Lane's alert mind had sensed in the
current of public thought a feeling that there was need of a
quicker, simpler, and cheaper way of handling the country's small
packages, and he saw no way out, other than a parcel post, if the
express companies stood still and made no effort to meet this
public need.

"Within scarcely more than a year Congress, by the Act of August
24, 1912, had authorized a parcel post and such a service was in
actual operation on January 1, 1913. It was not until December of
the latter year that the express companies were ready to file with
the Commission the ingenious and entirely original system Lane had
devised for stating express rates. The form was so simple that
even the casual shipper in a few minutes' study could qualify
himself for ascertaining the rates, not only to and from his own
home express station but between any other points in the country.
But by that time the carriage of the country's small parcels had
permanently passed out of the hands of the express companies into
the hands of the postal service, by which Lane's unique form for
stating the express rates was adopted as the general form of
showing its parcel post charges."



TO Oscar S. Straus

Washington, July 8, 1912

MY DEAR MR. STRAUS,--I thank you heartily for your appreciative
note regarding my University of Virginia talk. I wanted to say
something to those people, especially to the younger men, that
would make them doubt the wisdom of staying forever with systems
and theories not adapted to our day.

As I write, word comes that Woodrow Wilson has been nominated. I
do not know him, but from what I hear he promises if elected to be
a real leader in the war against injustice. The world wants
earnest men right now--not cynics, but men who BELIEVE, whether
rightly or wrongly; and the reason that the East is so much less
progressive as we say, than the West, is because the East is made
up so largely of cynics.

Thanking you once more for your appreciative words, believe me,
sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Baddeck, Nova Scotia, July 81, [1912]

MY DEAR MR. WHEELER,--Your letter followed me here, where at least
one can breathe. This really is a most beautiful country filled
with self-respecting Gaelic-speaking Scotch from the islands of
the north--crofters driven here to make place for sheep and fine
estates on their ancestral homes in the Highlands.

I am proud of your words of commendation. The express job is the
biggest one yet. I believe we've done a real service both to the
country and to the express companies. The latter will probably
live if their service and their rates improve. Otherwise the
Government will put them out of business, requiring the railroads
to give fast service for any forwarder, as in Germany.

Politically, things look Wilson to me. Taft won't be in sight at
the finish. It will be a run between Wilson and T. R. I can't name
five states that Taft is really likely to carry. My friends in
Massachusetts say Wilson will win there, and so in Maine. Well, I
suppose you and I are in the same sad situation--eager to break
into the fight but bound not to do it. Do you know I believe that
T. R. has discovered, and just discovered, that it is our destiny
to be a Democracy. Hence the enthusiasm which Wall Street calls
whiskey. ... Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K, LANE



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, September 17, 1912

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I am mighty glad to get your Labor Day letter,
but sorry that its note is not more cheerful and gay. I can quite
understand your position though. We are all obsessed with the
desire to be of some use and unwilling to take things as they are.
I do not know a pair of more rankly absurd idealists than you and
myself, and along with idealism goes discontent. We do not see the
thing that satisfies us, and we can not abide resting with the
thing that does not satisfy us. We are of the prods in the world,
the bit of acid that is thrown upon it to test it, the spur which
makes the lazy thing move on.

This summer I saw a great deal of a man ... [who was] perfectly
complacent. ... And I noticed that he took no acids of any kind--
never a pickle, nor vinegar, nor salad--but would heap half a
roll of butter on a single sheet of bread and eat sardines whole.
And I just came to the conclusion that there was something in a
fellow's stomach that accounted for his temperament. If I ever get
the time I am going to try and work out the theory. The contented
people are those who generate their own acid and have an appetite
for fats, while the discontented people are those whose craving is
for acids. A lack of a sense of humor and a love for concrete
facts, as opposed to dreams, goes along with the first
temperament. You just turn this thing over and see if there is not
something in it. I am long past the stage of trying to correct
myself; I am just trying to understand a lot of things--why they
are. ...

F. K L.



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Washington, July 3, 1912

MY DEAR JOHN,--Of course you may keep the Napoleon book. It is
intended for you. Your criticism of T. R.'s literary style is
appreciated, and no doubt he lacks in precision of thought.

Now we shall have a chance to see what a college president can do
as President of the United States. I believe Wilson will be
elected. What a splendid jump in three years that man has made!
They tell me he is very cold-blooded. We need a cold-blooded
fellow these days ...

September 21, 1912

... You will by this time have picked up all the politics of the
time. Wilson is strong, but not stronger than he was when
nominated. T. R. is gaining strength daily, that is my best guess.
He has the laboring man with him most enthusiastically but not
unanimously, of course. The far West--Pacific Coast--is his. All
the railroad men and the miners ...

I am not sure of Wilson. He is not "wise" to modern conditions, I
fear. Tearing up the tariff won't change many prices. Doesn't he
seem to talk too much like a professor and too little like a
statesman? Hearst is knifing him for all he is worth. He has fixed
in the workingmen's minds that Wilson favors Chinese immigration.

Well, when am I to see you again? And how is Mrs. John? How I do
wish you were here! As always,

F. K. L.



To Timothy Spellacy

Washington, September 30, 1912

MY DEAR TIM,--I have your fine, long letter of September 23, and
this is no more than just an acknowledgment. I am glad to know
that you are taking so hearty an interest in the campaign. It is
really too bad that you did not stay longer in Baltimore and see
Bryan win out all along the line.

I don't want a position in the Cabinet. I am not looking for any
further honors, but I want to help Wilson make a success of his
administration, for I think he will be elected. I am afraid that
he will become surrounded by Southern reactionaries--men of his
own blood and feeling, who are not of the Northern and more
progressive type. We have got to cut some sharp corners in doing
the things that are right. By this I don't mean that we will do
anything that is wrong; but from the standpoint of the Southern
Democrat it is illegal to have a strong central government--one
that is effective--and we have got to have such a government if we
are going to hold possession of the Nation. The people want things
done. Wilson is a bit too conservative for me, but maybe when he
realizes the necessity for strength he will be for it.

I am sorry for B--. Poor chap! His alliance with Hearst undid
years of good work ... As always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Adolph C. Miller

Washington, October 18, 1912

MY DEAR ADOLPH,--I have postponed until the last minute writing
you regarding my proposed visit in California. I see now clearly
that it is impossible for me to get out there this fall. The
Express Case ... is still on my hands, and with all of my energy I
shall not be able to get rid of it until the first of the year at
least ... Moreover (and this is a personal matter that I wish you
would not say anything about) ... I am doing my work in a great
deal of pain, and have been for the last three or four weeks ... I
cannot work as hard as I did some time ago ...

I rebel at sickness as much as I do at death. The scheme of
existence does not appeal to me, at the moment, as the most
perfect which a highly imaginative Creator could have invented. My
transcendental philosophy seems a pretty good working article when
things are going smoothly, but it is not quite equal to hard
practical strain, I fear.

Politically things look like Wilson, though I suppose T. R. will
get California and a lot of other states. I think he will beat
Taft badly. The new party has come to stay, and it will be a
tremendous influence for good. I don't take any stock in the talk
about T. R's personal ambition being his controlling motive. I
think that he has found a religious purpose in life to which he
can devote himself the rest of his days, not to get himself into
office but to keep things moving along right lines.

Remember me most kindly to your wife and President Wheeler. As
always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To William F. McCombs Chairman, Democratic National Committee

Washington, October 19,1912

Dear Mr. McCombs,--I cannot go to California and make speeches for
Governor Wilson without resigning from the Commission. Four years
ago two Republican members of the Commission were strongly urged
at a critical time in the campaign to get into Mr. Taft's fight so
as to help with the labor vote. I insisted that they should not do
it, and the matter was brought before the Commission, and we then
decided that no member of the Commission should take part in
politics. So you see when the telegrams began to come in this
year, urging that I go out to California and the other Pacific
Coast states, I was compelled to say that I was stopped by my
position of four years ago.

I have never wanted to get into a campaign as much as I have this
one. Governor Wilson represents all that I have been fighting for,
for the last twenty years in my State; but I think that it would
be almost fatal to the independence and high repute of this
Commission for its members to take part in a national campaign. We
have so much power that we can exercise upon the railroads and
upon railroad men that any announcement made by a member of this
Commission could properly be construed as a threat or a suggestion
that should be heeded by the wise. I know that this view of the
matter will appeal to you as entirely sensible when you reflect
upon it, and to my impatient friends in California, to whom it has
been very hard to say no.

I am glad to see that you are holding the fight up so hard at the
tail end of the campaign. That is when Democratic campaigns have
so often been lost. Governor Wilson is maintaining himself
splendidly, and our one danger has been over-confidence. Sincerely
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



About the political situation he wrote to one of his former
Assistants in the City and County Attorney's office in San
Francisco

To Hugo K. Asher

Washington, October 22,1912

MY DEAR HUGO,--I have your long letter which you promised in your
telegram. Now, old man, I want to have a perfectly open talk with
you. I understand your attitude of affectionate ambition for me,
and I am mighty proud of it, that after the years we were
associated together, the ups and downs we had, you feel the way
you do.

Wilson is going to be elected unless some miracle happens, and I
would tremendously like to get out to California and speak to the
people once more. You do not know just how the old lust for battle
has come over me. Following your telegram came a letter from
McCombs, the Chairman of the National Committee, saying that he
had received a lot of telegrams urging him to have me go and that
Governor Wilson would like me to. But I wrote him precisely as I
have you. If the members of this Commission once get into
politics, the institution is gone to hell, for we can make or
unmake any candidate we wish. This is the most powerful body in
the United States, and we must act with a full sense of the
responsibility that is on us ...

As for being a member of Wilson's Cabinet, I don't want to be. In
the first place I can't afford it. There is no Cabinet man here
who lives on his salary, and as you know, I have got nothing else.
I save nothing now out of the salary that I get, and if the social
obligations of a Cabinet position were placed upon me I would have
to run in debt ...

Furthermore, I am doing just as big work and as satisfactory work
as any member of the Cabinet. The work that a Cabinet officer
chiefly does is to sign his name to letters or papers that other
people write. There is very little constructive work done in any
Cabinet office. While the glamour of intimate association with the
President--the honor that comes from such a position--appeals to
me, for I still have all my old-time vanity and love of dignity
and appreciation; yet the position that I occupy is one of so much
power, and I am conscious so thoroughly of its usefulness, that I
do not want to change it. I should be more or less close to the
President anyway, I presume. His friends are my friends, and I
shall have an opportunity to help make his administration a
success by advising with him, if he desires my advice.

Now, old man, I have talked to you very frankly, and I know that
you will understand just what I mean. If I were out of office I
would have been in Wilson's campaign a year ago. If I wanted a
Cabinet position now I would resign from the Commission and go out
to help him. I think probably if I felt that California's vote was
necessary to Wilson's success and that I could help to get it, I
would take the latter course, although it is not clear that that
would be my duty, in view of conditions in the Commission.

With warmest regards, believe me, as always, faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Francis G. Newlands Reno, Nevada

Washington, October 28, 1912

MY DEAR SENATOR,--I am delighted at the receipt of your long
letter, for I have been very anxious to know how you felt about
your own State. Of course it has been a foregone conclusion for
some time that Wilson would carry the United States, but I was
desirous that you should carry Nevada for your own sake ...

In my judgment the Interstate Trades Commission needs all of your
concentrated energy for the next year. The bill should be your
bill, and you should be the leading authority upon the matter.

Wilson should look to you for advice along this line of dealing
with the trust problem. He will, if you have the greater body of
information upon the subject. Of course Roosevelt did not know
where he was going as to his Trades Commission, and he would not
have had any opportunity were he elected to go any farther, ...
because that Commission has got to feel its way along. Wilson, you
can see from his speeches, has swallowed Brandeis' theory without
knowing much about the problem, but he certainly has handled
himself well during the campaign ... What he does will very
largely depend, I think, upon those who surround him. He must have
access to sources of information outside of the formal
administrative officers who make up his Cabinet. This is a very
delicate way of saying that he must have a sort of "kitchen
cabinet" made up of men like you and myself who will be willing to
talk frankly to him, and whom he will listen to with confidence
and respect. If he can get the Southerners into line with the
Northern Democrats he can make over the Democratic Party and give
it a long lease of life. If he cannot do this, and his party
splits, Roosevelt's party will come into possession of the country
in four years, and hold it for a long time ...

I am glad to see that you have been able to take so personal and
direct an interest in the campaign. Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Following the news of the Democratic victory, in the election of
Woodrow Wilson to the Presidency, Lane sent these letters:--



To Woodrow Wilson Trenton, N. J.

Washington, November 6, 1912

MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--The door of opportunity has opened to the
Progressive Democracy. I know that you will enter courageously.
The struggle of the next four years will be to persuade our timid
brethren to follow your leadership, "gentlemen unafraid." I am
persuaded from my experience here that no President can be a
success unless he takes the position of a real party leader--the
premier in Parliament as well as a chief executive. The
theoretical idea of the President's aloofness from Congress--of a
President dealing with the National Legislature as if he were an
independent government dealing with another--is wrong, because it
has been demonstrated to be ineffective and ruinous. We need
definiteness of program and cooperation between both ends of
Pennsylvania Avenue. There is generally one end of the Avenue that
does not know its own mind, and sometimes it is one, and sometimes
the other.

Your friends have been made happy through the campaign by the
manner in which you have conducted yourself. You spoiled so many
bad prophecies.

With heartiest of personal congratulations, believe me, faithfully
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To William Jennings Bryan Washington, November 6, 1912

MY DEAR MR. BRYAN,--The unprecedented heroism of your fight at
Baltimore has borne fruit, and every man who has fought with you
for the last sixteen years rejoices that this victory is yours.
Now comes the time when it is to be proved whether we are worthy
of confidence. We shall see whether Democrats will follow a wise,
aggressive, modern leadership. Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To James D. Phelan Washington, November 6, 1912

DEAR PHELAN,--Hurrah! Hurrah! and again Hurrah! You have done
nobly. The victory in California came late, but it was none the
less surprising and gratifying. We can dance like Miriam, as we
see the enemies of Israel go down in the flood.

I shall expect to see you here before long. With warmest
congratulations to you personally. As always, sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Herbert Harley

Washington, November 18, 1912

MY DEAR MR. HARLEY,--... There are many hopeful signs, as you say,
not the least of which is that the Supreme Court has at last been
moved to amend its equity rules. The whole agitation for judicial
recall will do good because it will not lead to judicial recall
but to the securing of a superior order of men on the bench and to
simplified procedure. I find that it is better to decide matters
promptly and sometimes wrongly than to have long delays. The
people have very little confidence in our courts, and this is
because of one reason: Our judges are not self-owned; either they
are dominated by a political machine or by associations of an even
worse character. Few men on the bench are corrupt; many of them
are lazy, and others are chosen from the class who feel with
property interests exclusively. I am heartily in sympathy with a
movement such as that you are promoting. It is in my opinion a
very practical way--perhaps the only practical way--of heading off
universal judicial recall. This is a Democracy and the people are
going to have men and methods adopted that will give them the kind
of judicial procedure that they want. They are not going to be
unfair unless driven to be radical by intolerable conditions. ...

Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Immediately after Woodrow Wilson's election in November, telegrams
and letters from different parts of the country, and especially
from his many friends in California, began to reach Lane asking
that he should consider himself available for a Cabinet position,
offering support and requesting his permission for them to make a
strong effort in his behalf. This he emphatically refused, saying
that he was not a candidate, but in spite of his refusals,
editorials began to appear in many Western papers.



To Charles K. McClatchy Sacramento Bee

Washington, November 25, 1912

MY DEAR CHARLES,--I received your note and this morning have a
copy of the paper containing the cartoon on "Unfinished Business,"
the original of which, by the way, I should like to have for my
library. ...

I know absolutely nothing about the suggestion made by the Call as
to my being appointed to the Cabinet. I rather think that it was
Ernest Simpson's friendly act, though I have not heard from him at
all. Three men have been to me from the Coast who wanted to be in
the Cabinet, and I have told each one the same thing:--That I was
not a candidate; that no one would speak to the President for me
with my consent; but that I would not say that I would not accept
an appointment, because I would do almost anything to make
Wilson's administration a success, for I believe that he has faced
the right way and the only difficulty that he will have will be in
securing strong enough support to carry out his own policies. I
think he lacks somewhat in adroitness and that his campaign was
much less radical than he would voluntarily have made it. I do not
know him and shall not go near him unless he sends for me. If he
does send for me I shall tell him the truth regarding anybody of
whom he speaks to me. I shall advocate nobody. I am not going to
be a job peddler or solicitor. My present position makes all the
demand upon my imagination, initiative, and capacity that my
abilities justify. I could not work any harder or do any better
work for the people in any position that the Government has to
give. I am not at all enamored of the honor of a Cabinet place.

Now, I am talking to you in the utmost frankness as if you were
sitting just across the table from me. Of course what I am saying
to you is absolutely private and personal. ...

We will just let this matter rest "on the knees of the gods," and
I shall try to serve with as little personal ambition moving me as
is possible with a man who has some temperament.

Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Ernest S. Simpson San Francisco, Cal.

Washington, November 26, 1912

MY DEAR SIMPSON,--How it ever entered into your head to give me so
splendid a boom for a position in Wilson's Cabinet I do not know.
Someone suggested that the tip came from Ira Bennett at this end,
and I see that the Sacramento Bee suggests that the railroads wish
to remove me from my present sphere of troublesomeness; but my own
guess is that your own good heart and our long-time friendship was
the sole cause of this most kindly act.

Some of the California papers, I notice, have had editorials
saying I should stay where I am (which is not a disagreeable fate
to be condemned to, barring a slight surplus of work), but of
course Wilson is not going to appoint anyone to his Cabinet
because of pull. He has a more difficult job than any President
has ever had since Lincoln, because he has to reconcile a
progressive Northern Democracy with a conservative Southern
Democracy, and satisfy one with policies and another with offices.
My guess is that he will have to turn over the whole question of
patronage practically to his Cabinet and that he will become the
actual leader of his party and attempt to formulate the
legislative policies of the party. He has a distinct ideal of what
the Presidency may be made. Whether he can make good under
conditions so apparently irreconcilable is a question that time
only can answer. His political family he will choose for himself.
They ought to be the very largest men that our country can
produce, and I am not fool enough to think that I am entitled to
be in such a group.

With the warmest thanks, my dear Simpson, for your kindness,
believe me, as always, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Fairfax Harrison

Washington, November 26, 191L

MY DEAR MR. HARRISON,--That is an exceedingly interesting and
philosophical presentation of your reason for adherence to the
Progressive Party. I understand your point of view and I
sympathize with it thoroughly. I had the hope that Colonel
Roosevelt would carry several of the Southern states. The
Democratic party of the North is distinct from the Democratic
party of the South, at least I fear that it is. The next four
years will demonstrate the possibility of these two elements
living together in effective cooperation. If Governor Wilson is a
mere doctrinaire the present victory will be of no value to the
Democratic party, but may be of great value to the country, for
the horizontal cleavage in the two parties will become manifest,
unmistakable, and open, and out of the breaking up will come a re-
alignment upon real lines of tendency. If President Wilson
attempts to do anything which satisfies the reasonable demand of
the progressive North he will run counter to the traditional
policy of the South; that is to say, effective regulation of child
labor, of interstate corporations--railroad and industrial--flood
waters, irrigation projects. [These,] and a multitude of other
matters make necessary the wiping out of state lines to the extent
that a national policy shall be supreme over a state policy. As
our good Spanish friend said some centuries ago, "Where two men
ride of a horse one must needs ride behind."

This fact is stronger than any written word, and facts are the
things which statesmen deal with. If the South is large enough to
see this--if it has grown to have national vision--the hope of the
Northern Democrat can be realized. Otherwise the traditionalists
of both North and South will make a party by themselves, and the
rest of the country will follow in your lead into THE new party or
A new party.

With warm regards, believe me, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To James P. Brown

Washington, November 27, 1912

MY DEAR JIM,--I see your point of view and am glad you have taken
the position that you have, because you can demonstrate whether
there is anything excepting a sawed-off shot-gun that will compel
some editors to tell the truth. ...

I shall not read your pamphlet because I have too much other
reading that I am compelled to do. My own guess, being totally
ignorant on the subject, is that you have violated the Sherman
Law, but everybody knows that the Sherman Law should be amended
and the conditions stated upon which there may be combination. Do
get out of your head, however, the idea that a railroad
corporation and an industrial corporation are subject to the same
philosophy, as to competition. One is necessarily a monopoly and
therefore must be regulated; the other is not necessarily a
monopoly, and the least regulation that it can be subjected to the
better. We have let things go free for so long that we have
created a big problem that sane men must deal with sensibly; not
admitting all there is to be right, but recognizing every natural
and legitimate economic tendency. With warm regards, believe me,
as always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO ADOLPH C. MILLER

Washington, December 4, 1912

MY DEAR ADOLPH,--Hon. J. J. London, Minister from the Netherlands
to the United States, left last night for San Francisco and will
be there about the ninth of the month. I have told him somewhat of
you and I want you to call on him. He is one of the most charming
men in Washington, really a poet in nature. He loves the beautiful
and good things of the world and is totally unspoiled by success
and position. ...

It is very good to know that you and President Wheeler have a sort
of mutual agreement on me for a Cabinet position, but I don't
think of it for myself. ... I find that I do not have the ambition
that I once had, excepting to do the work in hand just as well as
possible, and I am altogether impatient with the way I do it. I
should like to see you Secretary of the Treasury. There is to be
some change made in our currency laws during the next four years,
and a man of perfectly sane, level mind is tremendously needed to
guide Wilson in this matter, for I guess he is very ignorant upon
the subject. Especially is this true if Bryan goes into the
Cabinet. E. M. House, who is Sid Mezes' brother-in-law, is as
close to Wilson as any other man, and I will drop him a note,
telling him something about you, for I know that he is interested
in selecting Cabinet officers as he has been talking to me about
possible Attorney Generals. I have told him that I wanted nothing.
...

Mezes is the same adroit diplomat that he has always been, since
receiving the Presidency at Texas. He is doing big things for his
University and says that in two or three years he will be in a
position to retire, and will retire and spend the most of his time
in Europe; but unless my guess is wrong, his ambition has at last
been fired and he will look for other worlds to conquer if he
achieves what he is after in Texas. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO EDWARD M. HOUSE

Washington, December 13, 1912

MY DEAR MR. HOUSE,--Another suggestion as to the Attorney
Generalship. ... Have you ever heard of John H. Wigmore who is now
Dean of the Law Department of the Northwestern University? He is
one of the most remarkable men in our country. ... He has written
the greatest law book produced in this country in half a century,
WIGMORE ON EVIDENCE, besides several minor works. There is no
lawyer at the American bar who is not familiar with his name and
his work. ...

... Wigmore is a Progressive democrat with a capital P. and a
small d; can give reason for his faith based on his philosophy of
government. He has national vision and has rare good common sense.
The man who can write a good law book is rarely one who would make
a good lobbyist, although Judah P. Benjamin was this sort of
genius. So with Wigmore. He is practical, wise, in the sense that
this word is used by the boys on the street; knows men and knows
how to deal with them; never lets theory get the better of
judgment; commands as much respect for his strength as for his
reasonableness; has the enthusiasm of a boy for all good things;
and has infinite capacity for hard work; can say "No" without
developing personal bitterness; and is above all a gentleman in
face, manner, and nature. All this I have said with enthusiasm,
but every word of it is true. I have known him for thirty years.
...

He would not thank me for writing this letter, I know. The only
way he could be had to serve would be by persuading him that he is
absolutely needed. ...

You have brought this long letter upon your own head by the
gracious nature of your invitation to me to advise with you. Very
truly yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Washington, December 23, 1912

DEAR DR. WHEELER,--What you say regarding the President-to-be is
extremely interesting. That he is headstrong, arbitrary, and
positive, his friends admit. These are real virtues in this day of
slackness and sloppiness. I have just returned from New York where
I have talked with McAdoo and House who are extremely close to
him, and advising him regarding his Cabinet, and they tell me he
is a most satisfactory man to deal with. He listens quite
patiently and makes up his mind, and then "stays put." His Cabinet
will be his advisers but no one will control him.

I heard him make that speech at the Southern Society dinner, which
was really much larger than the audience could understand. It was
a presentation of the theory that the thought of the nation
determined its destiny and that we could only have prosperity if
our ideal was one of honor. His warning to Wall Street, that an
artificial panic should not be created, was done in a most
impressive way. ...

I was asked to give the names of men from California who would
make good Cabinet material, and I named Phelan and Adolph Miller.
The currency question will be the big problem in the next two or
three years, and I should like Wilson to have the benefit of as
sane a mind as Miller's; but I fancy that even if everything else
was all right there might be some difficulty in getting a college
professor to appoint another college professor.

I hope we shall see you here soon. With holiday greetings to Mrs.
Wheeler and the Boy, believe me, as always, faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO SIDNEY E. MEZES PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

Washington, December 23, 1912

MY DEAR SID,--I have your letter enclosing a telegram from Miller.
I received a note from him acknowledging the telegram. He was
evidently extremely delighted at being remembered. The sturdy,
strong old Dutchman has a whole lot of sentiment in him; and he
makes few friends, has drawn pretty much to himself, I think, and
falls back upon those whom he has known in earlier days. I sent a
note to Mr. House regarding him. He would be a splendid man to
have here in some capacity connected with the Government, now that
we are to deal with currency matters. I told Mr. House that he
could find out all about Miller from you.

I saw House a couple of times in New York. He certainly is an
adroit and masterful diplomat. The fact is I do not know that I
have seen a man who is altogether so capable of handling a
delicate situation. By some look of the eye or appreciative smile
at the right moment he gives you to understand his sympathy with
and full comprehension of what you are saying to him. They tell me
in New York that he is really the man closest to Wilson, and he
tells me that Wilson is a delightful man to deal with because he
has got a mind that is firm as a rock. ...

I send my Christmas greetings to you both. We have a sick little
girl on our hands, but she is coming along all right now. As
always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John H. Wigmore

Washington, January 8,1913

MY DEAR JOHN,--... You may not know it, but I suggested your name
to Mr. House, an intimate of President-elect Wilson, for Attorney
General. ... He told me that he gave the letter to Governor
Wilson. ...

Like so many of the Southerners, I fear that Wilson's idea is that
he can declare a general policy and be indifferent as to the men
who carry it out. There is a certain lack of effectiveness running
through the South which makes for sloppiness and a lack of
precision. I have found that generalizations do not get anywhere.
The strength of any proposition lies in its application. The
railroads and the trusts and the packers, and all the others who
are violating the statutes, are indifferent as to how big the law
is and upon what sound principles it is based, provided they have
a lot of speechmakers to enforce the law. They don't care what the
law is; their only concern is as to its enforcement. I am going to
give the Democratic Party four years of honest trial, and then if
it has not more precision, definiteness, and clearness of aim, am
going to call myself a Progressive, or a Republican, or something
else.

Wilson is strong, capable of keeping his own counsel, and capable
of making up his own mind. In these three respects he differs
materially from our present President whose last flop on the
arbitration of the Panama Canal proposition is characteristic. ...

Now, old man, let me say to you that you must take the very best
of care of yourself, for we need you more than anybody else in
this country, right at this time. As always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John H. Wigmore Washington, January 20, 1913

MY DEAR JOHN,--I have received both of your letters, and I am very
glad that you made that mistake regarding my address for it
brought me two letters instead of one. I received your Continental
Legal History months ago and thought that I had acknowledged it
with all kinds of appreciation, but perhaps I only thought the
things. ... I turned the book over to Minister Loudon of the
Netherlands who knew the Dutch professor who had written one of
the articles, and the rascal has not returned the book, but I
shall get it from him one of these days. ... Washington is now
greatly stirred because Wilson has frowned upon the Inaugural
Ball--a very proper frown, to my way of thinking--but inasmuch as
all of the merchants who advance money for the inaugural
ceremonies recoup themselves from the receipts from the Inaugural
Ball, there is much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and
Wilson will enter Washington, in my judgment, a very unpopular
president, locally. The fact is, I think, he is apt to prove one
of the most tremendously disliked men in Washington that ever has
been here.

He has a great disrespect for individuals, and so far as I can
discover a very large respect for the mass. His code is a little
new to us; and I feel justified in proceeding upon the theory that
every man should help him, and that it is within his (Wilson's)
proper function to throw Mr. Everyman down whenever public good
requires it, and that his silence never estops him from
interfering at any time. Perhaps you cannot make out just what
this means. I am dictating, sitting in my room at home with a very
bad cold, and perhaps I do not know precisely what I mean myself;
but I am trying to say that under all circumstances Wilson regards
himself as a free man, and that he is bound by no ties whatever to
do anything or to follow any course; that he recognizes no such
thing as consistency, or logic, or gratitude, as in the slightest
embarrassing him. ...

I do hope that the President will get some capable effective
administration officers who will take the burden of patronage off
his shoulders and give him a chance to think on the money
question, which is his big problem. I like his Chicago speech, I
like his New York speech, but I do not find many people who
understand him, because he is really a sort of philosopher. He
teaches the psychology of new thought, the influence and effect of
thought upon government.

I have written an article for the World's Work which is to appear
in March, entitled What I Am Trying To Do, but it is really sort
of an answer to one or two articles that they have had upon the
railroad side of the question of regulation--a demonstration of
the chaotic condition of things that existed prior to the
establishment of the Commission; and that the effect of regulation
has been to increase railroad earnings and put things upon a
stable and more satisfactory basis. ... I find that I have a copy
of the proofs in the office and I am going to send it to you and
ask you to criticise it. ...

With my love to your good wife, believe me, as always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Joseph N. Teal

Washington, January 20, 1913

MY DEAR JOE,--... You know we practically have the power now to
make a physical appraisement. ... We should not ourselves attempt
to arrive at cost. That is a very hard thing for the railroads to
furnish. They have taken good care to destroy most of the books
and papers that would show cost.

Politically, I hear of no news. Wilson is able to keep his own
counsel more perfectly than anybody I have ever known, and nobody
comes back from Trenton knowing anything more than when he went.
... The money question is going to be the big one, and it looks to
me as though certain gentlemen were preparing to intimidate him
with a panic, which they won't do because he will appeal to the
country. He has got splendid nerve, and while Washington won't
like him a little, little bit, the country, I think, will put him
down as a very great President. As always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Edward M. House

Washington, January 22, 1913

DEAR MR. HOUSE,--You ask me what is the precise political
situation on the Pacific Coast as to various candidates for the
Cabinet.

As I have told you, I am to be eliminated from consideration.
California has but one candidate, one who was in Governor Wilson's
primary campaign and who made the fight for him in that state, in
the person of James D. Phelan whom you have met. ... Recognition
given to Phelan will be given to the foremost man in the
progressive fight in California. ... He is a brilliant speaker and
a man of excellent business judgment. ... He has fine social
quality and sufficient money to maintain such a position in proper
dignity. Not to recognize him in some first-class manner would be
a triumph for his enemies--and his enemies are the crooks of the
state.

Joseph N. Teal who is spoken of from Oregon as a possible
Secretary of the Interior, is a good lawyer and a most public-
spirited man who has been identified with every sane movement for
progress in that state. He is a man of means and is deeply
interested in questions of conservation and the improvement of our
waterways. ...

 ... As a matter of party politics I do not think that any Pacific
Coast state can be made Democratic by the appointment of a member
of the Cabinet from it; as a matter of national politics, it seems
to be necessary that that part of the country should have a voice
in the council of the President.

Now, I want to say a word or two on a more important matter. You
realize, I presume (and Governor Wilson evidently does) that there
is talk of a probable panic in the air. He dealt with this matter
masterfully in his New York speech. Worse things than panic can
befall a nation. We must preserve our self-respect as a self-
governing people. But what is the cause of this loose talk?
Apprehension. The business interests of the country do not know
what they are to expect. As a party we are too much given to
generalization; we have too little precision of thought. You will
notice how the New York papers of yesterday speak of Governor
Wilson's bill regarding the regulation of trusts. This is
something definite, and does not frighten because it is known. The
problems we have to deal with--the tariff, currency, and trusts--
should all be dealt with in this same manner. The Administration
should have a definite program on each one of these questions; and
I mean by that, bills framed in conference between the leaders
which should be presented as party measures at the very first
possible moment. I have information that the banks are already
saying that they will stop loans until these questions are dealt
with. This is the way by which panic can be produced. The country
is too prosperous to allow a widespread industrial panic if the
measures favored by the Government commend themselves to the
people as sane and necessary. Why can't we, as the boys on the
street say, "beat them to it"? If Congress is called by the middle
of March, and the tariff is quickly put out of the way, and a
currency bill promptly follows, we can restore the mind of the
country to its normal state by midsummer. You know that this
problem of government is largely one of psychology. The doctor
must speak with definiteness and certainty to quiet the patient's
nerves, and the doctor is the party as represented in the
President and Congress.

With warm regards to Mrs. House, believe me, as always, cordially
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Mitchell Innes

Washington, February 26, 1913

MY DEAR MR. INNES,--I received your pamphlet and have read it
through with the deepest interest. These young men [Footnote: A
group of young men organized for social and political betterment,
who sought advice.] are deserving of the strongest encouragement.
I have no criticism whatever to make of their prospectus--for that
word, I presume, without slight, can be properly used.

My conviction is that we can find no solution for the problems of
social, political, economic, or spiritual unrest. "The man's the
man" philosophy has taken hold of the world. We have lost all
traditional moorings. We have no religion. We have no philosophy.
Our age is greater than any other that the world has seen. We have
been lifted clear off our feet and taken up into a high place
where we have been shown the universe. The result has been a
tremendous and exaggerated growth of the ego, and we have regarded
ourselves as masters of everything, and subject to nothing.
Agnosticism led to sensualism, and sensualism had its foundation
in hopelessness. We are materialists because we have no faith.
This thing, however, is being changed. We are coming to recognize
spiritual forces, and I put my hope for the future, not in a
reduction in the high cost of living, nor in any scheme of
government, but in a recognition by the people that after all
there is a God in the world. Mind you, I have no religion, I
attend no church, and I deal all day long with hard questions of
economics, so that I am nothing of a preacher; but I know that
there never will come anything like peace or serenity by a mere
redistribution of wealth, although that redistribution is
necessary and must come.

If I were these young men and wished to concentrate upon some
economic question, I should put my time in on the cost of
distribution. ... That is the economic problem of the next
century--how to get the goods from the farm to the people with the
lowest possible expenditure of effort; how to get the manufactured
product from the factory to the house with the least possible
expense. I have an idea that we have too many stores, too many
middlemen, too much waste motion. So that I have only two thoughts
to suggest: The first is that the ultimate problem is to
substitute some adequate philosophy or religion for that which we
have lost; and the second is to concentrate on the simple economic
problem. Have we the cheapest system of distribution possible? ...
Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



VI

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 1913-1915

Appointment as Secretary of the Interior--Reorganization of the
Department--Home Club--Bills on Public Lands


His appointment, as Secretary of the Interior, came to Lane in a
letter from President-elect Wilson, stating that he was being
"drafted" by the President for public service in his Cabinet. The
letter was written about the middle of February, 1913. The urgent
manner of the appointment was caused by Lane's frankly-expressed
reluctance to leave his work on the Interstate Commerce
Commission, where opportunity for yet fuller accomplishment had
been assured by his recent appointment as Chairman of the
Commission. Seven years of application to the intricate problems
of adjustment between the conflicting claims of the public, the
shippers, and the railroads, did not solve all the issues involved
in new and profoundly interesting cases coming up for
adjudication. In addition to this natural desire to expand and
perfect the technique of administration of his Commission, Lane
dreaded the great increase in social and financial demands
involved in a Cabinet position. In addition to these reasons, the
change in service would mean work with men that he knew only
slightly, if at all, and under a President whom he had never met.
Perhaps the consideration that weighed more heavily than any of
these, in his feeling of reluctance, was that the portfolio of the
Department of the Interior, with its congeries of ill-assorted
bureaus was in itself unattractive to a man with Lane's love of
logical order. His liking for strong team-work and for the
building of morale among a force of mutually helpful workers
seemed to have no possible promise of gratification among bureau
chiefs as unrelated as those of the General Land Office, the
Indian Office, the Bureau of Pensions, Patent Office, Bureau of
Education, Geological Survey, Reclamation Service, and Bureau of
Mines.

It was, therefore, with something of the spirit of a drafted man
that Lane set his face toward his new work. Members of his
immediate family recall days of depression after the appointment
first came, but the cordial response of the press of the country
to his appointment, the flooding in of many hundreds of letters
and telegrams of congratulation, and President Wilson's own
cordiality--lifted Lane's mood to its normal hopefulness.

In relating the history of the appointment itself, Arthur W. Page,
of the World's Work, writes, after talking with E. M. House of the
matter, "House recommended Lane, as perhaps the one man available,
adapted to any Cabinet position from Secretary of State down. At
one time Lane was slated for the War Department, at another time
another department and finally placed as Secretary of the Interior
because being a good conservationist, as a Western man he could
promote conservation with more tact and less criticism than an
Eastern man."

Confronted by a complex and definite task, Lane's mind quickened
to the attack. The situation of the Indian seized his sympathy. In
his first official report he wrote, "That the Indian is confused
in mind as to his status and very much at sea as to our ultimate
purpose toward him is not surprising. For a hundred years he has
been spun round like a blindfolded child in a game of blindman's
buff. Treated as an enemy at first, overcome, driven from his
lands, negotiated with most formally as an independent nation,
given by treaty a distinct boundary which was never to be changed
while water runs and grass grows,' he later found himself pushed
beyond that boundary line, negotiated with again, and then set
down upon a reservation, half captive, half protege."

With this at heart Lane wrote a letter of vigorous appeal to John
H. Wigmore to become his First Assistant.



To John H. Wigmore

Washington, March 9,1913

MY DEAR JOHN,--I want you as my First Assistant. It is absolutely
essential that I should have you!! I am aiming to gather around me
the largest men whom I can secure and to form a cabinet of equals.
Four years of this life here would bring a great deal of
satisfaction to you. You would meet the distinguished men of the
world. It is the center of all the great law movements of the
world,--for peace, international arbitration, reform in procedure,
and such matters. Beside that, we have two or three of the
greatest problems to meet and solve that have ever been presented
to the American people. First in the public mind is the land
problem. How can we develop our lands and yet save the interest of
the Nation in them? Second, and I think perhaps this should be
first, is the Indian problem. Here we have thousands of Indians,
as large a population as composes some of the States, owning
hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property which is rapidly
rising in value. I am their guardian. I must see that they are
protected. They have schools over which we have absolute control--
the question of teachers that they are to have, the question of
the kind of education that they are to be given, the question of
industry that they are to pursue. Their morals, I understand, are
in a frightful state, largely owing to our negligence and the lack
of enforcement of our laws. We can save a great people; and the
First Assistant has this matter as his special care. I do not know
of any place in the United States which calls for as much wisdom
and for as great a soul as this particular job. I will give you
men under you over whom you will have entire control and who will
be to your liking. I will give you men to sit beside you at the
table who will be of your own class. You can do more good in four
years in this place than you can possibly do in forty where you
are now. There are a lot of men who can teach law, and lots of men
who can write the philosophy of the law, but there are few men who
can put the spirit of righteousness into the business, social, and
educational affairs of an entire race. Think of that work! Beside
that you have the constructive work in framing and helping to
frame a line of policy as to the disposition of our national
lands--the opening of Alaska.

Now, John, I have looked over the entire United States and you are
the only man that I want. The salary is five thousand a year. You
can live on that here without embarrassment. The President will be
delighted to have you, and you will find him treating you with the
same consideration and giving you the same dignity that he does
all the members of his Cabinet; all the Supreme Court. I have
never seen a man more considerate, more reasonable. Dr. Houston,
who has become Secretary of Agriculture, left Washington
University in St. Louis, under an arrangement by which he can
return at the end of his term. You, doubtless, could make a
similar arrangement, and if you wish to, you will have plenty of
opportunity to give one or two courses of lectures in the
University during the year,

I have thought seriously of going out to see you, but with Cabinet
conditions as they are it is impossible, for we are passing upon
important questions now that prevent that. I am very selfish in
urging you to this, but I am also giving you an opportunity to do
work that will be more congenial than any you have ever done, and
to be with a more congenial lot of people. If there is any doubt
in your mind let me know, but don't say "No" to me. The country
needs you. You have done a great work. There is nothing higher to
be done in your line. Now come here and help in a great
constructive policy. Sincerely and affectionately,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Walter H. Page Worlds Work

Washington, March 12, 1918

MY DEAR PAGE,--I have just now seen your letter of March 2nd, else
it would have had earlier recognition.

The President is the most charming man imaginable to work with.
Most of us in politics have been used to being lied about, but
there has been a particularly active set of liars engaged in
giving the country the impression that W. W. was what we call out
West a "cold nose." He is the most sympathetic, cordial and
considerate presiding officer that can be imagined. And he sees so
clearly. He has no fog in his brain.

As you perhaps know, I didn't want to go into the Cabinet, but I
am delighted that I was given the opportunity and accepted it,
because of the personal relationship; and I think all the Cabinet
feel the way that I do. If we can't make this thing a success, the
Democratic Party is absolutely gone, and entirely useless.

I hope next time you are down here I shall see you. Cordially
yours, FRANKLIN K LANE



To Edwin Alderman President, University of Virginia

Washington, March 17,1913

MY DEAR DR. ALDERMAN,--Your letter of the 14th gives me
exceptional satisfaction, ... because it brings with it extremely
good news. You say you will win in your fight [Footnote: After a
long serious illness Dr. Alderman was regaining health.] and that
rejoices me even more than it does to be told of the real
satisfaction that you get out of my appointment.

It was a surprise to me. It came at the last minute. I had to
introduce myself to the President-elect the day before the
inauguration. I find him consideration itself in Cabinet meetings
and he never seems to be groping. In my mental processes I find
myself constantly like a man climbing a mountain, pushing through
belts of fog, but his way seems clear and definite.

You certainly would feel at home around the Cabinet table, and all
of us would rejoice to see you there. ... I shall take your note
home to Mrs. Lane and show it to her with much pride. ...
Sincerely yours, FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Theodore Roosevelt

Washington, March 24, 1913

MY DEAR COLONEL,--I have received a great many hundred letters,
but I think I can honestly say that no other one has given me the
pleasure that yours has. I am struggling hard to get the reins of
this six-horse team in my hands and every day I feel more acutely
the weight of the responsibility that I bear. The last few weeks
have been put in being interviewed by Senators and Congressmen,
who wish to name men for the few positions in the office. It has
been rather enjoyable, and they have been fair and by no means
peremptory. The hardest place I have to fill is that of
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. How absurd to try to get a man to
handle the interests of an entire race, owning a thousand million
dollars' worth of property, and have to offer a salary of $5,000 a
year!

I hope that you will feel free to give me the benefit of any
advice as to the conduct of my department that may happen to come
to you out of your great experience. As always, faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO LAWRENCE F. ABBOTT OUTLOOK

Washington, April 9, 1913

MY DEAR LAWRENCE,--The Japanese are reducing the value of
California lands by buying a piece in a picked valley, paying any
price that is demanded. They swarm then over this particular piece
of property until they reduce the value of all the adjacent land.
No one wishes to be near them; with the result that they buy or
lease the adjoining land, and so they radiate from this center
until now they have possession of some of the best valleys. Really
the influx of the Japanese is quite as dangerous as that of the
Chinese. The proposed legislation in California is not to exclude
Japanese alone, but to make it impossible for any alien to own
land, at least until he declares his intention to become a
citizen. Inasmuch, of course, as Orientals can not become
citizens, this disbars them from owning land.

There is, of course, as in all things Californian, a good deal of
hysteria over this matter, and I think your Progressive friends
are trying to put the Democrats in a bit of a hole by making it
appear that the Democrats are being influenced by the Federal
Government to take a more conservative course than the
Progressives desire.

My information is that some restrictive legislation will be passed
by the legislature, no matter what Japan's attitude may be, but
Japan's face will be saved and every need met if the legislation
is general in terms. ...



April 20, 1913

... I do not like the sudden turn that Johnson seems to have taken
in the last day or two but I still have faith that those people
out there will do the sensible thing and allow us to save Japan's
face while very properly excluding the Japanese from owning land
in California; and I have no objection whatever to excluding all
the Englishmen and Scotchmen who flock in there without any
intention of becoming citizens. As always, yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO WILLIAM M. BOLE GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE

Washington, May 26, 1913

MY DEAR MR. BOLE,--That is just the kind of a letter that I want
and that is helpful to me. As to the settler, I have one policy--
to make it as easy as possible under the law for the bonafide
settler to get a home, and to make it just as difficult as
possible for the dummy entryman to get land, which he will sell
out to monopolies. These Western lands are needed for homes for
the people, not as a basis of speculation.

As to the Reclamation Service ... There really was a very bad
showing made by the Montana projects. It was disheartening to feel
that we had spent so many million dollars and that the Government
was looked upon as a bunko sharp who had brought people into
Montana where they were slowly starving to death. The Government
has returned to Montana almost as much as her public lands have
yielded, whereas in other states, like Oregon and California, less
than a quarter of the amount they have yielded has been returned
to them.

Ever since I came here Senators and Congressmen have been
overwhelming me with curses upon the Reclamation Service, and I
thought I ought to find out for myself just what the facts were. I
gave every one a chance to tell his story. Now I am being
overwhelmed with protests against the discontinuance of this work.
Every state is insisting that I shall now start up some new
enterprises or continue some old ones, and I do not know where the
money is going to come from. We are bound to be short of funds
even to continue existing work, if we can get no money out of
projects that are really under way, and there seems to be a
unanimity of opinion among Western Senators and Congressmen that
payment by the settlers must be postponed, because they are having
a hard enough time as it now is. I certainly am not going to be a
party to gold-bricking the poor devil of a farmer who has been
told by everybody that he is being charged twice as much as he
ought to be charged by the Government ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K LANE



To Fairfax Harrison

Washington, June 10, 1913

MY DEAR MR. HARRISON,--I have not had a minute for a personal
letter in a month. Hence my shabbiness toward you. Condorcet's Vie
de Turgot, I am sorry to say, I have not read. Does he say
anything as to how to make a reclamation project pay, or as to
what is the best method of teaching Indians, or how much work a
homesteader should do on his land before being entitled to patent?
These are the great and momentous questions that fill my mind.

I had thought perhaps that as a member of the Cabinet I would have
an opportunity, say once a month or so, to think upon questions of
statecraft and policy, but I find myself locked in a cocoon--no
wings and no chance for wings to grow.

As to my inability to get to you of a Sunday, let me tell you that
that is the one day when somewhat undisturbed I catch up with the
week's work. "Ah, what a weary travel is our act, here, there and
back again to win some prize."

I hope some of these nights to be able to make you acquainted with
some of my colleagues. They are a charming lot. Every one has a
sense of humor and as little partisanship as possible, and still
bear the title of Democrat. You would enjoy every one of them,
including Bryan, who is fundamentally good.

With kindest regards, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Frank Reese

Washington, July 2, 1913

MY DEAR FRANK,--I am delighted to get your letter and to know that
I still stand well with my California friends, especially
yourself, but I am not going to run for United States Senator. Of
course, I am not making a virtue of not running, and I certainly
am gratified to know that you at least think that I could be
elected. My work here is just as interesting as any work that a
Senator has. Under this primary system I do not believe there is
any chance for a man who has not got a great deal of money. The
candidate must devote practically a year of his time to make the
race, must be able to support his family and himself in the
meantime. ... Now, when I knew you first I had no money. I have
the same amount to-day, so that you see there is no possibility of
my getting into such a fight. Furthermore, we have Phelan as a
candidate, and it seems to me he ought to be acceptable. There was
also some talk of Patton getting into the race, and he is a good
man.

Thankfully and cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Early in July, 1913, Lane started on a tour of investigation of
National Reclamation projects, Indian reservations and National
Parks. With him went Adolph C. Miller, who had become the Director
of the Bureau of National Parks in May. They turned to the
Northwest, beginning in Minnesota and then proceeding to Montana,
Wyoming, and Washington. That he might be thoroughly informed as
to conditions in each place, Lane sent ahead of him an old friend
and trusted employee, William A. Ryan, whose part it was to go
over each project or reservation and find what the causes for
complaint were, where poor work had been done, what groups and
individuals were dissatisfied, and why. In no way was William Ryan
to let it be suspected that he was in any way identified with the
Department of the Interior. Traveling in this way, two weeks ahead
of the Secretary, Ryan was able to put a complete report of each
project in Lane's hands some time before he arrived, so that the
Secretary was thoroughly familiar with all complaints and
conditions before he was met on the train by the representatives
of the Department, who naturally wished to show him only the best
work. In addition to this, Lane everywhere held public meetings,
inviting all settlers to meet him and make their complaints.

This plan enabled him to cover the ground touched by his
Department in a comparatively short time. He traveled by night,
wherever possible, and interviewed all those who wished to see him
upon business from seven in the morning until twelve or one at
night. Sometimes, in a day, he went a hundred and fifty miles in
an automobile, spoke to many groups of farmers in different
places, heard their complaints against the Department, and told
them what the Government was trying to do for them.

During this first tour of inspection Lane reached Portland,
Oregon, the latter part of August, and received a telegram from
the President asking him to go directly to Denver, there to
represent the President and address the Conference of Governors,
on August 26th.

Lane left the completion of the proposed itinerary of
investigation, in Oregon, to Miller and turned back to Colorado.
He made the opening address at the Governors' Conference and then
rejoined his party in San Francisco, the first of September. Here,
after several days of conferences and speeches, while standing in
the sun reviewing the Admission Day parade of the Native Sons, he
collapsed. This proved to be an attack of the angina pectoris
which, several years later, returned with violence. For three
weeks he was ill, but at the end of that time, against the
doctor's orders, he insisted upon returning to Washington to his
work.



To Mark Sullivan Collier's Weekly

Washington, November 6, 1913

MY DEAR SULLIVAN,--I want to thank you for your sympathetic notice
regarding my hard luck out in California, and to let you know that
I am in just as good shape now as I have been for twenty years.

[Illustration with caption: FRANKLIN K. LANE, MRS. LANE, MRS.
MILLER, AND ADOLPH C. MILLER]

At the end of your little comment you spoke of conditions in the
lower grades of the Department as being almost as bad as if they
were corrupt. I have not your article before me, but I think this
is the meat of it. I wish you would tell me just what you mean by
this. I know that lots of things come to men like you that do not
reach my ears, although I have retained pretty well my old
newspaper faculty of smoking things out.

If we have anything here that is almost rotten, I want to know it
before it gets thoroughly rotten. I have found a lot of things
that were wrong, and have set most of them right. There has
already been a great improvement; for instance, in Indian
affairs. Under the last Administration, for example, the highest
bid on 200,000 acres of Indian oil lands was one-eighth royalty
and a bonus of one dollar an acre. We recently leased 10,000 of
these same acres at one-sixth royalty and a bonus of $500,000.

I have had an examination made into probate matters, in Oklahoma,
and found an appalling condition of things. In one county where
there are six thousand probate cases pending, all involving the
interests of Indian minors, the guardians in three thousand cases
were delinquent in filing reports, and otherwise in complying with
the law. This week I have arranged with the Five Civilized Tribes
to institute a cooperative method of checking up all of these
accounts and giving them personal consideration; especially
appointing an attorney to look after the interests of these minors
in each of the counties in eastern Oklahoma. We are to aid the
Oklahoma courts in cleaning up the State.

Let me have any facts that will be of help. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

To Edward M. House

Washington, November 19, 1913

MY DEAR COLONEL,--I had a call last Sunday morning from Mr. Blank
of New York, who came to feel me out on the reorganization of the
Democratic party in New York City, with particular reference to
the question of how to treat one William R. Hearst ...

... [He] has been working for some years, evidently in more or
less close but indirect alliance with Hearst, through Clarence
Shearn and a man named O'Reilly, who is Hearst's political
secretary. In re-creating the Democratic organization in New York,
he felt it necessary to take Hearst's assistance.

I was perfectly frank with him, saying that Hearst would be
pleased no doubt to reorganize a new Tammany Hall, or any other
Democratic organization, provided he could run it. He would stand
in with anybody and be as gentle as a queen dove for the purpose
of destroying the existing organization, but that he was a very
overbearing and arbitrary man, with whom no one could work in
creating a new organization, unless he regarded himself as an
employee of Hearst. Moreover, I did not see how it was possible to
take Hearst and his crowd, even on a minority basis, so long as
they were fighting the Administration, and that I understood
Hearst had recently more emphatically than ever read himself out
of the Democratic Party. I told Blank that ... I should not expect
any cooperation between the Federal Government and an organization
in which Hearst was a factor. However, I said that I knew nothing
whatever as to the feeling of any member of the Cabinet or the
President respecting the matter, because I had not discussed the
matter with them.

... I am writing this because I want you to know what is going on.
Evidently Blank came over from New York on the midnight train and
had no other business here except to see me, and perhaps others,
on this matter. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



When President Wilson took Franklin K. Lane from the Interstate
Commerce Commission to put him in his Cabinet there arose the
question of his successor, on the Commission. After consulting
Lane, the President appointed in his place, John Marble, also of
California. A few months after his appointment Mr. Marble died
suddenly, and Lane lost one of his closest friends.



To James H. Barry San Francisco Star

Washington, December 1, 1913

MY DEAR JIM,--I didn't get your telegram until Monday, but I had
taken care of you in the same way that I took care of myself, in
regard to flowers. I bought three bunches, one for you, one for
Mrs. Lane, and one for myself.

The most surprising thing, my dear Jim, is the manner in which
Mrs. Marble has taken John's death. We took her to our house,
where the morning after his death she told me that she had talked
with him; that he had chided her on breaking down constantly.
Since then, both morning and evening, she says she has seen him
and talked with him. The result is a spirit on her part almost of
gayety, at times. She is really reconciled to his going, because
he has told her that it was best and that he has other work to do.

I don't know what to say of all this. It mystifies me. It has
tended greatly to support me against the depth of sorrow which I
felt at the beginning. There is no evidence of hysteria on her
part, whatever. She dictated to Mrs. Lane, who was sitting beside
her, some of the things that John said to her. It certainly is a
glorious belief, at such a time, and I am not prepared to say that
it is not so, and that its manifestations are not real.

... It is an impossible thing to get a man to take his place,
either on the Commission or in our hearts. I believe that he
worked himself to death ... Affectionately yours,

F. K. L.



To Edward F. Adams

Washington, January 10, 1914

MY DEAR MR. ADAMS,-- ... Our most difficult problem is that of
water. Colorado, for instance, claims that all of the water that
falls within her borders can be used and should be used
exclusively for the development of Colorado lands. Southern
California has made a protest against my giving rights of way in
the upper reaches of the Colorado for the diversion of water on to
Colorado lands saying that Imperial Valley is entitled to the full
normal flow of the Colorado. The group of men who hold land in
Mexico south of the Imperial Valley make the same claim. Arizona
wishes to have a large part of this water used on her soil, and
the people of Colorado are divided as to whether the water should
be carried over on to the eastern side of the Rockies or allowed
to flow down in its natural channel on the western side.

We have a similar trouble as to the Rio Grande, which rises in
Colorado, where the Coloradans claim all the water can be used and
can be put to the highest beneficial use. New Mexico, Texas, and
Old Mexico all claim their right to the water for all kinds of
purposes. If we recognize Colorado's full claim there is probably
enough water in Colorado to irrigate all of her soil, but portions
of Wyoming, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and
Utah would remain desert.

If you can tell me how to solve this problem so as to recognize
the right that you claim Colorado has, and to maintain the rights
that the Federal Government and the adjoining States have, I shall
certainly be deeply grateful.

With all good wishes for the New Year, believe me as always,
affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



The Hon. Woodrow Wilson The White House

Washington, March 11, 1914

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I have your note of yesterday referring to
me the correspondence between yourself and the Civil Service
Commission on the question of the participation of women Civil
Service employees in woman suffrage organizations. I think perhaps
I am a prejudiced partisan in this matter for I believe that the
women should have the right to agitate for the suffrage.
Furthermore, I think they are going to get the suffrage, and that
it would be politically unwise for the administration to create
the impression that it was attempting to block the movement. I
should think it the part of wisdom for you personally to make the
announcement that women Civil Service employees will be protected
in the right to join woman suffrage organizations and to
participate in woman suffrage parades or meetings. This is
practically what the Civil Service Commission says, but in a more
careful, lawyer-like manner, whereas whatever is said should be
said in a rather robust, forthright style. The real thing that we
are after in making regulations as to political activity is to
keep those who are in the employ of the Government from using
their positions to further their personal ends or to serve some
political party. What they may do as individuals outside of the
Government offices is none of our business, so long as they do
nothing toward breaking it down as a merit service, do not
discredit the service, or render themselves unfit for it ...

The spoils system is a combination of gratitude and blackmail. The
merit system is an attempt to secure efficiency without
recognizing friendship or fear. We can safely allow the
participation of merit system employees in an agitation so long as
they do not go to the point where official advantage may be had
through the agitation by securing a reward through party success
...

I believe you might well make a statement of two or three hundred
words in which you could state your decision with the philosophy
that underlies it, in such a manner as to make the women
understand that you are taking a liberal attitude and yet
protecting the full spirit of the Civil Service idea. Cordially
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



In March 1914, for the second time, Lane was invited to the
University of California to receive a degree. This was an honor
from his Alma Mater that he greatly desired. The previous year,
the reorganization of his Department and the pressure of new work,
had made it impossible for him to leave Washington. But this year
he had promised to go.

To Benjamin Ide Wheeler President, University of California

Washington, 13 [March, 1914] [The day I was to be with you.]

MY DEAR DOCTOR,--I was prepared to leave last Friday--tickets,
reservations all secured. I had made a mighty effort. My
conservation bills were not all out of Committee but I had
arranged to get them out. The House was to caucus and the Senate
to confer, and I had written pleading letters and made my prayers
in person that my bills should be included in the program. On
Thursday, the War Department refused the use of an engineer for
the Alaskan railroad. In one day I drafted and secured the passage
of a joint resolution giving me the man I wanted. The war scare
had subsided and I had seen the Mediators who said that nothing
would be doing for two weeks. So I went to the Cabinet meeting
prepared to say goodbye. Then came a bomb--two European powers
served notice that they would hold us responsible for what was
likely to happen in Mexico City upon the incoming of Zapata and
Villa, and wanted to know how prepared we were. We left the
Cabinet divided as to what should be done. A group of us met in
the afternoon and decided to ask for another meeting. I carried
the message. The reply was that the matter must be held over till
the next meeting, and meanwhile we were asked to suggest a
program. Then I sent my message to you. I have told this to no one
but Anne. You deserve no less than the fullest statement from me.
Please treat it as the most sacred of secrets. Always gratefully
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



The following letter, written about a year after Lane's entry into
the Cabinet, shows what, in the course of a year, he had been able
to accomplish in building the men of his heterogeneous department
into a cooperative social unit by means of what he called his
"Land Cabinet" and the Home Club.



To Albert Shaw Review of Reviews

Washington, April 8,1914

MY DEAR MR. SHAW,--Of course I saw the Review for April before
your copies arrived, for somebody was good enough to tell me that
there was a good word in it for me, and no matter how busy I am I
always manage to read a boost ...

You ask what I am doing to bring about team-work in the
Department. Many things. As you probably don't know, this has been
a rather disjointed Department. It was intended originally that it
should be called the Home Department, and its Secretary the
Secretary for Home Affairs. How we come to have some of the
bureaus I don't know. Patents and Pensions, for instance, would
not seem to have a very intimate connection with Indians and
Irrigation. Education and Public Lands, the hot springs of
Arkansas, and the asylum for the insane for the District of
Columbia do not appear to have any natural affiliation. The result
has been that the bureaus have stood up as independent entities,
and I have sought to bring them together, centering in this
office.

One of the first things I did was to form what is called a Land
Cabinet, made up of the Assistant Secretaries, the Commissioner of
the Land Office, and the Director of the Geological Survey. We
meet every Monday afternoon and go over our problems together. The
Reclamation Commission is another organization of a similar sort,
and we have constant conferences between the heads of bureaus
which have to do with different branches of Indian work, lands,
irrigation, and pensions.

Some time ago in order to develop greater good feeling between the
heads of the bureaus we organized a noonday mess, at which all the
chiefs of bureaus and most of their assistants take their luncheon
...

But the largest work, I think, in the way of promoting the right
kind of spirit within the Department was the organization of the
Home Club. This is a purely social institution, which the members
themselves maintain. We have now some seventeen hundred members,
all pay the same initiation fee and the same dues, and all meet
upon a common ground in the club. Our club house is one of the
finest old mansions in this city, formerly the residence of
Schuyler Colfax ... It is a four-story building in LaFayette
Square, within a half a block of the White House. This house we
have furnished ourselves in very comfortable shape without the
help of a dollar from the outside, and we maintain it upon dues of
fifty cents a month. Each night during the week we have some form
of entertainment in the club--moving pictures, or a lecture, or a
dance, or a musicale.

I organized this club for the purpose of showing to these people
of moderate salaries what could be done by cooperation. It is
managed entirely by the members of the Department. There is no
caste line or snobbery in the institution, and for the first time
the people in the different bureaus are becoming acquainted with
each other, and enjoy the opportunities of club life. The idea
should be extended. We should have in the city of Washington a
great service club, covering a block of land, containing fifteen
or twenty thousand members, in which for a trifle per month we
could get all of the advantages of the finest social and athletic
club that New York contains. In the Home Club we have a billiard
room, card rooms, a library, and a suite of rooms especially set
aside for the ladies. We are fitting up one of the larger rooms as
a gymnasium for the young men and boys, and expect to have bowling
alleys, and possible tennis courts on a near-by lot. In this way I
meet many of those who work with me, whom I never would see
otherwise, and from the amount of work that the Department is
doing, which is increasing, I am quite satisfied that it has
helped to make the Department more efficient. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Charles K. Field Sunset Magazine

Washington, April 18, 1914

MY BEAR CHARLES,-- ... My picture on the cover of the May Sunset
is altogether the best one I have had taken for some time, and the
Democratic donkey is encouragingly fat.

I wish in some way it were possible to impress upon our Western
Senators and Congressmen the advisability of putting through the
bills that I have before Congress in line with my report--a
general leasing bill, under which coal, oil, and phosphate lands
could be developed by lease, and a water power bill. As it is now,
a man runs the risk of going to jail to get a piece of coal land
that is big enough to work; and the very bad situation in the oil
field in California is entirely due to the inapplicability of our
oil land laws. We have a couple of million acres of good phosphate
lands withdrawn, totally undeveloped because no one can get hold
of them, and no capital will go into our Western power sites
because we can give at present only a revocable permit, whereas
capital wants the certainty of a fixed term.

I have tried to draft laws, copies of which I inclose, that are
the best possible under the circumstances. I mean by that, that
they are reasonable and will be passed by Congress if the West can
only show a little interest in them, but so far the men who have
been fighting them are Westerners. Why? For no better reason than
that these gentlemen are in favor of having all of the public
lands turned over to the states. It is useless to argue this
question as to whether it is right or wrong, because Congress
would never do it, so that opposition to these bills is simply
opposition to further development of the West.

Now if you can punch these people up a bit in some way and make
them understand that the West should want to go ahead, rather than
block development for all time, ... you will be rendering a public
service.

With these few remarks I submit the matter to your prayerful
consideration. As always, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Frederic J. Lane

Washington, April 27, 1914

MY DEAR FRITZ,--I have just received your letter in relation to
Stuart. I sent you a letter on Saturday saying that Daniels was
going to recommend him. Of course, if he can't pass the physical
examination that is the end of it, but I would let him try ...

Ned is a great deal like Stuart--smart and lazy, but you know that
all boys can't be expected to come up to the ideal conduct of
their fathers at sixteen and eighteen. They go through life a damn
sight more human. I don't see any reason why a fellow should work
if he can get along without it, and the trouble is that your boy
is spoiled by you, and my boy is spoiled by his mother! You have
raised Stuart on the theory that he was a millionaire's son and,
as such, he can't take life very seriously.

I am figuring now on getting Ned off to some boarding-school where
he will have more discipline than I can give him. The truth is
that both of us, having had rather a prosaic Christian bringing
up, have cultivated the idea in our youngsters that it is a good
thing to be a sport, and the aforesaid youngsters are living up to
it. If there was a school in the country where they taught boys
the different kinds of trees, and the different rocks and flowers,
birds, and fish, with some good sense, and American history, I
would like to send Ned to it ... Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Edward E. Leake

Treasury Department

San Francisco, California

Washington, May 26, 1914.

MY DEAR ED,--I have yours of the 21st. I know that you are
sincere, old man, when you tempt me with the governorship, and you
write in such a winning manner that my blood quickens, but really
it is quite out of the question. I want to see California lined up
strongly on the Democratic side. I also want to see Phelan come to
the Senate and I am ready to do all that I can to help out the old
State, but my work is cut out for me here and until I have put
over some of the things that I believe will benefit the West as a
whole, I do not believe I should relinquish the reins of this
particular portfolio. It is an honor to me, a big one, to be
considered by my friends for the governorship and I know that they
would stand gallantly behind me, and when I send this negative
answer, you must believe me when I say that I send it with
considerable regret.

I shall be very glad to see you at this end, when you are here,
and you need no excuse to camp on my doorstep.

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To William R. Wheeler

Washington, June 6, 1914

MY DEAR BILL,--I am extremely sorry to hear of your being robbed.
That comes from being wealthy. Poor Lady Alice Isabel! How
outraged and disconsolate she must be! If that diamond tiara I
gave her is gone tell her I will replace it the first time I visit
Tiffany's. Of course this only holds good as to the one I gave
her. ... You know, I have often wondered if a burglar should get
into our house what he would find worth taking away. I have some
small burglary insurance on my house, but this was so I could turn
over and sleep without coming down stairs with a shotgun. What
were you doing, going to Sacramento, anyway? Any fellow who goes
to Sacramento gets into trouble. That is the home of Diggs,
Caminetti, and Hiram Johnson. I see that Johnson is going to be
re-elected Governor, and that the other two are going to jail. I
hope that all three will lead better lives in the future.

Well, old man, if you need a new suit of clothes or anything in
the line of underwear, let me know. I have gotten to the point
where I have been wearing what Ned does not take, and I will pass
some of them along to you. ...

There is nothing new here. I fear that I shall not get up to
Alaska, as I promised myself, for Congress will be in session for
some time, and I am striving desperately to get my conservation
bills through. Moreover, just what phase the Mexican situation
will take cannot be foreseen, from day to day. I was broken-
hearted at not being able to get out to California, but just at
that particular time--while I was about to go, tickets and
everything purchased--the President called upon me to do something
which held me back. The toll bills will probably pass next week,
by a majority of nine. Then the trust bills will come up in the
Senate and every man will have to make a speech. ...

Cordially yours,

F. K. L.



The next letter has been included because it shows Lane's direct
and unequivocal method when defending a subordinate whom he
thought unfairly criticized. He quoted, and in office practised,
Roosevelt's maxim of giving a man his fullest support as long as
he thought him worthy to be entrusted with public business. The
names are omitted here for obvious reasons.



To--

Washington, June 10, 1914

MY DEAR BILLY,--I have your letter of June 9th, relating to summer
residence homesteads, and referring sneeringly several times to
Blank. I wonder if you realize that Blank is my appointee and my
friend. [He] has done you no wrong, and he intends to do the
public no wrong. He is as public-spirited as you are, but you
differ with him as to certain phases of our land policy, though
not so widely as you yourself think. Is that any reason why you
should discredit him? Is it not possible for men to differ with
you on questions of public policy without being crooks? Your talk
has started Chicago talking; nothing definite, just whispers. Is
this fair to Blank? Is it fair to me? ... Is the test of a man's
public usefulness decided by his views as to whether the desert
lands should be leased or homesteaded?

I am saying this to you in the utmost friendliness, because I
think that your attitude is not worthy of your own ideal of
yourself, and it certainly does not comport with my ideal of you,
which I very much wish to hold. Surely honest men may differ as to
whether grazing lands should be leased, and if Blank is not honest
then it is your duty to the public service and to me to show this
fact.

At the bottom of your letter you say, "This report will introduce
you to Mr. Blank." Now it just so happens that that line should
read "This report will introduce you to Mr. Lane," for I am
responsible for that report. It was not written until after he had
consulted with me, and I dictated an outline of its terms. ... As
always, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 To his Brother on his Birthday

Washington, [August, 1914]

... This is somewhere around your birthday time, isn't it? Well,
if it is, you are about forty-nine years of age and I look upon
you as the one real philosopher that I know. I'd trade all that I
have by way of honors and office for the nobility and serenity of
your character. You feel that you have not done enough for the
world. So do we all. But you have done far more than most of us,
for you have proved your own soul. You have made a soul. You have
taught some of us what a real man may be in this devilish world of
selfishness. What other man of your acquaintance has the affection
of men who know him for the nobility of his nature? I don't know
one. You know many who are lovable, like--sympathetic like myself,
brilliant, sweet-tempered,--lots of them. But who are the noble
ones? Who look at all things asking only, "What is worthy?" And
doing that thing only. You tell the world that you will not
conform to all its littlenesses. That, I haven't at all the
courage to do. You tell the world that you are not willing to feed
your vanity with your everlasting soul. Where are the rest of us,
judged by that test?

Ah, my dear boy, you have inspired many a fellow you don't know
anything about, with a desire to emulate you, and always to
emulate something that is genuine and big in you--not a trick of
speech or a small quality of mind or manner. I envy you--and so do
many. Nancy could tell you why you are worth while. She knows the
genuine from the spurious. She knows the metal that rings true
when tests come.

So there, ... put all this inside of your smooth noddle and take a
drink to me--a drink of "cald, cald water."

And I just want you to understand that I am in no self-
deprecatory mood right now, for I am in my office at eight o'clock
of a Saturday evening, working away with all my might on some
damned land cases, having had a dinner at my desk, consisting of
two shredded-wheat biscuits with milk, and one pear. Now you can
realize what a virtuous, self-appreciative mood I am in. No man
denies himself dinner for the sake of work without being really
vain.

And what is this I hear about your having neuritis and going to
the hospital? Damn these nerves, I say! Damn them! I have to
swelter here because I can't let an electric fan play on my face,
nor near me, without getting neuralgia. And swelter is the word,
for it has been 104-5 degrees, with humidity, to boot, this week.

Nerves--that means a wireless system, keen to perceive, to feel,
to know the things hidden to the mass. I look forward to years of
torture with the accursed things. The only thing that relieves,
and of course it does not cure, is osteopathy, stimulating the
nerve where it enters the spine. But never let them touch the sore
place. That is fatal. It raises all the devils and they begin
scraping on the strings at once.

Well, by the time this reaches you I hope you will be quite a bit
fitter. Avoid strain. Don't lift. Don't carry. If you stretch the
infernal wires they curl up and squeal.

May the God of Things as they Are be good to you. ... Mother may
know all about us. How I wish I could know that it was so. You
have the philosophy that says--"Well, if it is best, she does." I
wish I had it. My God, how I do cling to what scraps of faith I
have and put them together to make a cap for my poor head. With
all the love I have.

Frank

 To Cordenio Severance

Washington, September 24,1914

My dear Cordy,--I have just received your note. Why don't you come
down here and spend three or four days resting up? Nancy and Anne
will be delighted to cart you around in the victoria and show you
all the beautiful trees and a sunset or two, and we will give you
some home cooking and put you on your feet, and then you will have
an opportunity to beg forgiveness for not having gone up to Essex.
I am mighty sorry that you have been ill. If we had had the
faintest notion that you were, we would have stayed in New York to
see you, but as it was we came down on the Albany boat and we went
directly from the boat to the train. I think that we would have
stopped over two or three hours and seen you anyway if it had not
been for the presence of our dog, who was regarded by the women as
the most important member of the family.

Did you ever travel with a dog? We came down through Lake George,
and the Secretary of the Interior sat on a beer box in the prow of
the steamship, surrounded by automobiles and kerosine oil cans and
cooks and roustabouts, because they would not let a dog go on the
salon deck. Only my sense of humor saved me from beating my wife
and child, and throwing the dog overboard. On the train some
member of the family had to stay with the dog and hold his paw
while he was in the baggage car. The trouble with you and me is
that we are not ugly enough to receive such attention. If we had
undershot jaws and projecting teeth and no nose, we probably would
be regarded with greater tenderness and attention.

Ned is at Phillips-Exeter and is the most homesick kid you ever
heard of. He writes two letters a day and has sent for his Bible,
and tells us he is going to church. If that is no evidence, then I
am no judge of a psychological state.

Come on down. Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Hon. Woodrow Wilson

The White House

Washington, October 1, 1914

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--Mother Jones called on me yesterday and I had
a very interesting and enjoyable chat with her. During our talk
some reference was made to the sterling qualities of your
Secretary of Labor, for whom she entertains the highest regard.
She told me this little story about him:--

One evening sometime ago, when there was a strike of some workmen
in Secretary Wilson's town, she was in the Secretary's home
waiting to see him. The Secretary was engaged in another room with
representatives of those opposed to the strikers, and she
overheard their talk. One of the men said, "Mr. Wilson, you have a
mortgage on this house, I believe."

The reply was in the affirmative.

"Then," said the speaker, "if you will see that this strike is
called away from our neighborhood--we don't ask you to terminate
it, but merely to see that the strikers leave our town--if you
will do this, we will take pleasure in presenting you with a large
purse and also in wiping off the mortgage on your home."

Mr. Wilson arose, his voice trembling and his arm lifted, and
said, "You gentlemen are in my house. If you come as friends and
as gentlemen, all of the hospitalities that this home has to offer
are yours. But if you come here to bribe me to break faith with my
people, who trust me and whom I represent, there is the door, and
I wish you to leave immediately."

Mother Jones concluded by saying, "Mr. Wilson never tells this
story, but I heard it with my own ears, and I know what a real man
he is."

I wish that you could have heard the story yourself. I am telling
it to you now, for I know how pleased you will be to hear of it,
even in this indirect way. Faithfully yours, FRANKLIN K. LANE



On November 30, 1914 Colonel Roosevelt wrote to Lane saying,--

"That's a mighty fine poem on Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving! I wish you
would give me a chance to see you sometime.

"I do not know Mr. Garrison and perhaps he would resent my saying
that I think he has managed his Department excellently; but if you
think he would not resent it, pray tell him so. I hear nothing but
good of you--but if I did hear anything else I should not pay any
heed to it. ..."



To Theodore Roosevelt

Washington, December 3, 1914

MY DEAR COLONEL,--I have just received your note of November 30th,
and I am very much gratified at your reference to my Thanksgiving
lines. You may be interested in knowing that the Home Club, before
which I read these lines, is an institution that I organized since
becoming Secretary, for the officers and employees of my
Department. ...

You may rest assured that I shall convey your message to Mr.
Garrison, and I know that he will be just as pleased to receive it
as I am in being able to carry it.

... The work of the Department keeps me pretty closely to my desk,
so that I have few opportunities of getting away from Washington.
I certainly shall not let a chance of seeing you go by without
taking advantage of it.

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Hon. Woodrow Wilson

The White House

Washington, January 9, 1915

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--That was a bully speech, a corker! You may
have made a better speech in your life but I never have heard of
it. Other Presidents may have made better speeches, but I have
never heard of them. It was simply great because it was the proper
blend of philosophy and practicality. It had punch in every
paragraph. The country will respond to it splendidly. It was
jubilant, did not contain a single minor note of apology and the
country will visualize you at the head of the column. You know
this country, and every country, wants a man to lead it of whom it
is proud, not because of his talent but because of his
personality,--that which is as indefinable as charm in a woman,
and I want to see your personality known to the American people,
just as well as we know it who sit around the Cabinet table. Your
speech glows with it, and that is why it gives me such joy that I
can't help writing you as enthusiastically as I do. Sincerely
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Lawrence F. Abbott

Outlook

Washington, January 12, 1915

MY DEAR MR. ABBOTT,--I enclose you two statements made with
reference to our public lands water power bill and our western
development bill. The power trust is fighting the power bill,
although as amended by the Senate Committee it is especially
liberal and fair and will bring millions of dollars into the West
for development of water power. There seems to be no real
opposition to the western development bill, generally called the
leasing bill, excepting from those who believe that all of our
public lands should be turned over to the States.

These are non-partisan measures. They have been drafted in
Consultation with Republicans and Progressives, as well as
Democrats, and I regard them as the ultimate word of generosity on
the part of the Federal Government, because all of the money
produced is to go into western development. If these bills are
killed, I fear that the West will never get another opportunity to
have its withdrawn lands thrown open for development upon terms as
satisfactory to it.

It is easy to understand why men who already have great power
plants on public land should be opposing such a bill as our power
bill, and equally easy to understand why the coal monopolists
should be fighting off all opportunity for any competitor to get
into the field. The oil men are anxious for such legislation. Of
course this legislation is not ideal, because it is the result of
compromise between minds, as to methods. The power bill is vitally
right in one thing; that the rights granted revert at the end of
fifty years to the Government, if the Government wishes to take
the plant over. The development bill is right, because it sets
aside a group of archaic laws under which monopoly and litigation
and illegal practices have thrived. Both of these bills have
passed the House, and are before the Senate. I trust that the
fixed determination of those who are hostile to them will not
prevail.

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 This letter, duplicated, was sent to several editors of
magazines, to inform the public as to pending legislation.



VII

EUROPEAN WAR AND PERSONAL CONCERNS

1914-1915

Endorsement of Hoover--German Audacity--LL.D. from Alma Mater
--England's Sea Policy--Christmas letters


TO WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN

Washington, November 17, 1914

MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY,--If it is true that the State Department is
not informed regarding Mr. Hoover and his entire responsibility, I
can send to you to-day his attorney, Judge Curtis H. Lindley, of
San Francisco, who stands at the head of our bar.

I know of Mr. Hoover very well. He is probably the greatest mining
engineer that the world holds to-day, and is yet a very young man.
He is a graduate of Stanford University.

I suppose that you do not wish to make any statement regarding Mr.
Hoover, but I should fancy that there is no objection to Mr.
Fletcher making any statement that he desires. There are hundreds
of thousands of people in the United States to-day who are anxious
to know how the things that they are preparing for the different
European countries, especially for the Belgians, can be sent to
them. Some information along this line might be very helpful.

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

ROME, ITALY

Washington, January 22, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--I have often thought of you during these last few
months, and wished for a good long talk so some of the kinks in my
own brain might be straightened out. It looks to me very much as
if the war were a stalemate. Even if England throws another
million men into the field in May I can't see how she can get
through Belgium and over the Rhine. Germany is practically self-
supported, excepting for gasoline and copper, and no doubt a
considerable amount of these are being smuggled in, one way or
another. The Christians are having a hard time reconciling
themselves to existing conditions. ... England is making a fool of
herself by antagonizing American opinion, insisting upon rights of
search which she never has acknowledged as to herself. If she
persists she will be successful in driving from her the opinion of
this country, which is ninety per cent in her favor, although
practically all of the German-Americans are loyal to their home
country. We have some ambition to have a shipping of our own, and
England's claim to own the seas, as Germany puts it, does not
strike the American mind favorably. No doubt this will be regarded
by you as quite an absurdity, that we should have any such dream,
but I find myself from day to day feeling a twinge or two of
bitterness over England's stubbornness, which seems to be as
irremovable a quality as it was in some past days. ...

Your little Nancy is no longer little. She is up to my ear, has
gone out to several evening parties, is at last going to school
like other girls, keeps up her violin, and is very much of a
joy. ...

I knew that you would like our Ambassador. Cultivate him every
chance you get.

Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

On February 20, 1915, Lane went to San Francisco and formally
opened the Panama Pacific Exposition, as the personal
representative of the President. He spoke on "That slender,
dauntless, plodding, modest figure, the American pioneer, ...
whose long journey ... beside the oxen is at an end."



TO ALEXANDER VOGELSANG

En route, near Ogden, Utah, February 22, 1915

MY DEAR ALECK.--You are the best of good fellows, and I don't see
any reason why I should not tell you so, and of my affection for
you. Don't mind the slaps and raps that you get, regarding the
high duty you perform. The people respect you as an entirely
honest and efficient public servant. It did my heart good to hear
the men I talked with speak so appreciatively of you. I enjoyed my
two days with you as I have not enjoyed any two days for many
years. The best thing in all this blooming world is the friendship
that one fellow has for another. I would truly love to have the
President know our Amaurot crowd, but I can't quite plan out a way
by which it could be done. ... As always, affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

En route to Chicago, February 25, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--I have read your preface with great satisfaction.
It will, no doubt, renew your self-confidence to know that it has
my approval. You make some profound suggestions which would never
in the world have occurred to me. The American believes that the
doctrine of equality necessarily implies unlimited appeal. This is
my psychological explanation for the unwillingness to give our
judges more power. Another explanation is that the American people
are governed by sets of words, one formula being that this is a
government by law, hence the judge must have no discretion and
rules must be arbitrary and fixed.

I had a roaring good time in San Francisco. Spoke to fifty
thousand people, and more, who could not hear me. Made a rotten
speech and met those I loved best, so I am not altogether
displeased with having taken the trip after all.

Hope your arm is doing finely. Give my love to your dear wife.
Affectionately yours,

F. K. L.



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

ROME, ITALY

Washington, March 3, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--All things are so large these days that I can not
compress them within the confines of a letter. I mean, don't you
know, that there is no small talk. We are dealing with life and
death propositions, life or death to somebody all the time.

I suppose if you were a few years younger you would be over in the
trenches, or up in England getting ready. From all we hear, the
Scotchmen are the only fellows that the Germans really are afraid
of or entirely respect. The position of a neutral is a hard one.
We are being generously damned by the Germans and the aggressive
Irish for being pro-British, and the English press people and
sympathizers in this country are generously damning us as the
grossest of commercialists who are willing to sell them into the
eternal slavery of Germany for the sake of selling a few bushels
of wheat. Neither side being pleased, the inference is reasonable
that we are being loyal to our central position. ...

I went out recently and opened the San Francisco Fair, parading at
the head of a procession of a hundred thousand people. The Fair is
truly most exquisitely beautiful. There are many buildings that
would even, no doubt, please your most fastidious eye.

We have tried to get a Shipping Bill through which would allow us
to get into South American and other trade, but the Republicans
have blocked us, not because they feared we would get mixed up
with the war but because they don't want us to do a thing that
would further Government ownership of anything.

The Administration is weak, east of the Alleghanies; and strong,
west of the Alleghanies. Bryan is a very much larger man and more
competent than the papers credit him with being. The President is
growing daily in the admiration of the people. He has little of
the quality that develops affection, but this, I think, comes from
his long life of isolation.

We regard ourselves as very lucky in the men we have in the
foreign posts, notwithstanding the attacks made upon us by your
press. ...

I wish you would convey my hearty respects to His Excellency, the
Ambassador, and to your wife, of whose return to health I am
delighted to hear. Cordially yours,

LANE



TO EDWARD J. WHEELER

CURRENT OPINION

Washington, March 4, 1915

DEAR MR. WHEELER,--I am extremely obliged to you for your
appreciative letter regarding my speech, [Footnote: On the
American Pioneer.] but don't publish it in the Poetry Department
or you will absolutely ruin my reputation as a hard working
official. No man in American politics can survive the reputation
of being a poet. It is as bad as having a fine tenor voice, or
knowing the difference between a Murillo and a Turner. The only
reason I am forgiven for being occasionally flowery of speech is
that I have been put down as having been one of those literary
fellows in the past. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

ROME, ITALY

Washington, March 13, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--I have received three letters from you within the
last two weeks, greatly to my joy. Your first and longest letter,
but not a word too long, I thought so very good that I had it
duplicated on the typewriter and sent a copy to each member of the
Cabinet, excepting Bryan, whom you refer to in not too
complimentary a manner. On the same day that I received this
letter I received one from Pfeiffer, presenting the American
merchants' point of view, who desire to get goods from Germany, a
copy of which I inclose. So I put your letter and his together,
and told them all who you both are. Thus, old man, you have become
a factor in the determination of international policy. Several
members of the Cabinet have spoken with the warmest admiration of
your letter, one scurrilous individual remarking that he was
astonished to learn that I had such a learned literary gent as an
intimate friend.

We are just at present amused over the coming into port of the
German converted cruiser Eitel, with the captain and the crew of
the American bark, William P. Frye, on board. The calm gall of the
thing really appeals to the American sense of humor. Here is a
German captain, who captured a becalmed sailing ship, loaded with
wheat, and blows her up; sails through fifteen thousand miles of
sea, in danger every day of being sunk by an English cruiser, and
then calmly comes in to an American port for coal and repairs. The
cheek of the thing is so monumental as to fairly captivate the
American mind. What we shall do with him, of course, is a very
considerable question. He can not be treated as a pirate, I
suppose, because there can not be such a thing as a pirate ship
commanded by an officer of a foreign navy and flying a foreign
flag. But he plainly pursued the policy of a pirate, and I am
expecting any day to find Germany apologizing and offering amends.
But there may be some audacious logic by which Germany can justify
such conduct. Talking of Belgium, I was referred the other day to
the report of the debates in the House of Commons found in the
10th volume of Cobbett's Parliamentary Reports, touching the
attack on Copenhagen by England in 1808, in which the Ministry
justified its ruthless attack upon a neutral power in almost
precisely the same language that Von Bethmann Hollweg used in
justifying the attack on Belgium, and Lord Ponsonby used the sort
of reasoning then, in answer to the Government, that England is
now using in answer to Germany. I was distrustful of the
quotations that were given to me and looked the volume up, and
found that England was governed by much the same idea that Germany
was--just sheer necessity. Of course, your answer is that we have
traveled a long way since 1808.

Doesn't it look to you an impossible task for England and France
to get beyond the Rhine, or even get there? England, of course,
has hardly tried her hand in the game yet and if the Turk is
cleaned up she will have a lot of Australians and others to help
out in Belgium. Sir George Paish told me they expect to have a
million and a half men in the field by the end of this summer.

Pfeiffer comes here to-day to spend a couple of days trying to do
something for the State Department; I don't know just what, but I
shall be mighty glad to see the old chap. I haven't seen anything
of Lamb since his return.

Do write me again. Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

On the sixteenth of March Lane again started for San Francisco,
crossing the continent for the third time within a month. Vice-
President Marshall, Adolph C. Miller, now of the Federal Reserve
Board, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant Secretary of the Navy,
who were going out to visit officially the Exposition, were the
principal members of the party. In Berkeley, on March twenty-
third, 1915, Lane received his degree from the University of
California. In conferring this degree President Wheeler said:--

"Franklin K. Lane,--Your Alma Mater gladly writes to-day your name
upon her list of honour,--in recognition not so much of your
brilliant and unsparing service to state and nation, as of your
sympathetic insight into the institutions of popular government as
the people intended them. An instinctive faith in the righteous
intentions of the average man has endowed you with a singular
power to discern the best intent of the public will. Men follow
gladly in your lead, and are not deceived.

"By direction of the Regents of the University of California I
confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws:--

"Creative statesman in a democracy; big-hearted American." On
December 7, 1915, upon receiving a copy of the diploma Lane wrote
in acknowledgement to Dr. Wheeler,--"I have the diploma which it
has taken all the talent of the office to translate. I had one man
from Columbia, another from the University of Virginia, one from
Nebraska, and one at large at work on it. Thank you. It takes the
place of honor over my mantel."



TO WILLIAM P. LAWLOR

JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

Washington, April 13, 1915

MY DEAR JUDGE,--I have read Eddy O'Day's poem with great delight.
Along toward the end it carries a sentiment that our dear old
friend John Boyle O'Reilly expressed in his poem Bohemia, in which
he speaks of those,

"Who deal out a charity, scrimped and iced, In the name of a
cautious, statistical Christ."

I have never been able to write a line of verse myself, although I
have tried once in a while, but long ago my incapacity was proved.
Pegasus always bucks me off.

I am sorry you took so seriously what I had to say of the wedding
invitation, but you know I am one of those very sentimental chaps,
who loves his friends with a great devotion, and when anything
good comes to them I want to know of it first, and no better
fortune can come to any man than to marry a devoted, high-minded
woman.

Your rise has been a joy to me, because neither you nor I came to
the bar nor to our positions by conventional methods. The union
spirit is very strong among lawyers, and if a man has ideas
outside of law, or wishes to humanize the law, he is regarded with
suspicion by his fellows at the bar. You have proved yourself and
arrived against great odds. No man that I know has ever had such a
testimonial of public confidence as you received in the last
election. I hope that with the hard work much joy will come to
you.

Mrs. Lane has just dropped in and wishes me to send you her warm
regards. Always sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO WILLIAM G. MCADOO

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

Washington, April 27, 1915

MY DEAR MAC,--Here is a man for us to get next to. He is a
Harriman, a Morgan, a Huntington, a Hill, a Bismarck, a Kuhn Loeb,
and a damn Yankee all rolled into one! Can you beat it? His
daughter also looks like a peach. I do not know the purpose of
this financial congress in which these geniuses from the hot belt
are to gather; but unless I am mistaken you are looking around for
some convenient retreat to go to when this Riggs litigation is
over and you are turned out scalpless upon a cruel world. Here is
your chance! Tie up with Pearson. He has banks, railroads, cows,
horses, mules, land, girls, alfalfa, clubs, and is connected with
every distinguished family in North and South America.

This man, Dr. Hoover, is a genius. When I knew him he was giving
lessons in physical training; but, now, like myself, he is an
LL.D., and, of course, as a fellow LL.D. I have got to treat his
friend properly. So I pass him along to you. Please see that he
has the front bench and is called upon to open the congress with
prayer, which, being a Yankee and a pirate, he undoubtedly can do
in fine fashion.

When he comes, if you will let me know, I shall go out to meet him
in my private yacht; take him for a drive in my tally-ho; give him
a dinner at Childs', and take him to the movies at the Home Club.

I shall also ask Redfield to invite him to the much-heralded shad
luncheon, to which I have received the fourth invitation. Do you
think he would like to meet my friend, Jess Willard?

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 A letter from John Burns, from Rome, spoke sarcastically of the
American attitude of neutrality toward the European war, and of
what he called the "new American motto--'Trust the President.'"



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

ROME, ITALY

Washington, May 29, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--I saw Pfeiffer, Lamb, and Mezes the other day up in
New York. Mezes lives among Hebrews, Lamb is broken-hearted that
he can not get into the war, and Pfeiffer is trying to get England
to let his German goods through Holland. Lamb and Pfeiffer do not
agree as to England's duty to allow non-contraband on neutral
ships to pass unmolested.

England is playing a rather high game, violating international law
every day. ... England's attempt to starve Germany has been a
fizzle. Germany will be better off this summer than she was two
years ago, have more food on hand. There are no more men in
Germany outside of the Army. Practically every one has been called
out who could carry a gun, but the women are running the mills and
the prisoners are tilling the farms. Von Hindenburg will come down
upon Italy, when he has lured the Italians up into some pass and
given them a sample of what the Russians got in East Prussia.

You see I am in quite a prophetic mood this afternoon.

Tell me if you understand Italy's position--just how she justifies
herself in entering the war? I have seen no authoritative
justification that I thought would hold water.

The Coalition ministry in England is weaker than the Liberal
ministry. Lord Northcliffe, who is the Hearst of England, has
become its boss. Inasmuch as you object to our new motto, "Trust
the President," I offer as a substitute, "Trust Lord Northcliffe,
Bonar Law, and the Philosopher of Negation." The dear bishops
won't give up their toddy, so England must go without ammunition.
Germany is standing off Belgium, England and France, with her
right hand; Russia with her left, and is about to step on Italy.
Germany has not yet answered our protest in the Lusitania matter.
Neither has England answered our protest, sent some three months
ago, against the invasion of our rights upon the seas. I was very
glad to read the other day that while only eighty per cent of
English-made shells explode, over ninety per cent of American-made
shells explode.

Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO E. W. SCRIPPS

SCRIPPS MCRAE SYNDICATE

Washington, June 1, 1915

MY DEAR MR. SCRIPPS,--I am extremely glad to get your letter--and
such a hearty, noble-spirited letter. It came this morning, and
was so extraordinary in its patriotic spirit that I took it to the
White House and left it with the President.

I am sure that great good will come of the effort you are making
to gather the people in support of the President. The poor man has
been so worried by the great responsibilities put upon him that he
has not had time to think or deal with matters of internal
concern. ... He is extremely appreciative of the spirit you have
shown. I have a large number of matters in my own Department--
Alaskan railroad affairs and proposed legislation--that I ought to
take up with him; but I can not worry him with them while
international concerns are so pressing.

I feel that at last the country has come to a consciousness of the
President's magnitude. They see him as we do who are in close
touch with him. ... My own ability to help him is very limited,
for he is one of those men made by nature to tread the wine-press
alone. The opportunity comes now and then to give a suggestion or
to utter a word of warning, but on the whole I feel that he
probably is less dependent upon others than any President of our
time. He is conscious of public sentiment--surprisingly so--for a
man who sees comparatively few people, and yet he never takes
public sentiment as offering a solution for a difficulty; if he
can think the thing through and arrive at the point where public
sentiment supports him, so much the better. He will loom very
large in the historian's mind two or three decades from now.

In the fall I am going to ask you to lend a hand in support of my
conservation bills, which look like piffling affairs now in
contrast with the big events of the day.

Once more I thank you heartily for your letter. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM

Washington, July 18, 1915

MY DEAR AND DISTINGUISHED SIR,--I once knew a vainglorious chap
who wrote a poem on the Crucifixion of Christ. The refrain was,--

"Had I been there with three score men, Christ Jesus had not
died."

All of us feel "that-a-way" once in a while when we think of
Germany, Mexico, and such. I shall have a few words to say upon
the German note next Tuesday. [Footnote: Day of Cabinet meeting.]
They will be short and somewhat ugly Anglo-Saxon words, utterly
undiplomatic, and I hope that some of them will be used.

There is no man who has a greater capacity for indignation than
the gentleman who has to write that note, and no man who has a
sincerer feeling of dignity, and no man who dislikes more to have
a damned army officer, filled with struttitudinousness, spit upon
the American Flag--a damned goose-stepping army officer!

This morning comes word that they tried to torpedo the Orduna, but
failed by a hair. This does not look like a reversal of policy. Of
course those chaps think we are bluffing because we have been too
polite. We have talked Princetonian English to a water-front
bully. I did not believe for one moment that our friends, the
Germans, were so unable to see any other standpoint than their
own.

I saw ex-secretary Nagel here the other day. We were at the same
table for lunch at the Cosmos Club. One of the men at the table
said, "I think Lane ought to have been appointed Secretary of
State." Nagel's usual diplomacy deserted him, and with a face
evidencing a heated mind replied, "Oh, my God, that would never
do, never do; born in Canada." So you see I am cut out from all
these great honors. Is this visiting the sins of the fathers upon
the children?

I wish you joy in your work and I wish I could lay some of my
troubles on your shoulders. Mrs. Lane and I are going up to see
you just as soon as we get the chance. I had to decline to address
the American Bar Association because I did not want to be away
from here for a week. This is Sunday, and I am trying to catch up
some of my personal mail which has been neglected for six weeks.
Thus you may know that I am in the Government Service.

I send you by this mail a copy of my speech in San Francisco,
which has been gotten up to suit the artistic taste of my private
secretary. As always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 TO FREDERIC J. LANE

Washington, July 21, 1915

MY DEAR FRITZ,--I wish I could think of something I could do for
you dear people back there. I haven't heard from George for a long
while, but I hope he is getting something in mind that makes him
think life worth living. It is strange that every lawyer I know
would like to be situated just as George is, with a little farm in
a quiet dell. Last night I talked with Senator Sutherland. It is
his hope sometime to reach this ideal. And the other night I
talked with Justice Lamar, and told him of George's life, and he
said that he had dreamt of such an existence for fifty years but
has never been able to see his way to its realization.

There is no chance of our getting out to the Coast this year. The
President expects us to be within call, and I am very much
interested in the Mexican question, as to which I have presented a
program to him which so far he has accepted. These are times of
terrible strain upon him. I saw him last night for a couple of
hours, and the responsibility of the situation weighs terribly
upon him. How to keep us out of war and at the same time maintain
our dignity--this is a task certainly large enough for the largest
of men.

Conditions politically are very unsettled, and much will turn I
suppose on what Congress does. More and more I am getting to
believe that it would be a good thing to have universal military
service. To have a boy of eighteen given a couple of months for
two or three years in the open would be a good thing for him and
would develop a very strong national sense, which we much lack.
The country believes that a man must be paid for doing anything
for his country. We even propose to pay men for the time they put
in drilling, so as to protect their own liberties and property.
This is absurd! We must all learn that sacrifices are necessary if
we are to have a country. The theory of the American people,
apparently, is that the country is to give, give, give, and buy
everything that it gets.

Hope things are going well with you. Drop me a line when you can.
Affectionately,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

ROME, ITALY

Washington, July 30, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--Things have come to such a tension here that I
doubt the wisdom of my discussing international politics with you;
nevertheless, I want you not to be weary in well-doing, but
continue to give me the views of the Tory Squire. I hope that your
admiration for Balfour will prove justified. Of course, our press,
which can not be said to sympathize strongly with the conservative
side, makes it appear that Lloyd George is now bearing a great
part in the work of securing ammunition. This is the inevitable
result of allowing the people to vote. The man who has the
people's confidence proves to be the most useful in a time of
emergency. However, it may be that Balfour is himself directing
all that Lloyd George does.

This morning's papers contain an official statement from Petrograd
suggesting that the English get to work upon the west line. This
seems to me extremely unkind, inasmuch as the English have already
lost over 300,000 and have furnished a large amount of money to
Russia, I understand.

Pfeiffer sent me an article the other day from a German professor,
in which he said that the three million men that Kitchener talked
about was all a bluff. Pfeiffer keeps sending me long protests
against England's attitude regarding our trade, which seem to me
to be fair statements of international law.

The word that I get rather leads me to believe that the war will
last for at least another year and a half, which is quite in line
with Kitchener's prophecy, but where will all these countries be
from a financial standpoint at the end of that time? I fancy some
of them will have to go into bankruptcy and actually repudiate
their debt, and what will become by that time of the high-spirited
French, who are holding three hundred and fifty miles of line
against eleven held by the British and thirty by the Belgians?

Yesterday I received a request from a German Independence League
for my resignation, as I was born under the British flag and was
supposed to be influential with the President, who has recently
sent a very direct and business-like letter to Germany. My answer
was that they had mistaken my nationality. My real name was Lange
and my father had stricken out the G.! Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO EUGENE A. AVERY

Washington, August 2, 1915

MY DEAR AVERY,--I am very glad to hear from you and to get your
verse. I had a glorious time at Berkeley. I could have received no
honor that would have given me greater satisfaction, but oh! as I
look over that old list of professors and associate professors! I
don't know a tenth of them, and I never heard of half of them. How
far I am removed from the scholastic life, and how far we both are
from those old days when you used to sit with your pipe in your
mouth, in front of your cabin, and discourse to me upon God and
men!

Well, we don't any of us know any more about God, but we know
something more about man. But after all is said and done, I guess
I like him about as much, as I did in the enthusiastic days when
we used to quiz old Moses. The streak of ideality that I had then
I still retain. The reason that I have remained a Democrat is
because I felt that we gave prime concern to the interests of men,
as such, and had more faith that we could help on a revolution.

These are times of trial. The well we look into is very deep. The
stars are not very bright. It is hard to find our way, but the
pilot has a good nerve. I know the trouble that Ulysses had with
Scylla and Charybdis.

Thank you, old man, very heartily for your word of cheer.
Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN F. DAVIS

Washington, August 2, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,--I am very glad to get your letter of July 28,
telling me your views regarding the last note. I believe the
paragraph to which you refer was absolutely essential to make
Germany understand that we meant business; that she could not have
taken our opposition seriously is evidenced by her previous note,
and which, I think, was as insulting as any note ever addressed by
one power to another. Think of the absurd proposition, that we
should be allowed a certain number of ships to be prescribed by
Germany upon which our people could sail! Of course, if we
accepted her conditions, we would have to accept the conditions
that any other belligerent, or neutral, for that matter, might
impose. What becomes of a neutral's rights under these conditions?

The Leenalaw case shows that Germany can do exactly what we have
been asking her to do; namely, give people a chance to get off the
ship before they blow her up. This is good sense and good morals;
and the whole neutral world is behind us. If, in response to our
note, Germany had said, "We regret the destruction of American
lives, and are willing to make reparation, and have directed our
submarines that they shall not torpedo any ships until the ship
has been given an opportunity to halt," there would have been no
trouble; but Germany evidently did not take us seriously. Our
English was a bit too diplomatic.

I am writing you thus frankly, and in confidence, of course,
because I respect your opinion greatly. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 In the middle of August, Lane joined his family at Essex-on-
Champlain, New York, for a few days. While there he went with Mr.
and Mrs. James S. Harlan to Westport, some miles further south on
the lake, to see the summer boat races and water sports. Mr.
Harlan's motor-boat, the Gladwater, which had been built on his
dock by Dick Mead, won the race, and that evening on their return
Lane gave the following letter to the successful builder:--

August 21, 1915

To "Dick" Mead on winning the race at Westport in the Gladwater.

We wonder sometimes why man was made, so full is life of things
that terrorize, that sadden and embitter. This life is a sea;
tranquil sometimes but so often fierce and cruel. And you and I
are conscript sailors. Whether we will or no we must sail the sea
of life, and in a ship that each must build for himself. To each
is given iron and unhewn timber, to some more and to some less,
with which to fashion his craft. Then the race really starts.

Some of us build ships that are no more than rafts, formless, lazy
things that float. Fair weather things for moonlight nights. But
others, high-hearted men of vision, will not be satisfied to drift
with the current or accept the easy way. They know that they can
do better than drift, and they must! The timber and the iron
become plastic under their touch. The dreams of the long night
they test in the too-short day. They make and they unmake; they
drop their tools perhaps for a time and drift; they despair and
curse their impatient and unsatisfied souls. But rising, they set
to work again, and one day comes the reward, the planks fit
together, and feeling the purpose of the builder, clasp each other
in firm and beautiful lines; the unwilling metal at last melts
into form and place and becomes the harmonious heart of the whole
--and so a ship is born that masters the cruel sea, that cuts the
fierce waves with a knife of courage.

To dream and model, to join and file, to melt and carve, to
balance and adjust, to test and to toil--these are the making of
the ship. And to a few like yourself comes the vision of the true
line and the glory of the victory. Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

ROME, ITALY

Washington, August 31, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,-- ... I met three friends of yours in New York the
other day, Lamb, Fletcher, and Pfeiffer, to whom I told in my
dismal way, the correspondence that we have been carrying on, and
all sympathized with me very sincerely.

Things look brighter now. The President seems to have been able to
make Germany hear him at last. I am very much surprised that you
think we ought to enter the war. Now that you have secured Italy
to intervene, what is the necessity? What have you to offer by way
of a bribe? I see that you are distributing territory generously.
Or do you think that we should go in because we were threatened as
England was--although she says it was Belgium that brought her in?
Fletcher is very much for fighting; Lamb says that the Allies will
win in the next two weeks. Pfeiffer thinks that nobody will win. I
can't tell you what I think. If I were only nearer I would have
more fun with you. Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 TO SIDNEY E. MEZES

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Washington, September 7, 1915

MY DEAR SID,--I enclose a more formal letter for presentation to
your friend, Baron de--. Why in hell you should plague me with
this thing, except that I am the only real good-natured man
connected with the Government, I don't understand. Speaking of
good nature reminds me that you are a clam; in fact, a clam is
vociferous alongside of you.

As you know I have been guiding the affairs of this Government for
the past three months, and have received advice from every man,
woman, and child in the country, including the German-American
Union, the Independent Union, the Friends of Peace, the Sons of
Hibernia, and all the other troglodytes that live; and yet, you
alone have not thought me of sufficient consequence to advise me
as to what to do with the Kaiser or Carranza or Hoke Smith or
Roosevelt.

Before you go back to work why don't you come down here and spend
a day or two? We can have a perfectly bully time, and I will tell
you how to run your University and you can tell me how to run the
Government. ...

I have not seen House nor heard from him, though I have wanted to
talk with him more than with any other human being, these three
months gone. Yours as always,

F. K. L.

 TO CORDENIO SEVERANCE

Washington, September 13, 1915

MY DEAR CORDY,--I envy you very much the opportunity that you have
to entertain Miss Nancy Lane. [Footnote: Born January 4, 1903.]
When she is herself, she is a most charming young lady. She has
powers of fascination excelled by few. If she grows angry, owing
to her artistic temperament, and throws plates at you or chases
you out of the house with a broom, you must forgive her because
you know that great artists like Sarah Bernhardt often have this
failing.

Perhaps you do not know it, but she used to be a great violinist
in her younger days. I doubt if she knows one string from another
now. The only strings that she can play on are your heart strings,
or mine, or any other man's that comes into her neighborhood. I
shall rely upon your honor not to propose to her, because she is
already engaged to me; in fact, we have been engaged nearly twelve
years, and if she should become engaged to you, I will sue you for
stealing her affections and will engage the firm of Davis Kellogg
and Severance to prosecute my suit. If she says anything about a
desire to get back to school, you can put it down as a bluff, and
I trust that you will not swamp her with attentions and with
company lest it should turn her head. She is accustomed to the
simple life--a breakfast of oatmeal porridge, a luncheon of boiled
macaroni, and a dinner of hash--these are the three things that
she is used to. If she shows any disposition to be affectionate
toward you or Aunt Maidie, I trust that you will repress her with
an iron hand. The young women of this day, as you know, are very
forward, and these new dances seem to be especially designed to
destroy maiden modesty.

... You may tell her that her brother seems to be very anxious to
hear from her, being solicitous two or three times a day as to the
mail. I judge from this that he is expecting a letter from her--or
someone else.

You are very good to be giving my little one such a fine time. My
love to Maidie. Cordially yours,

F. K. L.

 TO FREDERICK DIXON

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Washington, October 7, 1915

DEAR MR. DIXON,--I have your letter of October 1st. You have asked
me a very difficult question, which is really this:--How to get
into a man's nature an appreciation of our form of government and
its benefits?

I cannot answer this question. There are certain natures which do
not sympathize with the exercise of or the development of common
authority, which is the essence of Democracy. They are
instinctively monarchists. They love order more than liberty. They
do not see how a balance can be struck between the two. By force
of environment and education their sons may see otherwise. I know
of no other way of making Americans, than by getting into them by
environment and education a love for liberty and a recognition of
its advantages. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

 TO ROBERT H. PATCHIN

Washington, November 27, 1915

MY DEAR PATCHIN,--Mrs. Lane and I would be delighted to join in
your fiesta to Mrs. Eleanor Egan, but we just can't. Why? Because
we have a dinner on December 2nd, also because we are neutral. ...

We can not countenance any one who has been in jail. To have been
in jail proves poverty. Nor do we regard it as fitting that a
young woman should have been torpedoed and spent forty-five
minutes in the water splashing around like Mrs. Lecks or Mrs.
Aleshine. If she was torpedoed why didn't she go down or up like a
heroine? Then she would have had an atrocious iron statue erected
in her honor among the other horrors in Central Park. After her
experience she will doubtless be more sympathetic toward those of
us who are torpedoed daily and weekly and monthly and have to
splash around for the amusement of a curious public.

I hope your dinner of welcome and rejoicing will be as gay as the
cherubic smile of the Right Honorable Egan. Cordially,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO FRANCIS R. WALL

Washington, November 27, 1915

MY DEAR WALL,--I wish that I had time for a long letter to you,
such as yours to me. But I am only to-day able to get at my
personal correspondence which has accumulated in the last six
weeks. These have been times of annual reports and estimates, and
we have a large number of internal troubles which need constant
attention.

I am afraid that we are going to have a great deal of trouble in
getting our preparedness program through, because of dissension in
our own ranks and because the Republicans are so anxious to take
advantage of this emergency to raise the tariff duties and to gain
credit for whatever is done in the way of preparation. We are too
much dominated by partisanship to be really patriotic. This is a
very broad indictment, but it seems to be justified. Of course,
the people like Bryan and Ford, and the women generally, are moved
by a philosophy that is too idealistic, and some of them are only
moved, I fear, by an intense exaggerated ego. If I would have to
name the one curse of the present day, I would say it is the love
of notoriety and the assumption by almost everyone that his
judgment is as good as that of the ablest. Of course, the trouble
with the ablest people is that they are so largely moved by forces
that do not appear on the surface, that one does not know that the
views they express are really their own judgment. Democracy seems
to be government by suspicion, in large part. We have faith in
ourselves, but not in each other. A man to be a good partisan
seems called upon to believe that every man of different view is a
crook or a weakling. This is the Roosevelt idea. And half of it is
the Bryan idea.

I wish that I could see you, old man, and have one of our old time
talks. ...

I shall bear in mind what you say as to the availability of your
service, but I hope it may not be necessary to take you from that
land of sunshine and dreams that seems so remote from this center
of intrigue and trouble. Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN H. WIGMORE

Washington, December 8, 1915

MY DEAR JOHN,-- ... Things are not looking at all nice as to
Germany and Austria. I know that the country is not satisfied, at
least part of it, with our patience, but I don't see just what
else we can do but be patient. Our ships are not needed anywhere,
and our soldiers do not exist. To-day brings word of the blowing
up of an American ship. Of course, we do not know the details but
the thing looks ugly.

Wasn't the President's message on the hyphenated gentlemen bully?
You could not have beaten that yourself. And your dear friend T.
Roosevelt, did certainly write himself down as one large and
glorious ass in his criticism of the message. He hates Wilson so,
that he has just lost his mind. I wish I didn't have to say this
about Roosevelt, because I am extremely fond of him (which you are
not), but a poorer interview on the message could not have been
written. ... As always yours,

F. K. L.



The following letter was written to Mrs. Adolph Miller when she
was in a hospital in New York.



TO MRS. ADOLPH C. MILLER

Washington, December 12, [1915]

MY DEAR MARY,--We have just returned from Church and all morning I
have been thinking of you and Adolph--praying for you I suppose
in my Pagan way.

Poor dear girl, I know you are brave but I'd just like to hold
your hand or look steadily into your eyes, to tell you that you
have the best thing that this world gives--friends who are one
with you. I can see old Adolph with his grimness and his great
love, which makes him more grim and far more mandatory, what a
sturdy old Dutch Calvinist he is! He really is more Dutch than
German--Dutch modified by the California sun--and Calvinist
sweetened by you and Boulder Creek, and Berkeley and William James
and B. I. Wheeler and his Saint of a Mother. Well, let him pass,
why should I talk of him when you really want me to talk of
myself!

Last night we had the GRIDIRON dinner, and the President made an
exalted speech. He is spiritually great, Mary, and don't you dare
smile and think of the widow! We are all dual, old Emerson said it
in his ESSAY ON FREE WILL, and Adolph can tell you what old Greek
said it. And this duality is where the fight comes in, and the two
people walk side by side, to-day is Jekyll's day, and tomorrow is
Hyde's, and so they alternate.

Well, the GRIDIRON was a grind on Bryan and Villard and Ford, and
a boost for preparedness and Garrison and the Army and Navy. Tell
Adolph they had a Democratic mule, two men walking together under
a cover, the head end reasonable, the hind end kicking--the front
end of course represented the Wilson crowd and the hind end the
Bryan-Kitchin,--and the two wouldn't work together. The whole
thing was splendidly done and was a lesson to the few Democrats
who were there--which they won't learn.

Nancy went to her second party last night--a joyous thing in a new
evening cloak of old rose, which made her feel that Cleopatra and
the Queen of Sheba and Mrs. Galt and all other exalted ladies had
nothing on her. What a glorious thing life would be if we could
remain children, with all the simple joys and none of the horrors
that age brings on. There is certainly a good fifty per cent
chance that this fine spirit will marry some damn brute who will
worry and harass the soul out of her. For so the world goes. I
hope she'll be as fortunate as you have been.

To-night we go to the Polks to see Mrs. Martin Egan who was on a
torpedoed ship in the Mediterranean, and although she couldn't
swim floated forty-five minutes till rescued. You must know the
Polks well. She has very real charm and your old Mormon of a
husband will desert his other fairies for her.

Now I have gossiped and preached and prophesied and mourned and
otherwise revealed what passes through a wandering mind in half an
hour, so I send you, at the close of this screed, my blessing,
which is a poor gift, and I would send you the parcel post limit
of my love if it weren't for Anne and Adolph, who are narrow-
minded Dutch Calvinists. May good fortune betide you and bring you
back very soon to the many whose hearts are sympathetic.

FRANK



TO MRS. MAGNUS ANDERSEN

Washington, D.C., December 24, [1915]

MY DEAR MAUDIE,--It is Christmas eve, and while Nancy and Anne are
filling the mysterious stockings, I am writing these letters to
the best of brothers and sister. It has been a long, a
disgracefully long time since I wrote you, but I have kept in
touch pretty well through George and Anne. ... So you have now a
philosophy--something to hang to! I am glad of it. The standpoint
is the valuable thing. There are profound depths in the idea that
lies under Christian Science, but like all other new things it
goes to unreasonable lengths. "Be Moderate," were the words
written over the Temple on the Acropolis, and this applies to all
things. This world is curiously complex, and no one knows how to
answer all our puzzles. Sometimes I think that God himself does
not. There is a fine poem by Emerson called, THE SPHINX, which is
the most hopeful thing that I have found, because it recognizes
the dual world in which we live, for everything goes not singly
but in pairs--good and evil, matter and mind. Then, too, you may
be interested in his essay on FATE.

Dear Fritz--dear, dear boy, how I wish I could be there with him,
though I could do no good. ... Each night I pray for him, and I am
so much of a Catholic that I pray to the only Saint I know or ever
knew and ask her to help. If she lives her mind can reach the
minds of the doctors just as surely as there is such a thing as
transmission of thought between us, or hypnotism. I don't need her
to intercede with God, but I would like her to intercede with man.
Why, oh why, do we not know whether she is or not! Then all the
universe would be explained to me. The only miracle that I care
about is the resurrection. If we live again we certainly have
reason for living now. I think that belief is the foundation hope
of religion. Anne has it with a certainty that is to me nothing
less than amazing. And people of noble minds, of exalted spirits,
not necessarily of greatest intellects have it. George has it in
his own way, and he is certainly one of the real men of the earth.
The President has it strongly. He is, in fact, deeply, truly
religious. The slanders on him are infamous.

... We are to have the quietest possible Christmas. No one but
ourselves at dinner--I give no presents at all--for financially
we are up to our eyebrows. I probably will work all day except for
an hour or two which I shall use in playing with Nancy, for her
gay spirit will not allow anything but the Christmas spirit to
prevail. She is so like our Dear One, so determined, cheerful,
hopeful, courageous, yet very shy. Ned will be out all night at
dances and tomorrow too, for he is a most popular chap and very
well-behaved indeed. His manners are excellent and he has plenty
of dash. He is learning these things now which I learned only
after many years, the little things which make the conventional
man of the world.

I hope that you will find the New Year one of great peace of mind
and real serenity of soul. May you commune with the Spirit of the
Infinite and find yourself growing more and more in the spiritual
image of the Dear One.

My tenderest love to you and to your good high-hearted man, and to
the Boy.

FRANK



TO MRS. ADOLPH C. MILLER

Washington [1915]

This is a Christmas letter and is addressed:--"To a Brave Young
Woman." I am afraid it is not just as cheery and merry as it
should be because, you see, it's like this, I am poor--very, very
poor, and I have very good taste--very, very good taste. Now
those two things can't get on together at Christmas. Then, too, I
am busy--very, very busy, so I don't have time to shop. Now if you
were very, very poor and had very, very good taste and were very,
very busy and couldn't shop--how in heaven could you buy anything
for anyone?

I did take half an hour or so to look at things, and things were
so ugly that were cheap that of course I couldn't buy them without
confessing poor taste, or they were so very expensive that I
couldn't buy them without confessing bankruptcy. Now there you
are! So what could a poor boy do but come home empty-handed,
nothing for Anne or Nancy or Ned or you--not even something for
myself! And I need things, socks and pipe, and better writing
paper than this, and music and toothpaste and some new clothes,
and a house near your palace, and a more contented spirit and
another job and Ahellofalotof things. Don't get nervous about me,
because I'm not going to kill myself for lack of all these things,
although a true-born Samurai, loyal to Bushido might do so. For it
is dishonor not to be rich at Christmas time; not to feel rich,
anyway. But then let me see what I've got! There's Anne! I expect
if sold on the block, at public auction, say in Alaska, where
women are scarce, she would bring some price; but her digestion
isn't very good and her heart is quite weak and her hair is
falling out. But these things, of course, the auctioneer wouldn't
reveal. She would make a fine Duchess, but the market just now is
overstocked with Duchesses. And she is a good provider when
furnished with the provisions.

Now there is Ned--he could hire out as a male assistant to a
female dancer and get fifty a week, perhaps. Nancy couldn't even
do that. They are both liabilities. So there you are, with
Duchesses on the contraband list, and Nancy not old enough to
marry a decayed old Pittsburg millionaire, I will be compelled to
keep on working. For my assets aren't what your noble husband
would call quick, though they are live. I really don't know what
to do. I shall wait till Anne comes home and then, as usual, do
what she says.

I really did look for something for you. But the only thing I saw
that I thought you would care for was a brooch, opal and diamonds
for seven hundred and seventy-five dollars, so I said you wouldn't
care for it. But I bought it for you A LA Christian Science. You
have it, see? I think you have it, that I gave it to you. And that
Adolph doesn't know it, see?

Well you have the opal and I am happy because you are enjoying it.
Such fire! What a superb setting! And such refined taste,
platinum, do you notice! oh, so modest! No one else has any such
jewel. How Henry will admire it--and how mystified Adolph is!
Tell him you bought it out of the money you saved on corned beef.
How I shall enjoy seeing you wear it, and knowing that it bears in
its fiery heart all the ardent poetry that I would fain pour out,
but am deterred by my shyness. But you will understand! Each night
you must take it out just for a glimpse before saying your
prayers. The opal is from Australia, the platinum from Siberia,
the diamonds from Africa, the setting was designed in Paris. And
here it is, the circle of the world has been made to secure this
little thing of beauty for you. What symbolism!

I hope it will make you happy, and cause you to forget all your
pain and weakness. It has given me great happiness to give you
this little gift. And so we will both have a merry Christmas.

FRANK



VIII

AMERICAN AND MEXICAN AFFAIRS

1916

On Writing English--Visit to Monticello--Citizenship for Indians--On
Religion--American-Mexican Joint Commission


TO WILLIAM M. BOLE

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE

Washington, December 29, 1915

DEAR BOLE,--I am very much gratified by the manner in which you
treated my annual report. Certainly my old newspaper training has
stood me in good stead in writing my reports. In fact it always
has, for while I was Corporation Counsel in San Francisco, and a
member of the Interstate Commerce Commission, I wrote legal
opinions that were intelligible to the layman, and I tried to
present my facts in such manner as to make their presentation
interesting. The result was that the courts read my opinions and
sustained them, but whether they were equally impressive upon the
strictly legal mind, I have my doubts, because you know inside the
"union" there is a strong feeling that the argot of the bar must
be spoken and the simplest legal questions dealt with in profound,
philosophic, latinized vocabulary.

I remember that after I was elected Corporation Counsel, when I
was almost unknown to the bar of San Francisco, I began to hear
criticism from my legal friends that my opinions were written in
English that was too simple, so I indulged myself by writing a
dozen or so in all the heavy style that I could put on, writing in
as many Latin phrases and as much old Norman French as was
possible. This was by way of showing the crowd that I was still a
member of the union.

I find that all our scientific bureaus suffer from the same
malady. These scientists write for each other, as the women say
they dress for each other. One of the first orders that I issued
was that our letters should be written in simple English, in words
of one syllable if possible, and on one page if possible.

Soon after I came here I found a letter from one of our lawyers to
an Indian, explaining the conditions of his title, that was so
involved and elaborately braided and beaded and fringed that I
could not understand it myself. I outraged the sensibilities of
every lawyer in the Department, and we have five hundred or more
of them, by sending this letter back and asking that it be put in
straightaway English. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO MRS. ADOLPH C. MILLER

Washington, [January 1, 1916]

Having just sent a wire to you I shall now indulge myself in a few
minutes talk with that many-sided, multiple-natured, quite
obvious-and-yet-altogether-hidden person who is known to me as
Mary Miller.

The flash of brilliant crimson on the eastern side of the opal, do
you catch it? Now that is the flash of courage, the brilliant
flame that will lead you to hold your head high. ... I like very
much what you say as to wearing our jewel "discreetly but
constantly." No combination of words could more perfectly express
the relationship which this bit of sunrise has established between
us--devotion, loyalty, telepathic communication without publicity.
I am sure you are belittling yourself. ... you are a game bird,--
good, you understand, but with a tang, a something wild in flavor,
a touch of the woods and mountain flowers and hidden dells in
bosky places, and wanderings and sweet revolt against captivity.
...

This is my first line of the New Year. Anne is a true daughter of
Martha this morning--her heart is troubled with many things,
getting ready for the raid of the Huns this afternoon. She says
she will write when she repossesses herself of her right arm. Good
health!

Some days later

... I have been receiving your wireless messages all week, my dear
Mary, and not one was an S. O. S. Good! The fair ship MARY MILLER
is safe. Hurrah! She never has been staunch, but she was the
gayest thing on the sea, and when her sails were all set from jib
to spanker she made a gladsome sight, and some speed.

Of course, being so gay she was venturesome. That's where the
Devil comes in. He is always looking about for the gay things. He
hates anything that doesn't make medicine for him. If you are gay
you are likely to be venturesome, and if venturesome, you can be
led astray. So the good ship MARY MILLER instead of hugging the
shore took a try at the vasty deep and got all blown to pieces.
Then she sent out a cry for help. The wireless worked and now with
a little puttering along in the sunshine and a lazy sea, she will
be her gay self once more, and like Kipling's Three Decker will
"carry tired people to the Islands of the Blest."

That was a most charming letter you sent me, a real bit of
intimate talk. Anne read it first. She is very careful as to my
reading. And I was glad to know that she could discover nothing in
it which might injuriously affect my trustful young mind. Anne is
really a good woman. I don't believe in husband's abusing their
wives, publicly. Good manners are essential to happiness in
married life. We are short on manners in this country, and that
explains the prevalence of divorce. How much better, as our friend
L. Sterne once said, "These things are ordered in France."

F. K L.



TO EDWARD F. ADAMS

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Washington, January 11, 1916

MY DEAR ADAMS,--I have yours of the 2nd. Of course, you can not
sue the United States to get possession of its property without
the consent of the United States; but I will forgive you for all
your peculiar and archaic notions regarding government lands and
schools and sich, because I love you for what you are and not
because of your inheritance of old-fashioned ideas.

As I am dictating this letter I look up at the wall and discover
there the head of a bull moose, and that bull moose makes me think
of all the things you said four years ago about Roosevelt. And now
he is to be again the master of your party--perhaps not a
candidate, because he may be guilty of an act of self-abnegation
and put away the crown, or take it in his own hands and place it
upon some one else's brow.

I remember the manner--the scornful, satirical, sometimes pitiful
and sometimes abusive manner--in which you treated the Bull Moose;
and so we are going to have a great spectacle, the Bull Moose and
the Elephant kissing each other at Chicago; and seated on the
Elephant's shoulders will be the crowned mahout with the big
barbed stick in his hand, telling you which way to turn and when
to kneel!

Of course, you will abuse us all for our land policies, but
overlook the fact that the brutalities of these policies were
committed in other days--those good, old Republican days. It
really is a wonder that you are not cynical and that you still
have enthusiasm. I should not be surprised if you said your
prayers and had belief in another world, where all the bad
Democrats would sizzle to the eternal joy of the good Republicans.
In those days I shall look up to you and I know that you will not
deny me the drop of cold water.

I shall be very much interested in seeing what kind of a fist our
man Claxton makes out of your school system, and I hope you can
use him as a means of arousing interest in the schools. That is
one trouble with the public school system, because we get our
education for nothing we treat it as if it was worth nothing--I
mean those of us who are parents. We never know that the school
exists except to make some complaint about discipline or taxes.

May you live long and be happy. Always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



From time to time as vacancies occurred on the Supreme Bench,
letters and telegrams came to Lane from friends that begged him to
allow them to urge his appointment to this office. In 1912, 1914,
and 1916 the newspapers in different parts of the country
mentioned him as a probable appointee. While, as a young lawyer,
this office had seemed to him to be one greatly to be desired,
after he came to Washington and knew more of the nature of the
cases that necessarily formed the greater part of the work passed
upon by the Supreme Court, his interest waned. As early as 1913 he
wrote of the decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission, "If
we are wise, we are not to be terrorized by our own precedents."
An office in which there was little opportunity for constructive
or executive work grew to have less and less attraction for him.



To Carl Snyder

Washington, January 22, 1916

MY DEAR CARL,--I am your most dutiful and obedient servant; the
aforesaid modest declaration being induced by your letter of
January fifth, offering to place me on the Bench. I regret greatly
that you are not the President of the United States, but he seems
to have a notion that it would be a shame to spoil an excellent
Secretary of the Interior.

Talking of robes, there is an idea in Chesterton that is not bad,
that all those who exercise power in the world wear skirts--the
judge, who can officially kill a man; the woman, who can
unofficially do the same thing; and the King, who is the State;
likewise the Pope, who can save the souls of all.

Garrett was in to-day, and if you haven't seen him since his
return, edge up next to him. He is full of facts, some of which
are new to us.

I guess I am to credit you with that little editorial in
Collier's, eh? Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane

Atlantic City

Washington, February 5, 1916

MOST RESPECTED LADY,--Having just returned from luncheon and being
in the enjoyment of a cigar of fine aroma I sit me down for a
quiet talk. I am visualizing you as by my side and addressing you
in person.

First, no doubt, you will care to hear of the reception given at
the White House last evening. According to your directions, I
first dined with the Secretary of Agriculture, his wife, and a
lady from Providence. ... Going then to the White House we
socialized for a few minutes before proceeding down stairs. The
President expressed himself as regretting your absence, and the
President's lady, having heard from you, expressed solicitude as
to your health. I loitered for a few minutes behind the line and
then betook me to the President's library, where I spent most of
the evening hearing the Postmaster General tell of the great
burden that it was to have a Congress on his hands. Bernard Shaw
writes of the Superman, and so does, I believe, the crazy
philosopher of Germany. I was convinced last night that I had met
one in the flesh. ...

The President is cheerful, regarding his Western tour as one of
triumph. His lady still wears the smile which has given her such
pre-eminence. Mrs. Marshall was in line, looking like a girl of
twenty. Those absent were the Wife of the Secretary of War, the
wife of the Secretary of the Interior, and the wife of the
Secretary of Labor. ...

You have two most excellent children, dear madam--a youth of some
eighteen years who has a frisky wit and a more frisky pair of
feet. Your daughter is a most charming witch. I mean by this not
to refer to her age ... but to that combination of poise,
directness, tenderness, fire, hypocrisy, and other feminine
virtues which go to make up the most charming, because the most
elusive, of your sex. I am inclined to believe that Mr. Ruggles,
of Red Gap, would not regard either your son or your daughter as
fitted for those high social circles in which they move by reason
of the precision of their vocabulary or their extreme reserve in
manner, both being of very distinct personality. One is flint and
the other steel, I find, so that fire is struck when they come
together. While engaged, however, in the game of draw poker, these
antipathetic qualities do not reveal themselves in such a manner
as to seriously affect domestic peace. I have spent two entire
evenings with your children, much to my entertainment. That I will
not be able to enjoy this evening with them is a matter of regret,
but I am committed to a dinner with the Honorable Kirke Porter,
and tomorrow evening I believe that I am to dine with the lady on
R. Street, the name of the aforesaid lady being now out of my
mind, but you will recall her as having a brilliant mind and very
slight eyebrows.

Neither the President nor myself alluded to the late lamented
oversight on his part, and on meeting the members of the Supreme
Court I did not find that by the omission to appoint me on said
Court the members thereof felt that a great national loss had been
suffered. No one, in fact, throughout the evening alluded to this
miscarriage of wisdom. ...

... Much solicitude was expressed by many of those present
regarding your health. I told them in my off-hand manner that I
was enjoying your absence greatly. ...

Having now had this most enjoyable talk with you, I shall delight
myself with an hour's discussion of oil leases upon the Osage
Reservation with one Cato Sells.

Believe me, my dear madam, your most respectful obedient, humble,
meek, modest, mild, loyal, loving, and disconsolate servant,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO WILL IRWIN

Washington, February 11, 1916

DEAR WILL,--So you are off for the happiest voyage you have ever
made, with the girl of your heart, to see the whole world being
changed and a new world made. What a joy! Don't put off returning
too long. Remember that books must be timely now, and after you
have a gizzard full of good chapter headings, come back and grind.

Nancy entirely approves of your wife and her books. As always
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO--

Washington, February 29, 1916

... It is none of my business, but I have just seen an article
coming out over your name respecting Pinchot, the wisdom of which
I doubt. I have never found any good to come by blurring an issue
by personal contest or antagonisms. You asked me when you left if
you might not come in once in a while and talk with me, and I am
taking the liberty in this way of dropping in on you, for I am
deeply interested in water power development and want to see
something result this Session.

I have no time to waste in fighting people, and I have found that
by pursuing this policy I can promote measures that I favor. To
fight for a thing, the best way is to show its advantages and the
need for it, and ignore those who do not take the same view,
because there is an umpire in Congress that must balance the two
positions, and therefore I can rely upon the strength of my
position as against the weakness of the other man's position. If
those who are in favor of water power development get to fighting
each other, nothing will result.

I am giving you the benefit of this attitude of mine for your own
guidance. It may be entirely contrary to the policy that you, or
your people, wish to pursue and my only solicitude is that the
things I am for, should not be held back any longer by personal
disputes. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO HON. WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, March 13, 1916

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I shall be pleased to go to the San Diego
Exposition, on my way to San Francisco, and say a word as your
representative at its opening.

I hope that you may find your way made less difficult than now
appears possible, as to entering Mexico, My judgment is that to
fail in getting Villa would ruin us in the eyes of all Latin-
Americans. I do not say that they respect only force, but like
children they pile insult upon insult if they are not stopped when
the first insult is given. If I can be of any service to you by
observation or by carrying any message for you to anybody, while I
am West, I trust that you will command me. I can return by way of
Arizona and New Mexico. ... Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Lane re-opened the California International Exposition at San
Diego, where, voicing the President's regret that he could not
himself be present, Lane said,--"He had intended to make this trip
himself; but circumstances, some to the east of him and some to
the south of him, made that impossible. ... Pitted against him are
the trained and cunning intellects of the whole world, ... and no
one can be more conscious than is he that it is difficult to
reconcile pride and patience. I give you his greeting therefore,
not out of a heart that is joyous and buoyant, but out of a heart
that is grave and firm in its resolution that the future of our
Republic and all republics shall not be put in peril."

[Illustration with caption: FRANKLIN K. LANE WITH ETHAN ALLEN,
SUPERINTENDENT OF RAINIER NATIONAL PARK]

From San Diego he went north to San Francisco, to see his brother
Frederic J. Lane, who had been ill for some months. After a few
days with him Lane returned to his desk, in Washington.



TO FREDERIC J. LANE

Washington, April 26, 1916

MY DEAR FRITZ,-- ... I certainly will not despair of your being
cured until every possible resource has been exhausted. The odds,
it seems to me, are in your favor. Whenever Abrams and Vecchi say
that they have done all that they can, if you are still in
condition to travel, I want you to try the Arkansas Hot Springs
and I will go down there to meet you. ...

I wrote you from the train the other day on my way to Harpers
Ferry, where I took an auto and went down through the Shenandoah
Valley and across the mountains to Charlottesville, where the
University of Virginia is. I went with the Harlans. Anne joined us
at Charlottesville. ... We visited Monticello, where Jefferson
lived, and saw a country quite as beautiful as any valley I know
of in California, not even excepting the Santa Clara Valley, in
prune blossom time. Those old fellows who built their houses a
hundred years ago knew how to build and build beautifully. We have
no such places in California as some that were built a hundred and
fifty years ago in Virginia, and they did not care how far they
got away from town, in those days.

Jefferson's house is up on the top of a hill, as are most of the
others,--there are very few on the roads. Most of them are from a
mile to five miles back, and although the land is covered with
timber they built of brick, and imported Italian laborers to do
the wood-carving. When I think of how much less in money and in
trouble make a place far more magnificent in California, I wonder
our people have not lovelier places. Of course, the difference is
that in Virginia there were just three classes of people--the
aristocrat, the middle class, and the negroes. The aristocracy had
the land, the middle class were the artisans, and the negroes the
slaves. The only ones who had fine houses were the aristocracy,
whereas with us the great mass of our people are business and
professional men of comparatively small means and we have few men
who build palaces.

Things have blown up in Ireland, I see, and the Irish are going to
suffer for this foolish venture. This man Casement who is posing
as the George Washington of the Irish revolution, has held office
all his life under the English Government and now draws a pension.
His last position was that of Consul General at Rio de Janeiro. I
got a pamphlet from him a year or so ago, in which he proposed an
alliance between Germany, the Republic of Ireland, and the
Republic of the United States, which should control the politics
of the world. ...

Doesn't the thought of Henry Ford as Presidential candidate ...
surprise you? It looks to me very much as if the Ford vote
demonstrates Roosevelt's weakness as a candidate. Last night I
went to dinner at old Uncle Joe Cannon's house, and as I came out
Senator O'Gorman pointed to Uncle Joe and Justice Hughes talking
together and said, "There is the old leader passing over the wand
of power to the new leader." ...

Well, old man, I know that I do not need to tell you to keep your
spirits up and your faith strong. Give me all the news, good as
well as bad. Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO FRANK I. COBB

NEW YORK WORLD

Washington, May 8, 1916

MY DEAR COBB,--Here is a memorandum that has been drafted
respecting the leasing bill, that we are now pushing to have taken
up by the Senate. This bill, as you know, covers oil, phosphate,
and potash lands. ... There are three million acres of phosphate
lands, two and a half million acres of oil lands, and a small
acreage of potash lands, under withdrawal now, that cannot be
developed because of lack of legislation. ...

The situation here is tense. Of course, nobody knows what will be
done. I favor telling Germany that we will make no trade with her,
and if she fails to make good her word we will stop talking to her
altogether. I am getting tired of having the Kaiser and Carranza
vent their impudence at our expense, because they know we do not
want to go to war and because they want to keep their own people
in line. ... Cordially yours,

LANE



TO GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM

Washington, May 17, 1916

MY DEAR WICKERSHAM,--I am just back from a trip to South Dakota,
where I, by ritual, a copy of which is inclosed for your perusal,
made citizens out of a bunch of Indians who never can become
hyphenates, and for this reason your letter has remained
unanswered.

And just because we love you, and love ourselves even better, we
will break all rules, precedents, promises, appointments,
agreements, and covenants of all kinds whatsoever, and steal over
to see you a week from Saturday. Just what hour I will wire you,
and what time we can stay depends upon things various and sundry.
But you may depend upon it that it will be as long a time as a
very flexible conscience will permit.

Remember me, in terms of endearment, to that noble lady who
desolated Washington by her departure. As always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO H. B. BROUGHAM

Washington, May 20, 1916

DEAR MR. BROUGHAM,-- ... I recently returned from the Yankton
Sioux Reservation in South Dakota where I admitted some one
hundred and fifty competent Indians to full American citizenship
in accordance with a ritual. ... The ceremony was really
impressive and taken quite seriously by the Indians. Why should
not some such ceremony as this be used when we give citizenship to
foreigners who come to this country? Surely it tends to instil
patriotism and presents the duties of citizenship in a manner that
leaves a lasting impression. Here is a story that should be
interesting to all, if properly presented. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

INDIAN RITUAL ADMISSION TO CITIZENSHIP

The Secretary stands before one of the candidates and says:--

"Joseph T. Cook, what was your Indian name?"

"Tunkansapa," answers the Indian.

"Tunkansapa, I hand you a bow and arrow. Take this bow and shoot
the arrow."

The Indian does so.

"Tunkansapa, you have shot your last arrow. That means you are no
longer to live the life of an Indian. You are from this day
forward to live the life of the white man. But you may keep that
arrow. It will be to you a symbol of your noble race and of the
pride you may feel that you come from the first of all Americans."

Addressing Tunkansapa by his white name.

"Joseph T. Cook, take in your hands this plough." Cook does so.
"This act means that you have chosen to live the life of the white
man. The white man lives by work. From the earth we must all get
our living, and the earth will not yield unless man pours upon it
the sweat of his brow.

"Joseph T. Cook, I give you a purse. It will always say to you
that the money you gain must be wisely kept. The wise man saves
his money, so that when the sun does not smile and the grass does
not grow he will not starve."

The Secretary now takes up the American flag. He and the Indian
hold it together.

"I give into your hands the flag of your country. This is the only
flag you ever will have. It is the flag of free men, the flag of a
hundred million free men and women, of whom you are now one. That
flag has a request to make of you, Joseph T. Cook, that you repeat
these words."

Cook then repeats the following after the Secretary.

"Forasmuch as the President has said that I am worthy to be a
citizen of the United States, I now promise this flag that I will
give my hands, my head, and my heart to the doing of all that will
make me a true American citizen."

The Secretary then takes a badge upon which is the American eagle,
with the national colors, and, pinning it upon the Indian's
breast, speaks as follows:--

"And now, beneath this flag, I place upon your breast the emblem
of citizenship. Wear this badge always, and may the eagle that is
on it never see you do aught of which the flag will not be proud."



TO FREDERIC J. LANE

Washington, June 6, 1916

MY DEAR FRITZ,--We have a letter from Mary this morning saying you
are holding your own pretty well, which is mighty good news, and
that Abrams is still convinced that he is right, which is also
good news. By the same mail I learn that Hugo Asher was hit by a
train and nearly killed. Whether he will recover or not is a
question. Asher is a most lovable fellow and loyal to the core. It
would break my heart to have him go. I got into my fight with
Hearst over Asher. His people demanded that I should fire Asher,
and I refused to do it.

I guess you are beaten on Roosevelt, old man. The word that we get
here is that he is done for at Chicago. Of course before this gets
to you the nomination will be made. My own thought has been that
he laid too much stress on the support of big business. To have
Gary, and Armour, and Perkins as your chief boomers doesn't make
you very popular in Kansas and Iowa. Hughes may be the easiest man
to beat, after all, because he vetoed the Income tax amendment in
New York, a two-cent fare bill, and other things which are pretty
popular. He is a good man, honest and fine, but not a liberal. The
whole Congressional push has been for Hughes for months, but I
haven't believed that he would accept the nomination. I made the
prophesy to some newspaper men the other day that Roosevelt would
get in and endorse Hughes with both fists. They were inclined to
doubt this, but I still believe that I am right. ...

To-day, comes word that Kitchener has been drowned and Yuan Shi
Kai poisoned. Heaven knows whose turn comes next. Just think of
three such events within a week as that sea battle off Denmark,
the greatest naval battle of the world; the torpedoing of the
Secretary of War and all of his staff; and the poisoning of the
Emperor of China. I doubt if there ever was a period in the whole
history of the world when things moved as fast and there was as
much that was exciting. Of course now we have it all thrown onto a
screen in front of our faces, whereas a hundred years ago we would
have had to wait for perhaps a year before knowing that the
Emperor of China had been killed. Nevertheless I think there is
more passion and violence on exhibition to-day than at any time in
a great many years.

I had a talk with the President the other day which was very
touching. He made reference to the infamous stories that are being
circulated regarding him with such indignation and pathos that I
felt really very sorry for him. I suppose that these stories will
be believed by some and made the basis of a very nasty kind of
campaign. But there is no truth in them and yet a man can't deny
them. It is a strange thing that when a man is not liable to any
other charge they trump up some story about a woman. ...

Now my dear boy, may you have a continuance of courage, for there
is no telling what day the tide may turn and things swing your
way. We know so damned little about nature yet. Affectionately
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO HON. WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, June 8, 1916

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I see by the papers that it is repeatedly
announced that you are writing the platform. Now I want to take
the liberty of saying that this is not altogether good news to me.
Our platform should contain such an appreciation of you and your
administration, that you could not write it, much less have it
known that you have written it. It should be one long joyful shout
of exultation over the achievements of the Administration, and I
can't quite see you leading the shout.

The Republican party was for half a century a constructive party,
and the Democratic party was the party of negation and complaint.
We have taken the play from them. The Democratic party has become
the party of construction. You have outlined new policies and put
them into effect through every department, from State to Labor.
Therefore, our platform should be generously filled with words of
boasting that will hearten and make proud the Democrats of the
country; a plain tale of large things simply done.

If there is any truth at all in the newspaper statement and any
purpose in making it, perhaps the end that is desired might be
reached by a statement that you are not undertaking to write the
platform, but that at the request of some of the leaders you are
giving them a concrete statement of your foreign policy.
Faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO MRS. FRANKLIN K. LANE

ESSEX ON CHAMPLAIN, N. Y.

Washington, June 22, 1918

MY DEAR ANNE,--I am just back this minute from Brown [University]
where I had a right good time. I arrived in the morning early and
kept the Dean waiting for me for a half an hour. ...

After breakfast I went over to the University grounds, which are
very quaint, on the crest of a hill with fine old buildings, and
there found that Hughes was the hero of the day, of course; every
step he took he was cheered. He was very genial about it. We
marched in our robes, down through the winding streets of this old
New England town to a meeting house one hundred and seventy-five
years old, and there we sat in pews, while the President of Brown,
Mr. Faunce, gave the degrees in Latin. I have not heard so much
Latin since I left school. There were a pretty good looking lot of
boys, about half of them New Englanders and about half of them
Westerners. We heard some orations by the students and then
marched up the hill again where we had lunch, and then went over
to a great tent on the campus where William Roscoe Thayer--who
wrote the life of Hay--President Faunce, Judge Brown, Mr. Hughes,
and I spoke.

I spoke for about half an hour. My speech fitted in very well,
because Thayer preceded me, and he spoke of the lack of an
American spirit; I had already prepared a speech upon the
abundance of American spirit, [Footnote: Speech published in book
entitled, The American Spirit.] so that I answered Thayer, and
answered him with scorn. I told him that if New England was
growing weak in her American pride or her vigor that we would take
these boys and carry them out West where there was not any lack of
virility or hardiness or red blood, and that if they wanted to
know whether the American was willing to fight or not, to go to
any recruiting office of the United States to-day and see how
crowded it was. I told them about our pioneers, who were taking up
ten or twelve million acres of land, the men who had gone to
Alaska, and then turned upon the real proposition which was that
there was a difference between national spirit and martial spirit.

War used to be the only opportunity for glory or romance or
achievement, while there are a million other opportunities now
open, because man's imagination has grown. In the morning the
College had given honorary degrees of LL.D. to Brand Whitlock and
Herbert Hoover. So when I came to the close of my talk I told them
about Hoover's Belgian work, and that Brand Whitlock had refused
to leave Brussels; and while there was no English and no French
and no Italian and no Spanish and no other flag in Brussels, the
Stars and Stripes in front of the American Legation had never come
down, and the Belgian peasant when he went to his work in the
morning took his hat off in honor of our flag, and I asked those
people to stand with me in front of that peasant to take their
hats off and take heart.

Well, I had the crowd with me right along. Then Hughes came and he
took American Spirit as his text, and he made it quite evident
what his campaign is going to be; that it is going to be a charge,
veiled and very poorly supported by facts, that we have not known
where we were going, that we were vacillating, that we did not
have any enthusiasm, that we did not arouse the people and make
them feel proud that they were Americans. How in the mischief he
is going to get away with this, I do not understand. Whom were we
to be mad at--England, or Germany, or everybody in the world? Were
we to war with the entire outfit? He seems to be able to have
satisfied the Providence Journal, which is run by an Australian
who has been running the spy system for the British Embassy, and
has been printing a lot ... about Germany and all the German
press. If he can get away with this he is some politician. I see
that Teddy has had an understanding with him. Von Meyer was there
yesterday to hold a conference with him.

But I do not think that we lost anything in the discussion of
yesterday. There were not any Democrats there who were not on
their toes at the end of the meeting; but, of course, practically
everybody in Rhode Island is a Republican. It is the closest thing
to a proprietary estate that I have ever seen.

... I left at 6 o'clock and on my way back met President Vincent,
of Minneapolis, and George Foster Peabody. You knew that Frank
Kellogg was nominated, [Footnote: For the United States Senate.]
didn't you, Clapp running third? ...

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO MRS. ADOLPH MILLER

Washington, July 4, 1916

... I see you with blooming cheeks and star-lit eyes peeping out
from under a sun-bonnet, enshrined in all the glories of the
mountain redwoods, and I long to be with you if only to get some
of the freshness and joy of the California mountains into my
rather desolate soul.

How is the old clam? Do his lips come together in that precise
Prussian way, and does he order the universe about? Or does a new
spirit come over him when he gets with nature? Is she a soothing
mistress who smooths his stiff hair with her soft hand, and pats
his cheek and nestles him in her arms, and with her cool breath
makes him forget a federal, or any other kind, of reserve?

Why has nature been so unkind to me as to make me a lover but
always from afar, never to come near her, never to compel me to a
sweet surrender, never to give me peace and contentment, never to
so surround me as to keep out the world of fools and follies and
pharisees?

You know, I would like to write some servant girl novels. I
believe I could do it. My love-making would either be rather tame
and stiff or too intensely early Victorian. But I should like to
swing off into an ecstasy of large turgid words and let my mind
hear the mushy housemaid cry, "Isn't that just too sweet!" ...

I enclose a copy of my speech made at Brown University. Perhaps it
will interest that old farmer potato bug. He does not deserve to
have it said, but I miss him very much. Please obey him an you
love me. Cut out all social activities, giving yourself up to the
acquisition of a few more of the right kind of corpuscles in your
too-blue blood. As always, yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane

Essex-on-Champlain

Washington, July 4, 1916

... There is no news that I can give you. The weather is very
warm. Politics is growing warmer. I think Heney will run for
Senator in California, probably against Hiram Johnson. Will
Crocker is also said to be a candidate for the Republican
nomination. I could get the nomination by saying that I would
accept. Phelan told me yesterday that he would see that all the
necessary money was raised,--that I could win in a walk.
Dockweiler says the same thing. The latter is here and we have
seen much of each other. What do you say if I run for Senator? I
really feel very much tempted to do it at times because things
have been made so uncomfortable by some of my fool colleagues who
have butted in on my affairs; and then I feel I would like the
excitement of the stump and to make the personal appeal once more.
You could go round with me over the State in an automobile. While
I would not insist upon your making speeches for me, I know that
your presence would add greatly to my success.

There is no telling what way this campaign may go. It may be a
landslide for Wilson, it may be a landslide the other way. We have
the hazards because we have the decision of questions. There is
bound to be a lot of objection to whatever course we take with
regard to Mexico. I fear from what Benjamin Ide Wheeler told me
the other day that Germany any day may decide to put her
submarines into active service again on the old lines, especially
if things on land go as they have been going lately against the
Teutons.

... I shall not decide in favor of accepting the nomination until
I hear from you. In the meantime don't lose any sleep over it. And
so my Nancy has a beau? Well, the little rascal must be given some
good advice now. So I shall turn my attention to her ...

F.K.L.

Washington, July 24, 1916

... To-day I have spent most quietly,--had Bill Wheeler up for
breakfast and then went to the Cosmos Club for lunch with
Dockweiler. He is very anxious to get a Catholic on the Mexican
Commission and so am I. I want Chief Justice White, but I fear the
President won't ask him ...

Dear old Dockweiler is an awfully good man ... From youth he has
gauged every act by his conception of the will of God, and in
doubt has asked God's representative, the priest. What a
comforting thing to have a church like that; it makes for
happiness, if it does not make for progress. Why is it that
progress must come from discontent? The latter is the divine spark
in man, no doubt,

    "O to be satisfied, satisfied,
    Only to lie at Thy feet."

is a hymn we used to sing in church. We yearn to be satisfied and
yet we know because we are not satisfied we grow . ...

"The mystical hanker after something higher," is religion, and yet
it should not be all of religion; for man's own sake there should
be some cross to which one can cling, some Christ who can hear and
give peace to the waves. I wish I could be a Catholic, and yet I
can not feel that once you have a free spirit that it is right to
go back into the monastery, and shut yourself up away from doubts,
making your soul strong only through prayer. There are two
principles in the world fighting all the time, and the one makes
the other possible. There is no "perfect," there is a "better"
only. And in this fight one does not become better by prayer--
prayer is only the ammunition wagon, the supply train, where one
can get masks for poison gas and cartridges for the guns.

Pfeiffer said a good thing the other day, quite like him to say
it, too. We were talking of churches and he said he never went to
one because he did not believe in abasing or prostrating himself
before God, he saw no sense in it; God didn't respect one for it,
and moreover he was part of God himself and he couldn't prostrate
himself before himself. I asked him if he didn't recognize
humility as a virtue, and he said, "No, the higher you hold your
head the more God-like you are."

Humility, to me, seems to be the basis of sympathy. We stoop to
conquer in that we are not self-assertive and self-assured, for if
we "know" that we are right we can not know how others think or
feel. We can not grow.

You know there are two great classes of people, those who are
challenged by what they see, and those who are not. Now the only
kind who grow are the former. But what is it to grow? If we
"evermore come out by that same door wherein we went" surely there
is no object in being curious. Can there be growth when we are in
an endless circle? ...

Now after all my struggle, I fall back not on reason but on
instinct, on a primal desire, and perhaps this is my rudimentary
soul, the mystical hanker after something higher. That is a real
thing. The purpose of nature seems to be to put it into me and
make it very important to me. That being so I can not overlook it,
and must obey it. The thing that pleases me as I look back upon
it, is the thing I must do; that sets the standard for me; that is
morals and religion. If there is any chap who the day after sings
with joy over being a devil--that man I never heard of--but if he
takes delight in what he did that was fiendish, then he must
follow and should follow that bent until he SEES that it is
fiendish. He has to have more light. But I really don't believe
there is any such fellow, who clearly sees what he did and
rejoices in it. All of us sing, "I want to be an angel." THERE is
the whole of revelation, and all things that tend to make us
gratify that desire are good. I guess that is pragmatism, in words
of one syllable.

You see that all religion comes from a desire to know something
definite. We prayed logically, in the old time, to the devil and
tried to propitiate him, so that harm would not come to us. That
is stage number one in our climb. Then we find the good spirit and
pray to him to whip the devil, which is stage number two. Then we
ask the good spirit to give us strength to whip the devil
ourselves. That is stage number three. Buddha and Christ come in
the number three stage, and that is where we are. We may find, as
stage number four, that the good spirit is only a muscle in our
brain or a fluid in our nerves, which we strengthen, and become
masters of ourselves--greater, stronger, more clear-sighted--
without any OUTSIDE Great Spirit. That we are all things in
ourselves, and that we are, in making ourselves, making the God. I
fancy that is Pfeiffer's idea. It is Mezes', I believe. Then comes
in the mystery of transmitting that highly developed spirit. A
woman of such a super-soul may marry a man of most carnal nature
whose children are held down to earth and gross things, and her
fine spirit is lost, unless it lives elsewhere. So we come back to
the question, how is the good preserved? "Never any bright thing
dies," may be true, but if so it means an immortality of the
spirit. This is all confusion and despair. We do not see where we
are going. But we must climb, we must grow, we must do better, for
the same reason that our bodies must feed. The rest we leave with
all the other mysteries ...



July 28, 1916

I am going to dinner ... and before I go alone into a lonesome
club, I must send a word to you. Not that I have any particular
word to say, for my mind is heavy, nor that you will find in what
I may say anything that will illumine the way, but why should we
not talk? What! may a friend not call upon a friend in time of
vacancy to listen to his idle babble? O these pestiferous dealers
in facts and these prosy philosophers, the world must have
surcease from them and wander in the great spaces. To idle
together in the sweet fields of the mind--this is companionship,
when thoughts come not by bidding, and argument is taboo; to have
the mind as open as that of a child for all impressions, and speak
as the skylark sings, this is the mood that proves companionship.

I shall be lonely to-night, going into a modern monastery and
driving home alone. The world is all people to me. I lean upon
them. They induce thought and fancy. They give color to my life.
They keep me from looking inward, where, alas! I never find that
which satisfies me. For of all men I am most critical of myself.
Others when they go to bed or sit by themselves may chuckle over
things well done; or find satisfaction in the inner life, as
George does; but not so with me. Thrown on myself I am a stranded
bark upon a foreign shore. And this I know is not as it should be.
Each one should learn to stand alone and find in contemplation and
in fancy the rich material with which to fashion some new fabric,
or build more solidly the substance of his soul.

I like to have you talk, as in your latest letter, of the making
of yourself. It seems so much more possible than that I could do
the same. But I am a miserable groping creature, cast on a sea of
doubt, rejecting one spar to grasp another, and crying all the
time against the storm, for help. I do not know another man who
has tortured himself so insistently with the problems that are
unsolvable. You are firmer in your grasp, and when you get
something you cling to it and push your way like a practical
person toward the shore, that shore of solid earth which is NOT,
but by the pushing you realize the illusion, or the reality, of
progress.

Here I am talking loosely of the greatest things, and perhaps
pedantically; well, we agreed to talk, didn't we, of anything and
everything? You have the birds, the lake, the mountains beyond,
the children next door, and the Fairy all our own, and I have my
desk to look at and outside brick blocks and the sky. If I ever do
hypnotize myself into any kind of faith, or find contentment in
any one thing, it will be the sky. The reason I like the water is
because it is so much like the sky. There is an amplitude in it
that gives me chance for infinite wanderings. The clouds and the
stars are somehow the most companionable of all things that do not
walk and talk.

Well, we have walked a bit together and have come to the edge of
the field where we look off and see the unending stretch of
prairie and the great dome. ...

FRANK



To William R. Wheeler

Washington, August 21, 1916

MY DEAR BILL,--Owing to your departure I have been laid up in bed,
ill for a week. You left on Thursday and on Friday night I went to
bed ... The doctors don't know what I had, excepting that I had
things with "itis" at the end of them. I have had allopaths,
Christian Scientists, osteopaths, and Dockweilers. The latter has
been my nurse at night, his chief service being to keep me
interested in the variety of his snoring. I really have had one
damn hell of a time. The whole back and top of my head blew out,
and I expected an eruption of lava to flow down my back. The only
explanation of it is a combination of air-drafts and a little too
much work and worry. I am now somewhat weak, but otherwise in
pretty good condition ...

I have no intention of saying anything in reply to Pinchot. He
wrote me thirty pages to prove that I was a liar, and rather than
read that again I will admit the fact.

My regards to the Lady Alice Isabel. As always affectionately
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LAKE



To James Harlan

[August, 1916]

MY DEAR JIM,--I am writing you from my bed where I have been laid
up for a few days with a hard dose of tonsillitis. Don't know what
happened but the wicked bug got me and I have suffered more than
was good for my slender soul.

I am so glad to hear of your Mother's improvement. Bless her noble
heart! I hope she lives a long time to give you the inspiration of
that beautiful smile.

The Mexican business does not hasten as I had hoped. Brandeis'
withdrawal was a great surprise to us and I can't quite understand
it. Meantime the railroad situation engrosses our attention fully,
and Mexico can wait ...

Hughes' speeches have been a surprise and disappointment to me ...
One might fancy a candidate for Congress doing no better but not a
man of such record and position. I think your dear old party
relies upon holding the regular party men out of loyalty and
protection, and buying enough Democrats and crooks to get the
majority. But I don't believe it can be done. The Republican
organization is perfect, but the people are not as gullible as
once they were.

Tell me some more about the Latin-American. How much form should I
put on? Can you warm up to them? How do you get the truth out of
them? And how do you get them to stay by their word? What are they
suspicious of, silence or volubility? Do they expect you to ask
for more than you expect to get? Do they appreciate candor and
fair dealing, or must you be crafty and indirect? If they expect
the latter I am not the man for the job, but I can be patient and
listen. My love to the Lady Maud.

FRANK



To Hon. Woodrow Wilson

The White House

Washington, August 28, 1916

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I have had talks this morning with three
men, all of them Democrats, all of them strongly for you under any
circumstances. None of them are related to railroads or to labor
unions. Two of them have recently been out of this city and
believe that they have a knowledge of the feeling of the country.
All express the same view and I want to tell it to you in case you
write a message to Congress.

They say that the people do not grasp the meaning of your
statement that society has made its judgment in favor of an eight-
hour day. This, the people think, is a matter that can be
arbitrated. They ask why can't it be arbitrated? They say that the
country feels that you have lined yourself up with the labor
unions irrevocably for an eight-hour day, as against the railroads
who wish to arbitrate the necessity for putting in an eight-hour
day immediately, and irrespective of the additional cost to the
railroads. They say that the men are attempting to bludgeon the
railroads into granting their demand which has not been shown to
the people to be reasonable. This demand is that the men should
have ten hours pay for eight hours work or less. They say that if
this question cannot be arbitrated, the railroads must yield on
every question and that freight rates and passenger rates instead
of going down, as they have for the past twenty years, must
inevitably increasingly go up. They say that the people do not
realize that you have been willing to entertain any proposition
made by the railroads, but that you have stood steadfastly for
something which the men have demanded.

Now, all of this indicates a lack of knowledge of what your
position has been. I am giving you the gist of these conversations
because they represent a point of view so that if you desire you
may meet such criticism.

You must remember, Mr. President, that the American people have
not had for fifty years a President who was not at this period in
a campaign bending all of his power to purely personal and
political ends. Your ideality and unselfishness are so rare that
things need to be made particularly clear to them. Faithfully
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



In the beginning of September Lane was appointed Chairman of the
American-Mexican Joint Commission, the other Americans being Judge
George Gray, of Delaware, and John R. Mott, secretary of the Young
Men's Christian Association. The Mexican members were Luis
Cabrera, Minister of Finance, Alberto Pani, and Ignatio Bonillas,
afterward Ambassador to Washington.

It was the hope of the Administration that this Commission would
lay the foundation for a better understanding between America and
Mexico. The Commission started its work in New London, but later
as the hearings dragged on, they went to Atlantic City.

Just before this Commission was named, Lane wrote to his brother,
"I have been turned all topsy turvy by the Mexican situation. I
have suggested to the President the establishment of a commission
to deal with this matter upon a fundamental basis, but Carranza is
obsessed with the idea that he is a real god and not a tin god,
that he holds thunderbolts in his hands instead of confetti, and
he won't let us help him."



To Alexander Vogelsang

Acting Secretary of the Interior American-Mexican Joint Commission

September 29, 1916

MY DEAR ALECK,--Don't worry about yourself. Don't worry about the
office. You will be all right, and so will the office. I am not
worrying about you because I haven't got time to. I'll take your
job if you will take mine. The interpreting of a city charter is
nothing to the interpreting of the Mexican mind. Dealing with
Congress is not so difficult as dealing with Mexican statesmen. I
have had some jobs in my life, but none in which I was put to it
as I am in this. Now I have not only a question as to what to do
in the making of a nation, the development of its opportunity, the
education of its people, the establishment of its finances, and
the opening of its industries in the establishment of its
relations with other countries, but also the problem as to where
the men can be found that can carry out the program, once it is
made. If I were only Dictator I could handle the thing, I think,
all right. The hardest part of all is to convince a proud and
obstinate people that they really need any help.

... Remember me to the noble bunch of fellows who add loyalty to
pluck, pluck to capacity. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Frederic J. Lane

American-Mexican Joint Commission

September 29, 1916

MY DEAR FRITZ,--I sent you a wire the other night just to let you
know that I was thinking of you. I am now steaming down Long
Island Sound in the midst of a rainstorm and with fog all around
us, in the Government's boat Sylph. We are on our way to Atlantic
City where the conference will continue, the hotel at New London
having been closed. ...

It looks to me at long range as if Johnson would surely carry
California. Whether Wilson will, or not, is a question. I hope to
God he may. Whether I shall get an opportunity to get out and
stump for him depends entirely upon this Commission, which is
holding me down hard. We are working from ten in the morning till
twelve at night, and not making as rapid progress as we should
because of the Latin-American temperament. They want to start a
government afresh down there; that is, go upon the theory that
there never was any government and that they now know how a
government should be formed and the kind of laws there should be,
disregarding all that is past, and basing their plans upon ideals
which sometimes are very impracticable. They distrust us. They
will not believe that we do not want to take some of their
territory.

I despair often, but I take new courage when I think of you, of
the struggle you are making and the brave way in which you are
making it. What a superbly glorious thing it would be if you could
master the hellish fiend that has attacked you! ...

My best love to you, dear Fritz, affectionately yours, F. K. L.



To Frank I. Cobb New York World

American-Mexican Joint Commission Atlantic City, November 11, 1916

MY DEAR COBB,--My very warm, earnest, and enthusiastic
congratulations to you. You made the best editorial campaign that
I have ever known to be made. I would give more for the editorial
support of the New York World than for that of any two papers that
I know of. The result in California turned, really as the result
in the entire West did, upon the real progressivism of the
progressives. It was not pique because Johnson was not recognized.
No man, not Johnson nor Roosevelt, carries the progressives in his
pocket. The progressives in the East were Perkins progressives who
could be delivered. THE WEST THINKS FOR ITSELF. Johnson could not
deliver California. Johnson made very strong speeches for Hughes.
The West is really progressive. ...

Speaking of the election, there are two things I want you to bear
distinctly in mind, my dear Mr. Cobb. One is that the states which
the Interior Department deals with are the states which elected
Mr. Wilson. ... And the second is that we kept the Mexican
situation from blowing up in a most critical part of the campaign,
which is also due to the Secretary of the Interior, damn you! In
fact, next to you, I think the Secretary of the Interior is the
most important part of this whole show! Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To R. M. Fitzgerald American-Mexican Commission

Atlantic City, November 12, 1916

DEAR BOB,--I am very glad to get your telegram. I know that it
took work, judgment, and finesse to bring about the result that
was obtained in California. What a splendid thing it is to have
our state the pivotal state! The eastern papers are attempting to
make it appear that the state turned toward Wilson because of the
slight put upon Johnson by Hughes. These people in the East are
not large enough to understand that the people think for
themselves out West, and are not governed by little personalities,
that we don't play "Follow the leader," as they do here. The real
fact is that Roosevelt undertook to deliver the progressives and
could not do it in the West. Now we must hold all these forward-
looking people in line with us and make the Democratic party
realize the dream that you and I had of it when we were boys,
thirty years ago, and took part in our first campaign. There is
room for only two parties in the United States, the liberal and
the conservative, and ours must be the liberal party. Cordially
yours,

Franklin K. Lane



To James K. Moffitt

Atlantic City, November 12, 1916

My dear Jim,--It was fine of you to send me that telegram, and I
am not too modest to "allow" as Artemus Ward used to say, as how
the Interior Department is rather stuck up over the result. The
Department certainly had not been very popular in the West. ...
All of us will be taken a bit more seriously now, I guess. I wired
Cushing and the others who led in the fight and I am going to
write a note to Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who from the first, be it
said to his credit, claimed California for Wilson. Wheeler is
certainly a thoroughbred. I wish I could get your way soon and see
you all, and rejoice with you.

I have just received a telegram from Bryan, reading:--

"Shake. Many thanks. It was great. The West, a stone which the
builders rejected, has become the head of the corner." Cordially
yours,

Franklin K. Lane



To Benjamin Ide Wheeler

Atlantic City, November 14,1916

Dear Mr. Wheeler,--I know that you rejoice with all of us. You
were the first man to tell me that Wilson would carry California,
and I never believed it as truly as you did, but I have taken many
occasions lately to say that you were a true prophet. And speaking
of prophets, what a lot have been unmade! Did you see that I
wanted to bet a hat with George Harvey that he could not name four
states west of the Alleghenies that would go for Hughes? The truth
about the thing, as I see it, is that you can't deliver the
Western man and you can't deliver the true progressive, anyhow.
The people of the East are in a far more feudal state than the
people of the West. Here they live by sufferance, by favor; they
are helpless if they lose their jobs. Out there hope is high in
their hearts and they feel that there is a fair world around them,
in which they have another chance. The resentment was strong
against Roosevelt undertaking to turn over his vote. Of course I
am glad of Johnson's election, as he is a strong, stalwart chap,
capable of tremendous things for good. He will probably be a
presidential candidate four years from now, and I see no man now
who can beat him, nor should he be beaten unless we have a good
deal better material than our run of ... rank opportunists.

I am working on a treadmill here. Perhaps by the time you come on
in December I will be able to report something accomplished. But
oh! the misery of dealing with people who are eternally suspicious
and have no sense of good faith!

We went with the Millers to the James Roosevelt place up at Hyde
Park on the Hudson, just before election, and had an exquisite
time. I put in four or five days campaigning, and this was the end
of my trip. My speeches were all made in New York where I thought
they might count, but the organizations were too perfect for us.

President Wilson will leave a mere shadow of a party, unless he
takes an interest in reorganizing it. He has drawn a lot of young
men to him who should be tied together, as we were in the early
Cleveland days. Of course, we must have a cause, not merely a
slogan.

Mrs., Lane is here while I am writing this and she sends her love
to both you and your wife, as do I. As always, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Roland Cotton Smith

Sunday, [January 7? 1917]

MY DEAR DR. SMITH,--I know that you are human enough to like
appreciation and so I am sending you this word,--no more than I
feel!

Your address of this morning was a bit of real literature. It
produced the effect you desired without making a bid for it. It
was as subtle and full of suggestion as Jusserand's book on France
and the United States. You gave an atmosphere to the old building
as an institution, which made every one of us feel something more
of ennobling standards and traditions. You touched emotion. Many
an old chap there felt called upon suddenly and apologetically to
blow his nose. And the crowning bit of fine sentiment was asking
us all to rise, as you read the list of the distinguished ones who
had worshipped there. You have the art of making men better by not
preaching to them. So here is my hand in admiration and in
gratitude. Sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To James H. Barry San Francisco Star

Washington, [January 9, 1917]

MY DEAR JIM,--That card of yours spoke to me so directly and
warmly from the heart, that it revived in my memory all the long
years of our friendship, and made me feel that the world had been
good to me beyond most men, in that it had brought a "few friends
and their affection tried." These are to be trying years--these
next four--and it will take courage and rare good sense to keep
this old ship on her true path. You have a part and so have I. We
take our turn at the wheel. May God give us strength and
steadiness!

Please give my greetings to your fine boys, and to all the old
group that are still with you, and know that always I hold you in
deep affection. Sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



IX

CABINET TALK AND WAR PLANS

1917

Cabinet Meetings--National Council of Defense--Bernstorff--War--
Plan for Railroad Consolidation--U-Boat Sinkings Revealed--Alaska

To George W. Lane

Washington, February 9,1917

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I am going to write you in confidence some of the
talks we have at the Cabinet and you may keep these letters in
case I ever wish to remind myself of what transpired. A week ago
yesterday, (February 1st), the word came that Germany was to turn
"mad dog" again, and sink all ships going within her war zone.
This was the question, of course, taken up at the meeting of the
Cabinet on February 2nd. The President opened by saying that this
notice was an "astounding surprise." He had received no intimation
of such a reversal of policy. Indeed, Zimmermann, the German
Minister of Foreign Affairs, had within ten days told Gerard that
such a thing was an "impossibility." At this point Lansing said
that he had good reason to believe that Bernstorff had the note
for fully ten days before delivering it, and had held it off
because of the President's Peace Message to Congress, which had
made it seem inadvisable to deliver it then. In answer to a
question as to which side he wished to see win, the President said
that he didn't wish to see either side win,--for both had been
equally indifferent to the rights of neutrals--though Germany had
been brutal in taking life, and England only in taking property.
He would like to see the neutrals unite. I ventured the expression
that to ask them to do this would be idle, as they could not
afford to join with us if it meant the insistence on their rights
to the point of war. He thought we might coordinate the neutral
forces, but was persuaded that an effort to do this publicly, as
he proposed, would put some of the small powers in a delicate
position. We talked the world situation over. I spoke of the
likelihood of a German-Russian-Japanese alliance as the natural
thing at the end of the war because they all were nearly in the
same stage of development. He thought the Russian peasant might
save the world this misfortune. The fact that Russia had been, but
a short time since, on the verge of an independent peace with
Germany was brought out as evidencing the possibility of a break
on the Allies' side. His conclusion was that nothing should be
done now,--awaiting the "overt act" by Germany, which would take
him to Congress to ask for power.

At the next meeting of the Cabinet on February 6th, the main
question discussed was whether we should convoy, or arm, our
merchant ships. Secretary Baker said that unless we did our ships
would stay in American ports, and thus Germany would have us
effectively locked up by her threat. The St. Louis, of the
American line, wanted to go out with mail but asked the right to
arm and the use of guns and gunners. After a long discussion, the
decision of the President was that we should not convoy because
that made a double hazard,--this being the report of the Navy,--
but that ships should be told that they MIGHT arm, but that
without new power from Congress they should not be furnished with
guns and gunners.

The President said that he was "passionately" determined not to
over-step the slightest punctilio of honor in dealing with
Germany, or interned Germans, or the property of Germans. He would
not take the interned ships, not even though they were being
gutted of their machinery. He wished an announcement made that all
property of Germans would be held inviolate, and that interned
sailors on merchant ships could enter the United States. If we are
to have war we must go in with our hands clean and without any
basis for criticism against us. The fact that before Bernstorff
gave the note telling of the new warfare, the ships had been
dismantled as to their machinery, was not to move us to any act
that would look like hostility.

February 10

Yesterday we talked of the holding of Gerard as a hostage. Lansing
said there was no doubt of it. He thought it an act of war in
itself. But did not know on what theory it was done, except that
Germany was doing what she thought we would do. Germany evidently
was excited over her sailors here, fearing that they would be
interned, and over her ships, fearing that they would be taken. I
said that it seemed to be established that Germany meant to do
what she said she would do, and that we might as well act on that
assumption. The President said that he had always believed this,
but thought that there were chances of her modifying her position,
and that he could do nothing, in good faith toward Congress,
without going before that body. He felt that in a few days
something would be done that would make this necessary.

So there you are up to date--in a scrappy way. Now don't tell what
you know. Ned is flying at Newport News. He sent me a telegram
saying that the President could go as far as he liked, "the bunch"
would back him up. Strange how warlike young fellows are,
especially if they think that they are preparing for some
usefulness in war. That's the militaristic spirit that is bad.
Much love to you and Frances. Give me good long letters telling me
what is in the back of that wise old head.

F. K.



To George W. Lane

February 16, [1917]

MY DEAR GEORGE,--That letter and proposed wire were received and
your spirit is mine--the form of your letter could not be improved
upon--and you are absolutely sound as to policy.

At the last meeting of the Cabinet, we again urged that we should
convoy our own ships, but the President said that this was not
possible without going to Congress, and he was not ready to do
that now. The Navy people say that to convoy would be foolish
because it would make a double target, but it seems to me the
right thing to risk a naval ship in the enforcement of our right.

At our dinner to the President last night he said he was not in
sympathy with any great preparedness--that Europe would be man and
money poor by the end of the war. I think he is dead wrong in
this, and as I am a member of the National Council of Defense, I
am pushing for everything possible. This week we have had a
meeting of the Council every day--the Secretary of War, Navy,
Interior, Commerce, and Labor--with an Advisory Commission
consisting of seven business men. We are developing a plan for the
mobilization of all our national industries and resources so that
we may be ready for getting guns, munitions, trucks, supplies,
airplanes, and other material things as soon as war comes--IF NOT
TOO SOON. It is a great organization of industry and resources. I
think that I shall urge Hoover as the head of the work. His
Belgian experience has made him the most competent man in this
country for such work. He has promised to come to me as one of my
assistants but the other work is the larger, and I can get on with
a smaller man. He will correlate the industrial life of the nation
against the day of danger and immediate need. France seems to be
ahead in this work. The essentials are to commandeer all material
resources of certain kinds (steel, copper, rubber, nickel, etc.);
then have ready all drawings, machines, etc., necessary in advance
for all munitions and supplies; and know the plant that can
produce these on a standard basis.

The Army and Navy are so set and stereotyped and stand-pat that I
am almost hopeless as to moving them to do the wise, large,
wholesale job. They are governed by red-tape,--worse than any
Union.

The Chief of Staff fell asleep at our meeting to-day--Mars and
Morpheus in one!

To-day's meeting has resulted in nothing, though in Mexico, Cuba,
Costa Rica, and Europe we have trouble. The country is growing
tired of delay, and without positive leadership is losing its
keenness of conscience and becoming inured to insult. Our
Ambassador in Berlin is held as a hostage for days--our Consuls'
wives are stripped naked at the border, our ships are sunk, our
people killed--and yet we wait and wait! What for I do not know.
Germany is winning by her bluff, for she has our ships interned in
our own harbors.

Well, dear boy, I'm not a pacifist as you see. Much love,

FRANK

To George W. Lane

Washington, February 20, [1917]

DEAR GEORGE,--Another Cabinet meeting and no light yet on what our
policy will be as to Germany. We evidently are waiting for the
"overt act," which I think Germany will not commit. We are all,
with the exception of one or two pro-Germans, feeling humiliated
by the situation, but nothing can be done.

McAdoo brought up the matter of shipping being held in our ports.
It appears that something more than half of the normal number of
ships has gone out since February 1st, and they all seem to be
getting over the first scare, because Germany is not doing more
than her former amount of damage.

We were told of intercepted cables to the Wolfe News Agency, in
Berlin, in which the American people were represented as being
against war under any circumstances--sympathizing strongly with a
neutrality that would keep all Americans off the seas. Thus does
the Kaiser learn of American sentiment! No wonder he sizes us up
as cowards! ...

F. K. L.



To Frank I. Cobb

Washington, February 21, 1917

MY DEAR COBB,--I have told Henry Hall that he should come down
here and give the story of how Bernstorff handled the newspaper
men, and thus worked the American people, ... He ought to get out
of the newspaper men themselves, and he can, the whole atmosphere
of the Washington situation since Dernberg left,--Bernstorff's
little knot of society friends, chiefly women, the dinners that
they had, his appeals for sympathy, the manner in which he would
offset whatever the State Department was attempting to get before
the American people. He would give away to newspaper men news that
he got from his own government before it got to the State
Department. He would give away also the news that he got from the
State Department before the State Department itself gave it out,
and he had a regular room in which he received these newspaper
men, and handed them cigars and so on, and carried on a propaganda
against the policy of the United States while acting as Ambassador
for Germany, the like of which nobody has carried on since Genet;
and worse than his, because it was carried on secretly and
cunningly. ...

Hall will be able to get a ripping good story, I am satisfied,--a
good two pages on "Modern Diplomacy," which will reveal how long-
suffering the United States has been. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To George W. Lane

Washington, February 25, 1917

MY DEAR GEORGE,--On Friday we had one of the most animated
sessions of the Cabinet that I suppose has ever been held under
this or any other President. It all arose out of a very innocent
question of mine as to whether it was true that the wives of
American Consuls on leaving Germany had been stripped naked, given
an acid bath to detect writing on their flesh, and subjected to
other indignities. Lansing answered that it was true. Then I asked
Houston about the bread riots in New York, as to whether there was
shortage of food because of car shortage due to vessels not going
out with exports. This led to a discussion of the great problem
which we all had been afraid to raise--Why shouldn't we send our
ships out with guns or convoys? Daniels said we must not convoy--
that would be dangerous. (Think of a Secretary of the Navy talking
of danger!) The President said that the country was not willing
that we should take any risks of war. I said that I got no such
sentiment out of the country, but if the country knew that our
Consuls' wives had been treated so outrageously that there would
be no question as to the sentiment. This, the President took as a
suggestion that we should work up a propaganda of hatred against
Germany. Of course, I said I had no such idea, but that I felt
that in a Democracy the people were entitled to know the facts.
McAdoo, Houston, and Redfield joined me. The President turned on
them bitterly, especially on McAdoo, and reproached all of us with
appealing to the spirit of the Code Duello. We couldn't get the
idea out of his head that we were bent on pushing the country into
war. Houston talked of resigning after the meeting. McAdoo will--
within a year, I believe. I tried to smooth them down by recalling
our past experiences with the President. We have had to push, and
push, and push, to get him to take any forward step--the Trade
Commission, the Tariff Commission. He comes out right but he is
slower than a glacier--and things are mighty disagreeable,
whenever anything has to be done.

Now he is being abused by the Republicans for being slow, and this
will probably help a bit, though it may make him more obstinate.
He wants no extra session, and the Republicans fear that he will
submit to anything in the way of indignity or national humiliation
without "getting back," so they are standing for an extra session.
The President believes, I think, that the munitions makers are
back of the Republican plan. But I doubt this. They simply want to
have a "say"; and the President wants to be alone and unbothered.
He probably would not call Cabinet meetings if Congress adjourned.
Then I would go to Honolulu, where the land problem vexes.

I don't know whether the President is an internationalist or a
pacifist, he seems to be very mildly national--his patriotism is
covered over with a film of philosophic humanitarianism, that
certainly doesn't make for "punch" at such a time as this.

My love to you old man,--do write me oftener and tell me if you
get all my letters.

F. K L.



To George W. Lane

Washington, March 6, [1917]

Well my dear George, the new administration is launched--smoothly
but not on a smooth sea. The old Congress went out in disgrace,
talking to death a bill to enable the President to protect
Americans on the seas. The reactionaries and the progressives
combined--Penrose and La Follette joined hands to stop all
legislation, so that the government is without money to carry on
its work.

It is unjust to charge the whole thing on the La Follette group;
they served to do the trick which the whole Republican machine
wished done. For the Penrose, Lodge people would not let any bills
through and were glad to get La Follette's help. The Democrats
fought and died--because there was no "previous question" in the
Senate rules.

The weather changed for inauguration--Wilson luck--and the event
went off without accident. To-day, we had expected a meeting of
the Cabinet to determine what we should do in the absence of
legislation, but that has gone over,--I expect to give the
Attorney General a chance to draft an opinion on the armed ship
matter. I am for prompt action--putting the guns on the ships and
convoying, if necessary. Much love.

K.F.



To Edward J. Wheeler Current Opinion

Washington, March 15, 1917

MY DEAR MY. WHEELER,--I wish that I could be with you to honor Mr.
Howells. But who are we, to honor him? Is he not an institution?
Is he not the Master? Has he not taught for half a century that
this new and peculiar man, the American, is worth drawing? Why,
for an American not to take off his hat to Howells would be to
fail in appreciation of one's self as an object of art--an
unlikely, belittling, and soul-destroying sin.

I do not know whether Howells is a great photographer or a great
artist; but this I do know, that I like him because he sees
through his own eyes, and I like his eyes. If that be treason,
make the most of it. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To George W. Lane

Washington, April 1, 1917

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I took your letter and your proposed wire as to
our going into war and sent them to the President as suggestions
for his proposed message which in a couple of days will come out--
what it is to be I don't know--excepting in spirit. He is to be
for recognizing war and taking hold of the situation in such a
fashion as will eventually lead to an Allies' victory over
Germany. But he goes unwillingly. The Cabinet is at last a unit.
We can stand Germany's insolence and murderous policy no longer.
Burleson, Gregory, Daniels, and Wilson were the last to come over.

The meetings of the Cabinet lately have been nothing less than
councils of war. The die is cast--and yet no one has seen the
message. The President hasn't shown us a line. He seems to think
that in war the Pacific Coast will not be strongly with him. They
don't want war to be sure--no one does. But they will not suffer
further humiliation. I sent West for some telegrams telling of the
local feeling in different States and all said, "Do as the
President says." Yet none came back that spoke as if they felt
that we had been outraged or that it was necessary for humanity
that Germany be brought to a Democracy. There is little pride or
sense of national dignity in most of our politicians.

The Council of National Defense is getting ready. I yesterday
proposed a resolution, which was adopted, that our contracts for
ships, ammunition, and supplies be made upon the basis of a three
years' program. We may win in two years. If we had the nerve to
raise five million men at once we could end it in six months,

The first thing is to let Russia and France have money. And the
second thing, to see that Russia has munitions, of which they are
short--depending largely, too largely, upon Japan. I shouldn't be
surprised if we would operate the Russian railroads. And ships,
ships! How we do need ships, and there are none in the world.
Ships to feed England and to make the Russian machine work.
Hindenburg is to turn next toward Petrograd--he is only three
hundred miles away now. I fear he will succeed. But that does not
mean the conquest of Russia! The lovable, kindly Russians are not
to be conquered,--and it makes me rejoice that we are to be with
them.

All sides need aeroplanes--for the war that is perhaps the
greatest of all needs; and there Germany is strongest. Ned will go
among the first. He is flying alone now and is enjoying the risk,
--the consciousness of his own skill. Anne is very brave about it.

This is the program as far as we have gone: Navy, to make a line
across the sea and hunt submarines; Army, one million at once, and
as many more as necessary as soon as they can be got ready.
Financed by income taxes largely. Men and capital both drafted.

I'm deep in the work. Have just appointed a War-Secretary of my
own--an ex-Congressman named Lathrop Brown from New York, who is to
see that we get mines, etc., at work. I wish you were here but the
weather would be too much for you, I fear. Very hot right now!

Sometime I'll tell you how we stopped the strike. It was a big
piece of work that was blanketed by the Supreme Court's decision
next day. But we came near to having something akin to Civil War.
Much love, my dear boy.

F. K. L.

Grosvenor Clarkson, Director of the Council of National Defense,
in recording the activities of that body says:--

"It is, of course, well known that Secretary Lane, as a member of
the Council of National Defense, played a dramatic and successful
part in the settlement of the threatened great railroad strike of
March, 1917. By resolution of the Council of National Defense of
March 16, 1917, Secretary Lane and Secretary of Labor Wilson, as
members of the Council, and Daniel Willard, President of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Samuel Gompers of the Advisory
Commission, were designated to represent the government, at the
meeting in New York with the representatives of the railroad
brotherhoods and railroad executives--the meeting that stopped the
strike."



TO FRANK I. COBB NEW YORK WORLD

Washington, April 13, 1917

MY DEAR FRANK,--I have your note and am thoroughly in sympathy
with it. The great need of France at this moment is to get ships
to carry the supplies across the water. It is a secret, but a
fact, that France has 600,000 tons of freight in New York and
other harbors waiting to ship. I am in favor of taking all the
German ships under requisition, paying for their use eventually,
but this is a matter of months. Immediately, I think we should
take all the coastwise ships, or the larger portion of them. The
Navy colliers and Army transports can be put into the business of
carrying supplies to France.

We are to have a meeting of the Council of National Defense to-day,
and I am going to take this matter up. I have been pushing on
it for several weeks. As to the purchasing of supplies, I think we
ought to protect the Allies, especially Russia, but, of course, we
cannot touch their present contracts. ...



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, April 15, 1917

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I enclose a couple of confidential papers that
will interest you. The situation is not as happy in Russia as it
should be. The people are so infatuated with their own internal
reforms that there is danger of their making a separate peace,
which would throw the entire strength of Germany on the west
front, and compel us to go in with millions of men where we had
thought that a few would suffice.

My work on the National Council of Defense lately has been dealing
with many things, chiefly mobilization of our railroads and the
securing of new shipping. At my suggestion to Mr. Willard he
called together the leading forty-five railroad presidents of the
United States, and I addressed them upon the necessity of tying
together all of the railroads within one unit and making a single
operating system of the 250,000 miles. They met the proposition
splendidly and appointed a committee to effect this. It will
require some sacrifice on the part of the railroads, and
considerable on the part of the shippers; for free time on cars
will have to be cut down, some passenger trains taken off, and
equipment allowed to flow freely from one system to the other
under a single direction, no matter who owns the locomotives or
the cars. I put it up to them as a test of the efficiency of
private ownership.

On the shipping side we are not only going about the task of
building a thousand wooden ships, under the direction of Denman
and Goethals, but we are going to take our coastwise shipping off,
making the railroads carry this freight, and put all available
ships into the trans-Atlantic business. We want, also, to get
some steel ships built. The great trouble with this is the
shortage of plates and the shortage of shipyards. In order to
effect this, I expect we will have to postpone the building of
some of our large dreadnaughts and battle cruisers, which could
not be in service for three years anyhow. Whether we will succeed
in getting the Secretary of the Navy to agree to this is a
question, but I am going to try.

We, of course, are going to press into service at once the German
and Austrian ships, such of them as can be repaired and will be of
use in the freight business, but we will not confiscate them. We
will deal with them exactly as we will deal with American ships,
paying at the end of the war whatever their services were worth.
This spirit of fairness is to animate us throughout the war. Of
course enemy warships were seized as prizes of war, but there are
very few of these, and of no considerable value. I do not believe
they can be of any use.

England is sending over Mr. Balfour with a very high Commission.
These gentlemen will arrive here this week, and I expect with them
Viviani and Joffre, from France. We will have intimate talks with
them and gain the benefit of their experience. I expect Mr.
Balfour to make some speeches that will put England in a more
favorable light, and the presence of Joffre will stimulate
recruiting in our Army and Navy. He is the one real figure who has
come out of the war so far.

We are raising seven billions; three billions to go to the Allies,
largely for purchases to be made here. Money contributions pass
unanimously, but there is to be trouble over our war measures
respecting conscription and the raising of an adequate army. Some
pacifists and other pro-Germans are cultivating the idea that none
but volunteers should be sent to Europe. Some are also saying
Germany can have peace with us if she stops her submarine warfare.
I doubt if that line of agitation will be successful before
Congress. Certainly it will not be successful with the President
or the Cabinet. We are now very happily united upon following
every course that will lead to the quickest and most complete
victory.

The greatest impending danger is the drive on the east front into
Russia, possibly the taking of Petrograd, and the weakness on the
part of the Russians because of so large a socialistic element now
in control of Russian affairs. We offered Russia a commission of
railroad men to look over their railroad systems and advise with
them as to the best means of operating them. At first Russia
inclined to welcome such a commission, but later the offer was
declined because of local feeling. We intend to send a commission
ourselves to Russia, possibly headed by McAdoo or Root, and on
this commission we will have a railroad man with expert knowledge
who can be of some service to them, I hope. The Russian and the
French governments have ordered hundreds of locomotives and tens
of thousands of cars in this country, a large part of which are
ready for shipment, but which cannot be shipped because of lack of
shipping facilities. Affectionately yours,

F.K.L.



Grosvenor Clarkson, who was first Secretary and then Director of
the Council of National Defense, writes in February, 1922, this
account of the work of the Council:--

"As early as February 12, 1917, or nearly two months before we
went into the war, Secretary Lane presented resolutions at a joint
meeting of the Council of National Defense and its Advisory
Commission, to the effect that the Council 'Call a series of
conferences with the leading men in each industry, fundamentally
necessary to the defense of the country in the event of war.' The
resolutions also proposed that the Council at once proceed to
confer with those familiar with the manner by which foreign
governments in the war enlisted their industries and, further,
that the Council should establish a committee to investigate and
report upon such regulations as to hours and safety of labor as
should apply to all war labor.

"Secretary Lane's resolution was referred to the Advisory
Commission, and on February 13, at a joint meeting of the Council
and Commission, the matter was thoroughly discussed. Out of this
resolution grew the famous cooperative committees of the Advisory
Commission. Here was the inception of the dollar-a-year man.

"This organization, set up by the Advisory Commission, furnished
for the first eight or ten months of our participation in the war,
almost the only thing in the way of a war machine under the
government on the civilian or industrial side.

"In the first week of May, 1917, the Council of National Defense
called to Washington representatives of each state in the Union,
to confer with the federal government as to the common prosecution
of the war. The state delegates, consisting of many Governors and
in each case of leading citizens of the respective commonwealths,
were received by the six Cabinet officers, forming the Council, in
the office of Secretary Baker in April.

"Secretary Lane thought that the most effective way to wake the
country up out of its dream of security was to tell the truth
about the submarine losses, the country up to that time not having
really appreciated what the losses amounted to. He said, 'The
President is going to address the State representatives at the
White House, and I am going to urge him to cut loose on the
submarine losses,' and he asked me to prepare a memorandum for him
to give to the President. This I did. The President, however,
apparently decided not to go into the subject, and Secretary Lane,
with a courage that can only be appreciated by those who knew the
atmosphere of official Washington at that time, decided to take
the bull by the horns himself, and at the next meeting with the
representatives with the Council in Secretary Baker's office,
Secretary Lane ... cut loose and told the actual truth about
submarine losses at that time. ... The next morning it was the
story of the day in the newspapers and it did as much to arouse
the country as a whole as to what we were up against as any one
thing that occurred during this period, save only the President's
war message itself.

"Secretary Lane became chairman of the field division of the
Council of National Defense toward the end of the war. This was
the body that guided and coordinated the work of the 184,000 units
of the state, county, community, and municipal Councils of
Defense, and of those of the Woman's Committee of the Council--no
doubt the greatest organization of the kind that the world has
ever known."



To George W. Lane

Washington, May 3, 1917

These are great days. Their significance will not be realized for
many years. We are forming a close union with France and England.
The most impressive sight I have ever seen was that at
Washington's tomb last Sunday. We went down on the Mayflower--the
French and the English commissions and the members of the Cabinet.
Viviani and Balfour spoke. Joffre laid a bronze palm upon
Washington's tomb, then stood up in his soldierly way and stood at
salute for a minute, Balfour laid a wreath of lilies upon the
tomb, and leaned over as if in prayer. Above the tomb, for the
first time, flew the flag of another country than our own, the
Stars and Stripes, and on either side, the British Jack and the
French Tricolor. This is a combination of the Democracies of the
world against feudalism and autocracy.

I heard a story from one of Joffre's aides. Joffre, by the way, is
the quietest, sweetest, most naive, and babylike individual I ever
met. All of the women, as well as the men, are in love with him.
When he met Nancy, at a garden party, he kissed her on both
cheeks. Nancy, as you may imagine, was ecstatically delighted.
This simple, grave, kindly soldier sat in his room while the
Germans came marching upon Paris, saying nothing. Every few
minutes an aide would come in and move the French markers back
upon the map, and the German markers forward, toward Paris. Day
after day he saw this advance, but said nothing. At last when they
came to the valley of the Marne, an aide came in and marked the
map, showing that the Germans were within thirty miles of Paris.
Then Joffre quietly said, "This thing has gone far enough," and
taking up a pad of paper he called to his troops to stand fast and
die upon the Marne, if necessary, to save France. There is nothing
finer than this in history.

Joffre has a skin like a baby. He has the utmost frankness and
simplicity of speech. When McAdoo asked him at the White House if
the present drive was satisfactory, he said in the most innocent
way, "I am not there." Viviani, who is the head of the French
Commission, is as jealous as a prima donna, terribly jealous of
Joffre, (which makes Joffre feel most uncomfortable) because, of
course, Joffre is the hero of the Marne.

I spoke at the Belasco Theatre the other day for the benefit of
the French war relief fund, introducing Ambassador Herrick and the
lecturer, a young Frenchman. Joffre and Viviani were in a box.
Every mention of the name of Joffre brought the people to their
feet. Yesterday I spoke again at a meeting of the State Councils
of Defense and I enclose you what the New York Post had to say.

Last night I dined with Balfour. I have seen quite a little of
him. He is sixty-nine years old and stands about six feet two. He
is a perfect type of the aristocratic Englishman, with a charming
smile. His real heart is in the study of philosophy. Anne sat next
to him at dinner and he told her that he believed in a personal
God, personal identity after death, and answer to prayer, which is
a remarkable statement of faith for one who has lived through our
scientific age. I think at bottom he is a mystic.

On all sides they are frank in telling of their distress. We did
not come in a minute too soon. England and France, I believe, were
gone if we had not come in. It delights me to see how much
sympathy there is with England as well as with France. The Irish
alone seem to be unreconciled with England as our ally.

Ned got your letter, and I suppose in time will answer it, I had
the question put to me by Baker yesterday as to whether I wished
him to go to the other side, and I had to say frankly that I did.
It was to me the most momentous decision that I have made in the
war. He has passed his final test, and I hope that he will get his
commission in a few days.

To-night we give a dinner to the Canadians, Sir George Foster, the
acting Premier, and Sir Joseph Polk, the Under Secretary of
External Affairs, who, by the way, was born in Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, and says he heard our father preach.

The country's crops are going to be short, I fear, and we have had
little rain. Ships and grain--these are the two things that we
must get. Ships, to carry our grain and our locomotives and rails,
and grain to keep the fighters alive. The U-boats are destroying
twice as much as the producing tonnage of the world. We need every
bushel that California can produce. With much love, affectionately
yours,

F.K.L.

To Frank I. Cobb New York World

Washington, May 5, 1917

MY DEAR COBB,--I had a long talk with Hoover yesterday. He tells
me that the U-boat situation is really worse than I stated it.
There is no question but that the actual sinkings amounted to more
than 300,000 tons in a week, and if we add those put out of
business by mines, they will exceed 400,000 tons. The French are
absolutely desperate. One of the French ministers told Hoover that
they had fixed on the first of November as their last day, if the
United States had not come in. Admiral Chocheprat told me, with
tears in his eyes, three nights ago, that they felt themselves
helpless. They were absolutely at the mercy of the submarines
because of their lack of destroyers, and they had feared we were
preparing to defend our own shores rather than fight across the
water. I know that the latter has been the policy of the heads of
the Navy Department.

Do not, I beg of you, minimize the immediate danger. This is the
time to defend the United States; and the United States is
woefully indifferent to its dangers and to the needs of the
situation. We have been carrying on a ship-building program with
reference to conditions after the war. It is only within ten days
that we have realized that the end of the war will be one of
defeat unless we build twice as fast as we proposed to build. You
know that I am not pessimistic. It is not my habit to look upon
the gloomy side of things. It is no kindness to the American
people or to France or England to give them words of good cheer
now. This war is right at this minute a challenge to every
particle of brains and inventive skill that we have got.

Please treat this as entirely confidential. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

May 8

The only dissension in the Council is over the use that will be
made of Hoover. Houston, I think, is rather making a mistake,
though it may work out all right. I hope it will.

Don't "bat" us; we are a nervous lot right now. ...

"Lane was among the first to grasp the bigness of the danger to
the allied cause," James S. Harlan says, "in Germany's underwater
attack on the merchant marine of the world. He also realized the
magnitude of the task of frustrating the new peril and the need of
prompt measures to save the situation. Lane had no anxieties or
hesitations in his personal contact with big men; but he had a
genuine fear of small men when big things were doing. And so in
this great emergency he naturally thought of Schwab. How well I
recall the fine force and vigor in his expression when, rising
from his chair and standing with clenched fist pointed at me, he
said in substance:--'The President ought to send for Schwab and
hand him a treasury warrant for a billion dollars and set him to
work building ships, with no government inspectors or supervisors
or accountants or auditors or other red tape to bother him. Let
the President just put it up to Schwab's patriotism and put Schwab
on his honor. Nothing more is needed. Schwab will do the job.'

"This was a full year before Schwab was called down to Washington
to talk over the question of building ships."



To Will Irwin Paris, France

Washington, July 21, 1917

MY DEAR WILL,--I have just received your letter. Thank you very
much for what you say of my speech. I am doing my damndest to keep
things going here but it is awfully hard work, because the minute
my head raises above the water some neighboring ship plugs it.

I think you are dead right in staying with the Post. The feeling
here is that we are not getting real facts regarding the
desperateness of the U-boat situation. We need to be told facts in
order to have our minds challenged. We are not cowards, and I hope
you will give us realistic pictures of just what is happening if
you can. ...

My boy is the youngest lieutenant in the Army--nine-teen. He goes
next week to Illinois as an instructor in aviation, and I suppose
in a little while when he gets the machines, he will be crossing
over.

With warm affection, my dear Will. Always yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Robert Lansing Secretary of State

Beverly, Massachusetts. [August, 1917]

MY DEAR LANSING,--I had lunch yesterday with Colonel House who
asked me what I thought should be done as to the Pope's appeal for
peace. I told him I thought it should be taken seriously. He
agreed and asked what the President should say. I answered that,
inasmuch as all the evidence pointed to the conclusion that the
German Centerists and Austria were responsible for this appeal,
that we could not afford to have them feel that we were for a
policy of annihilation,--for this would be playing the War
Party's game and would place the burden on us of continuing the
war. And this we could neither afford [to do] at home or abroad.
This opportunity should be seized, I said, to make plain not so
much our terms of peace as the things in Germany that seemed to
make peace difficult,--Germany's attitude toward the world, the
spirit against which we are fighting. That we wished peace; that
we had been patient to the limit; that we had come in in the hope
that we could destroy the idea in the German mind that it could
impose its authority and system, by force, upon an unwilling
world; that we were not opposed to talking peace, provided, at the
outset, and as a SINE QUA NON, the Central Powers would assume
that Government by the Soldier was not a possibility in the 20th
century.

The Colonel said that he had written the President to this same
effect. That he had written you, or not, he did not say. So I am
telling you the Colonel's view for your own benefit. He thought
that the Allies would strongly insist upon concerted action,
putting aside the Pope's appeal, and that this had to be resisted,
for we should play our own game. I find all I meet here strong for
the war, but of course I only meet the high-spirited. There is
much feeling that we are going about it too mechanically, with too
little emotion and passion. ... As always,

LANE



Toward the middle of August, Lane started for Mount Desert to
inspect the proposed National Park created there through the
public-spirited devotion of George B. Dorr. This northern trip was
taken to decide whether he would accept, as Secretary of the
Interior, this addition to the National Parks. Two years later in
writing to Senator Myers, Chairman of the Committee on Public
Lands, of this National Park, the only one east of the
Mississippi, Lane said, "The name Lafayette is substituted for
that of Mount Desert, the name proposed by the former bill, and I
consider it singularly appropriate that the name of Lafayette
should be commemorated by these splendid mountains facing on the
sea, on what was once a corner of Old France, and with it the
early friendship of the two nations which are so closely allied in
the present war."

[Illustration with caption: Franklin K. Lane and George B. Dorr in
Lafayette National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine]



To Henry Lane Eno Bar Harbori, Maine

Washington, Saturday, [September 2, 1917]

There are not many weeks in a man's life of which he can say that
one was without a flaw, that it could not have been improved upon
in company, comfort, or surroundings. And all these things, my
dear Mr. Eno, I can affirm of the days spent with you. I have a
better opinion of my fellows and of my country because of them.
Perhaps, after all, that is as complete a test as any other. As I
look back I think of but one thing that gives occasion for regret
--we had too few good, mind-stretching talks, you, Dorr, and
myself. But those we had were certainly not about affairs of small
concern. We indulged ourselves as social philosophers,
psychologists, war-makers, and international statesmen. The world
was ours, and more--the worlds beyond. To do things worth while by
day, and to dream things worth while by night, and to believe that
both are worth while, that is the perfect life. If one can't get
to Heaven by following that course, then are we lost.

I am sending a line to Dorr, noble, unselfish, high-spirited,
broad-minded gentleman that he is. ... Sincerely and heartily
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To George Dorr, Bar Harbor, Maine

Washington, [September 2,1917]

MY DEAR MR. DORR,--You do not know what good you did my tired
politics-soaked soul by showing me, under such happy conditions,
the beauties and the possibilities of your island. And I came to
know two men at least, whose heads and hearts were working for a
less pudgy and flat-footed world. ... To have enthusiasm is to
beat the Devil. So I have you down in my Saints' book.

You know a man in politics is always looking about for some place
to which he can retire when the whirligig brings in another group
of more popular patriots. Now I can frankly say that if I could
have an extended term of exile on your island with you and your
friends, I would feel reconciled to banishment from politics for
life, provided however (I must say this for conscience' sake) that
we had time and money to make the Park what it should be--a
demonstration school for the American to show how much he can add
to the beauty of Nature.

A wilderness, no matter how impressive and beautiful, does not
satisfy this soul of mine, (if I have that kind of thing). It is a
challenge to man. It says, "Master me! Put me to use! Make me
something more than I am." So what you have done in the Park--the
Spring House and the Arts Building, the cliff trails and the
opened woods, show how much may be added by the love and thought
of man. May the Gods be good to you, the God of Mammon
immediately, that your dreams may come true, and that you may give
to others the pleasure you gave to yours sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO HON. WOODROW WILSON THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, September 21, 1917

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--It will interest you to know that the
Commission which I sent up this year to Alaska to look into the
Alaskan Railroad matters has just returned. The engineer on this
Commission was Mr. Wendt, who was formerly Chief Engineer of the
Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad, and who is now in charge of the
appraisal of eastern roads under the Interstate Commerce
Commission. He tells me that our Alaskan road could not have been
built for less money if handled by a private concern; that he has
never seen any railroad camps where the men were provided with as
good food and where there was such care taken of their health.
They have had no smallpox and but one case of typhoid fever. No
liquor is allowed on the line of the road. The road in his
judgment has followed the best possible location. Our hospitals
are well run. The compensation plan adopted for injuries is
satisfactory to the men.

I have directed that all possible speed be made in connecting the
Matanuska coal fields with Seward. This involves the heaviest
construction that we will have to undertake, which is along
Turnagain Ann, but by the middle of next year, no strikes
intervening, and transportation for supplies being available, this
part of the work should be done. Faithfully and cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

In Lane's Annual REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, dated
November 20, 1919, he writes of the Alaskan railroad enterprise:--
"One of the first recommendations made by me in my report of seven
years ago was that the Government build a railroad from Seward to
Fairbanks in Alaska. Five years ago you intrusted to me the
direction of this work. The road is now more than two-thirds built
and Congress at this session after exhaustively examining into the
work has authorized an additional appropriation sufficient for its
completion. The showing made before Congress was that the road had
been built without graft; every dollar has gone into actual work
or material. It has been built without giving profits to any large
contractors, for it has been constructed entirely by small
contractors or by day's labor. It has been built without touch of
politics; every man on the road has been chosen exclusively for
ability and experience."

This memorandum touching the early history of Alaska was found in
Lane's files.



MANUSCRIPT NOTE

Washington, December 29, 1911

Last night I dined with Charles Henry Butler, reporter for the
Supreme Court and a son of William Alien Butler, for so long a
leader of the New York bar.

In the course of the evening Mr. Charles Glover, President of the
Riggs National Bank, told me this bit of history. That when he was
a boy, in the bank one day Mr. Cochran came to him and handed him
two warrants upon the United States Treasury, one for $1,400,000.
and the other for $5,800,000. He said, "Put those in the safe."
Mr. Glover did so, and they remained there for a week, when they
were sent to New York. Mr., Glover said "These warrants were the
payment of Russia for the Territory of Alaska. Why were there two
warrants? I never knew until some years later, when I learned the
story from Senator Dawes, who said that prior to the war, there
had been some negotiations between the United States and Russia
for the purchase of Alaska, and the price of $1,400,000. was
agreed upon. In fact this was the amount that Russia asked for
this great territory, which was regarded as nothing more than a
barren field of ice.

"During the war the matter lay dormant. We had more territory than
we could take care of. When England, however, began to manifest
her friendly disposition toward the Confederacy, and we learned
from Europe that England and France were carrying on negotiations
for the recognition of the Southern States, and possibly of some
manifestation by their fleets against the blockade which we had
instituted, (and which they claimed was not effective and merely a
paper blockade), we looked about for a friend, and Russia was the
only European country upon whose friendship we could rely.
Thereupon Secretary Seward secured from Russia a demonstration, in
American ports, of Russian friendship. Her ships of war sailed to
both of our coasts, the Atlantic and Pacific, with the
understanding that the expense of this demonstration should be met
by the United States, out of the contingent fund. It was to be a
secret matter. "The war came to a close, and immediately
thereafter Lincoln was assassinated and the administration
changed. It was no longer possible to pay for this demonstration,
secretly, under the excuse of war, but a way was found for paying
Russia through the purchase of Alaska. The warrant for $1,400,000.
was the warrant for the purchase of Alaska, the warrant for
$5,800,000. was for Russia's expenses in her naval demonstration
in our behalf, but history only knows the fact that the United
States paid $7,200,000. for this territory, which is now
demonstrated to be one of the richest portions of the earth in
mineral deposits."



TO HON. WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, November 3, 1917

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--On April 7, 1917, the Council of National
Defense adopted a report, submitted by the Chairman of the
Executive Committee on Labor of the Advisory Commission of the
Council, urging that no change in existing standards be made
during the war, by either employers or employees, except with the
approval of the Council of National Defense. ...

The next step for producing efficiency must be no strikes.

The annual convention of the American Federation of Labor,
consisting of international unions, will be held at Buffalo on
November 12th. I would urge that about thirty executives of the
unions, which more directly control essential war production, be
invited to confer with you prior to that date, to determine on a
policy which will prevent the constant interruption of production
for war purposes. The Commissioners of Conciliation of the
Department of Labor and the President's Commission have a
wonderful record of accomplishments for settling strikes after
they have occurred. Organized labor should give the Government the
opportunity to adjust controversies before strikes occur.

At this conference it could safely be made plain that for the war,
employers would agree not to object to the peaceable extension of
trade unionism; that they would make no efforts to "open" a
"closed shop"; that they would submit all controversies concerning
standards, including wages and lockouts, to any official body on
which they have equal representation with labor, and would abide
by its decisions; that they would adhere strictly to health and
safety laws, and laws concerning woman and child labor; that they
would not lower prices now in force for piece work, except by
Government direction; that if a union in a "closed" shop after due
notice was unable to furnish sufficient workers, any non-union
employees taken on would be the first to be dismissed on the
contraction of business, and the shop restored to its previous
"closed" status; that the only barrier in the way of steady
production is the unwillingness of the unions to uphold the
proposition of settlement before a strike, instead of after a
strike.

The imminence of this convention seems to me to make some step
necessary at this time. I would take the matter up with Secretary
Wilson were he here, and have sent a copy of this letter to him.
You undoubtedly can put an end to this most serious situation by
calling on the international labor leaders to take a stand that
will not be so radical as that taken in England, and yet will
insure to the men good wages and good conditions, and make sure
that our industry will not be paralyzed. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO J. O'H. COSGRAVE NEW YORK WORLD

Washington, December 21, 1917

MY DEAR JACK,--My spirit does not permit me to give you an
interview on the moral benefits of the war. This would be sheer
camouflage. Of course, we will get some good out of it, and we
will learn some efficiency--if that is a moral benefit--and a
purer sense of nationalism. But the war will degrade us. That is
the plain fact, make sheer brutes out of us, because we will have
to descend to the methods that the Germans employ.

So you must go somewhere else for your uplift stuff. Cordially
yours,

FRANKLIN E. LANE



X

CABINET NOTES IN WAR-TIME

1918

Notes on Cabinet Meetings--School Gardens--A Democracy Lacks
Foresight--Use of National Resources--Washington in War-time--The
Sacrifice of War--Farms for Soldiers


NOTES ON CABINET MEETINGS

FOUND IN LANE'S FILES

February 25, 1918

As I entered the building this morning Dr. Parsons [Footnote: Of
the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.] met me. I asked
how the cyanide plant was getting on. His reply was to ask if he
might request the War Department to allow us to make the contract
--that he could have the whole thing done in two days. This is
where we are at the end of more than six months of effort. It is
hopeless! We find the process, everything!--but cannot get the
contract, through the intricate, infinite fault-findings and
negligence of the War Department.

Manning [Footnote: Of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Mines.] came to see me to say that he expected, after the Overman
bill was passed, that the President would take over the gas work--
order it into the War Department. He had been asked twice if he
could be tempted by a uniform into that Department, and had said
that he was freer as a civilian,--had planned the work and
gathered the force as a civilian, and would not leave the
Department. He felt damned sore and indignant, that a work so well
done should be the subject of envy, and possibly be made less
effective and useful. ...

Everit Macy lunched with me and told me the sad story of the
mishandling of labor affairs by the Shipping Board. He had gone to
the Pacific Coast and with his colleagues, Coolidge and others,
made an agreement with the shipbuilding trades. Five dollars and
twenty-five cents for machinists, etc. In Seattle, however,
because of one firm's bidding for labor, he felt that there would
have to come a strike before this schedule would be accepted.
Before he got back the threatened strike came, and then the demand
of the men for a ten per cent bonus was acceded to, upsetting all
other settlements in San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, etc.
Result, ten per cent gain everywhere. And now the Eastern and
Southern men ask the Pacific scale, and he can't see how it can be
avoided, nor can I. They will have to standardize all wages.

Poor chap, his advice was scorned, for he protested against the
bonus being given to Seattle, and as he said, "If it had not been
war-time I would have resigned." To increase the men in the South,
to this unprecedented scale, will not get more ships, he fears,
but less, for they will not work if they have wages in four days,
equal to seven days' needs. I advised for standardization. He said
the Navy wouldn't hear of it, as it would demoralize their yards.
...

Politics, politics, curse of the country! It has gotten into the
whole war program. Hoover and McAdoo are at swords drawn. Hoover
had a cable signed by the three Premiers, George, Clemenceau, and
Orlando, crying for wheat and charging us with not keeping our
word--and starvation threatening all three countries--in fact,
almost sure, because we have not been able to get the wheat to the
ships; and with starvation will come revolution, if it gets bad
enough. ... I asked Hoover about this on Sunday night, ... and he
said that a list of eight hundred cars had been on McAdoo's desk
FOR A WEEK. ...

(McChord said on the bench [Footnote: The Interstate Commerce
Commission.] to-day that he thought Hoover seventy-five per cent
right.)



March 1, [1918]

Yesterday, at Cabinet meeting, we had the first real talk on the
war in weeks, yes, in months! Burleson brought up the matter of
Russia, ... would we support Japan in taking Siberia, or even
Vladivostock? Should we join Japan actively--in force?

The President said "No," for the very practical reason that we had
no ships. We had difficulty in providing for our men in France and
for our Allies, (the President never uses this word, saying that
we are not "allies"). How hopeless it would be to carry everything
seven or eight thousand miles--not only men and munitions, but
food!--for Japan has none to spare, and none we could eat. Her men
feed on rice and smoked fish, and she raises nothing we would
want. Nor could the country support us. So there was an end of
talking of an American force in Siberia! Yes, we were needed--
perhaps as a guarantee of good faith on Japan's part that she
would not go too far, nor stay too long. But we would not do it.
And besides, Russia would not like it, therefore we must keep
hands off and let Japan take the blame and the responsibility.

The question is not simple, for Russia will say that we threw her
to Japan, and possibly she would rush into Germany's arms as the
lesser of evils. My single word of caution was to so act that
Russia, when she "came back," should not hate us, for there was
our new land for development--Siberia--and we should have front
place at that table, if we did not let our fears and our hatred
and our contempt get away with us now.

Daniels whispered to-day that Russia had five fast cruisers in the
Baltic, which could raid the Atlantic and put our ships off the
sea. He had wired Sims to see if they couldn't be sunk. I hope
it is not too late; surely England must have done something on so
important a matter, though she is slow in thinking. And how is
anyone to get there with the Baltic full of submarines and mines!
The thought is horrible, the possibilities! We certainly have made
a bad fist of things Russian from the start. They have deserted us
because they were trying to drive the cart ahead of the horse,
economical revolution before political revolution, socialism ahead
of liberty with law. And they know we are capitalistic, because we
do not approve of socialism by force.



March 12, (1918)

Nothing talked of at Cabinet that would interest a nation, a
family, or a child. No talk of the war. No talk of Russia or
Japan. Talk by McAdoo about some bills in Congress, by the
President about giving the veterans of the Spanish war leave, with
pay, to attend their annual encampment. And he treated this
seriously as if it were a matter of first importance! No word from
Baker nor mention of his mission or his doings. ...



TO FRANKLIN K. LANE, JR.

SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE

Washington, February 15, 1918

MY DEAR BOY,--... We are anxiously awaiting some word telling
where you are, what you are doing, and how you got on in your
trip. I thought your cablegram was a model of condensation, quite
like that of Caesar, "Veni, vidi, vici." ...

Sergeant Empey has just left the office with a letter to the
Secretary of War, asking that he be given a commission. He has
been lecturing among the cantonments and wants to get back to
France. ... He says that the boys in the cantonments are anxious to
go across, and that they are beginning to criticise us because
they do not have their chance. But they will all get there soon
enough for them. Our national problem is to get ships to carry
them, and to carry the food for the Allies. ... We have undertaken
to supply a certain amount of food to the other side, and our
contract, so far, has not been fulfilled. During December and
January, however, this was, of course, due to railroad conditions.

You are a long way off, but you must not visualize the distance.
Nothing so breaks the spirit as to dwell upon unfortunate facts.
Some one day or another you had to leave the nest, and this is
your day for flying. Wherever you are, with people whose language
you understand only imperfectly, with a civilization that is
somewhat strange, and under conditions that often-times will be
trying, don't adopt the usual attitude of the American in a
foreign country and wonder "why the damn fools don't speak
English." No doubt some of the French will pity you because of
your delinquency in their language.

Another thing that differentiates us from other people is our
lavishness in expenditure, and in what appears to us to be their
"nearness." ... From these same thrifty French have come great
things. They have always been great soldiers; they have led the
world in the arts, especially in poetry, painting and fiction--
perhaps, too, I should add architecture. So that men who are
careful of their pennies are not necessarily small in their minds.
...

I have less doubt, however, of your ability to get on with the
Frenchman than I have with the Englishman. ... You will have
difficulty--at least I should--in understanding the rather heavy,
sober, non-humorous Englishman. ... He is always a self-important
gentleman who regards England as having spoken pretty much the
last word in all things, and who will abuse his own country, his
countrymen, and institutions, frankly and with abandon, but will
allow no one else this liberty. He is not a "quitter" though, and
he has done his bit through the centuries for the making of the
world.

... See as many people as you can, present all your letters,
accept invitations. Remember that while you are there and we miss
you, we are not spending our time in moping. Every night we go to
dinner and we chatter with the rest of the magpies, as if the
world were free from suffering. Last night I talked with
Paderewski for an hour on the sorrows of Poland, and it was one
long tale of horror. ...

To-day the Russians are calling their people back to arms to stop
the oncoming Germans. Foolish, foolish idealists who believed that
they could establish what they call an economic democracy, without
being willing to support their ideal in modern fashion by force.
The best of things can not live unless they are fought for, and
while I do not think that their socialism was the best of
anything, it was their dream. ... With much love, my dear boy,
your DAD



To George W. Lane February 16, 1918

MY DEAR GEORGE,--... Things are going much better with the War
Department. My expectation is that this war will resolve itself
into three things, in this order:--ships for food, aeroplanes, big
guns. We must, as you know, do all that we can to keep up the
morale of our own people. There is a considerable percentage of
pacifists, and of the weak-hearted ones, who would like to have a
peace now upon any terms, but the treatment that Russia is
receiving, after she had thrown down her arms, indicates what may
be expected by any nation that quits now.

... The prospects for democratization of Germany is not as good as
it was a year ago, when we came in, because of their success in
arms due to Russia's debacle. The people will not overthrow a
government which is successful, nor will they be inclined to
desert a system which adds to Germany's glory. It is a fight, a
long fight, a fight of tremendous sacrifice, that we are in for. I
said a year ago that it would be two years. Then I thought that
Russia would put up some kind of front. Now I say two years from
this time and possibly a great deal longer. Lord Northcliffe
thinks four or six or eight years.

Ned writes me that things are very gloomy and glum in England and
in Ireland, where he has been. He was out in an air raid, in
several of them, in London, not up in the air, but from the ground
could see no trace of the airships that were dropping bombs on the
town. The Germans seem to have discovered some way by which they
can tell where they are without being able to see the lights of
the city, for now they have bombarded Paris when it was protected,
on a dark night, by a blanket of fog, and London also under the
same conditions. The compass is not much good, the deviations are
so great. It may be that the clever Huns have found some way of
piloting themselves surely. We are starting two campaigns through
the Bureau of Education which may interest you. One is for school
gardens. To have the children organized, each one to plant a
garden. The plan is to raise vegetables which will save things
that can be sent over to the armies, and also give the children a
sense of being in the war. Another thing we are trying to do is
educate the foreign born and the native born who cannot read or
write English. If you are interested in either of these two things
we will send you literature, and you can name your own district,
and we will put you at work. ...

Well, my dear fellow, I long very much for the sun and the
sweetness of California these days, but I could not enjoy myself
if I were there, because I am at such tension that I must be doing
every day. Do write me often, even though I do not answer.
Affectionately yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO ALBERT SHAW

REVIEW OF REVIEWS

Washington, March 7, 1918

MY DEAR DR. SHAW,--I have your letter of March 4th. The thing that
a democracy is short on is foresight. We do not have enough men
like the General Staff in Germany who can think ten and twenty
years ahead. We are too much embedded and incrusted in the things
that flow around us during the day, and think too little of the
future.

For five, long, weary years, I have been agitating for the use of
the water powers of the United States. We estimate the unused
power in tens and tens of millions of horse-power. Right in New
York you have in the Erie Canal 150,000 horse-power, and on the
Niagara river you have probably a million unused. If you had a
great dam across the river below the rapids we should have water
power in chains, like fire horses in their stalls, that could be
brought out at the time of need. But we are thinking in large
figures these days, and while we used to be afraid to ask for a
few hundred thousand dollars we now talk in millions, and some day
we may realize that to put the cost of a week's war into power
plants in the United States would be money well invested. ...

We have no law under which private capital feels justified in
investing a dollar in a water power plant where public lands are
involved, because the permit granted is revokable at the pleasure
of the Secretary of the Interior, and capital does not enjoy the
prospect of making its future returns dependent upon the good
digestion of the Secretary. But if we get this bill, which I
enclose, through, we will be able to handle the powers on all
streams on the public lands and forests and on all navigable
waters, and give assurance to capital that it will be well taken
care of if it makes the investment. ...

I am greatly pleased at the kind things you say about me. The
longer I am in office the more of an appetite I have for such
food. Hoover [Footnote: Hoover at this time was Food
Administrator.] can only commit one fatal mistake--to declare a
taflfyless day. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Edward J. Wheeler on February 1, 1917, he had written:--

"It is an outrage that we should have a total of nearly six
million acres of land withdrawn for oil, three million for
phosphates, and one million for water power sites, potash, etc.,
and allow session after session of Congress to pass without
producing any legislation that will sensibly open these reserves
to development. The extreme conservationists, who are really for
holding the lands indefinitely in the Federal Government and
unopened, and the extreme anti-conservationists, who are for
turning all the public lands over to the States, have stood for
years against a rational system of national development."

Although a great part of the energy of the Department of the
Interior was, of necessity, diverted to forward war enterprises
and to supply war necessities--chemical, metallurgical,
statistical--Lane steadily pressed forward the conduct of the
normal activities of the department. In his report for the year
1918, he briefly summarizes this work,--"The distribution, survey,
and classification of our national lands; the care of the Indian
wards of the Nation, their education, and the development of their
vast estate; the carrying forward of our reclamation projects; the
awarding and issuance of patents to inventors; the construction of
the Alaskan railroad and the supervision of the Territorial
affairs of Alaska and Hawaii; the payment of pensions to Army and
Navy veterans and their dependents; the promotion of education;
the custody and management of the national parks; the conservation
of the lives of those who work in mines, and the study and
guidance of the mining and metallurgical industries."

 To Walter H. Page

Washington, March 16, 1918

My dear Mr. Ambassador,--I am the poorest of all living
correspondents, in fact, I am a dead correspondent. I do not
function. If it had not been so I would long since have answered
your notes, which have been in my basket, but I have had no time
for any personal correspondence, much as I delight in it, for I
have a very old-fashioned love for writing from day to day what
pops into my mind, contradicting each day what I said the day
before, and gathering from my friends their impressions and their
spirit the same way. For the first time in three months I have
leisure enough ... to acknowledge a few of the accumulated
personal letters.

Let me give you a glimpse of my day, just to compare it with your
own and by way of contrasting life in two different spheres and on
different sides of the ocean. I get to my office at nine in the
morning and my day is broken up into fifteen-minute periods,
during which I see either my own people or others. I really write
none of my own letters, [Footnote: This referred to routine
letters.] simply telling my secretaries whether the answer should
be "yes" or "no." I lunch at my own desk and generally with my
wife, who has charge of our war work in the Department. We have
over thirteen hundred men who have gone out of this Department
into the Army. ... My day is broken into by Cabinet meeting twice
a week, meeting of the Council of National Defense twice a week,
and latterly with long sessions every afternoon over the question
of what railroad wages should be.

My office is a sort of place of last resort for those who are
discouraged elsewhere, for Washington is no longer a city of set
routine and fixed habit. It is at last the center of the nation.
New York is no longer even the financial center. The newspapers
are edited from here. Society centers here. All the industrial
chiefs of the nation spend most of their time here. It is easier
to find a great cattle king or automobile manufacturer or a
railroad president or a banker at the Shoreham or the Willard
Hotel than it is to find him in his own town. The surprising thing
is that these great men who have made our country do not loom so
large when brought to Washington and put to work. ... Every day I
find some man of many millions who has been here for months and
whose movements used to be a matter of newspaper notoriety, but I
did not know, even, that he was here. I leave my office at seven
o'clock, not having been out of it during the day except for a
Cabinet or Council meeting, take a wink of sleep, change my
clothes and go to a dinner, for this, as you will remember, is the
one form of entertainment that Washington has permitted itself in
the war. The dinners are Hooverized,--three courses, little or no
wheat, little or no meat, little or no sugar, a few serve wine.
And round the table will always be found men in foreign uniforms,
or some missionary from some great power who comes begging for
boats or food. These dinners used to be places of great gossip,
and chiefly anti-administration gossip, but the spirit of the
people is one of unequaled loyalty. The Republicans are as glad to
have Wilson as their President as are the Democrats, I think
sometimes a little more glad, because many of the Democrats are
disgruntled over patronage or something else. The women are
ferocious in their hunt for spies, and their criticism is against
what they think is indifference to this danger. Boys appear at
these dinners in the great houses, because of their uniforms, who
would never have been permitted even to come to the front door in
other days, for all are potential heroes. Every woman carries her
knitting, and it is seldom that you hear a croaker even among the
most luxurious class. Well, the dinner is over by half past ten,
and I go home to an hour and a half's work, which has been sent
from the office, and fall at last into a more or less troubled
sleep. This is the daily round.

I have not been to New York since the war began. I made one trip
across the continent speaking for the Liberty Loan, day and night.
And this life is pretty much the life of all of us here. The
President keeps up his spirits by going to the theatre three or
four times a week. There are no official functions at the White
House, and everybody's teeth are set. The Allies need not doubt
our resolution. England and France will break before we will, and
I do not doubt their steadfast purpose. It is, as you said long
ago, their fault that this war has come, for they did not realize
the kind of an enemy they had, either in spirit, purpose, or
strength. But we will increasingly strengthen that western gate so
that the Huns will not break through.

We do things fast here, but I never realized before how slow we
are in getting started. It takes a long time for us to get a new
stride. I did not think that this was true industrially. I have
known that it was true politically for a long time, because this
was the most backward and most conservative of all the
democracies. We take up new machinery of government so slowly. But
industrially it is also true. When told to change step we shift
and stumble and halt and hesitate and go through all kinds of
awkward misses. This has been true as to ships and aeroplanes and
guns, big and little, and uniforms. Whatever the government has
done itself has been tied by endless red tape. It is hard for an
army officer to get out of the desk habit, and caution,
conservatism, sureness, seem even in time of crisis to be more
important than a bit of daring. In my Department, I figure that it
takes about seven years for the nerve of initiative and the nerve
of imagination to atrophy, and so, perhaps, it is in other
departments. It took five months for one of our war bureaus to get
out a contract for a building that we were to build for them.
Fifteen men had to sign the contract. And of course we have been
impatient. But things are bettering every day. The men in the
camps are very impatient to get away. But where are the ships to
do all the work? The Republicans cannot chide us with all of the
unpreparedness, for they stood in the way of our getting ships
three years ago. The gods have been against us in the way of
weather so we have not brought down our supplies to the seaboard,
but we have not had the ships to take away that which was there;
or coal, sometimes, for the ships.

From now, however, you will see a steadier, surer movement of men,
munitions, food, and ships. The whole country is solidly, strongly
with the President. There are men in Congress bitterly against him
but they do not dare to raise their voices, because he has the
people so resolutely with him. The Russian overthrow has been a
good thing for us in one way. It will cost us perhaps a million
lives, but it will prove to us the value of law and order. We are
to have our troubles, and must change our system of life in the
next few years.

A great oil man was in the office the other day and told me in a
plain, matter-of-fact way, what must be done to win--the
sacrifices that must be made--and he ended by saying, "After all,
what is property?" This is a very pregnant question. It is not
being asked in Russia alone. Who has the right to anything? My
answer is, not the man, necessarily, who has it, but the man who
can use it to good purpose. The way to find the latter man is the
difficulty.

We will have national woman suffrage, national prohibition,
continuing inheritance tax, continuing income tax, national life
insurance, an increasing grip upon the railroads, their finances
and their operation as well as their rates. Each primary resource,
such as land and coal and iron and copper and oil, we will more
carefully conserve. There will be no longer the opportunity for
the individual along these lines that there has been. Industry
must find some way of profit-sharing or it will be nationalized.
These things, however, must be regarded as incidents now; and the
labor people, those with vision and in authority, are very willing
to postpone the day of accounting until we know what the new order
is to be like.

Well, I have rambled on, giving you a general look--in on my mind.
Don't let any of those people doubt the President, or doubt the
American people. This is the very darkest day that we have seen.
But we believe in ourselves and we believe in our own kind, and
believe in a something, not ourselves, that makes for
righteousness,--slowly, stumblingly, but, as the centuries go,
surely.

I have not yet seen the Archbishop of York. He has not been here.
But he has made a most favorable impression where he has been, and
so have the English labor people.

Poor Spring-Rice did good work here. Washington felt very sad over
his death, and is expecting that England will evidence her
appreciation of the fact that he did nothing to estrange us by the
way in which his widow is treated.

Reading has been received and fits in perfectly. With warm
regards, as always, Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John Lyon Machine Gun Company Camp McClennen, Alabama

Washington, March 15,1918

MY DEAR JOHN,--I know how you must feel. Every particle of my own
nature rebels against the horror of this war, or of any war, and
against the dragooning by military men. I had rather die now and
take my chances of Hell, than doom myself and Ned and those who
are to come after, to living under a government which is as this
government is now and as all governments must be now,--autocratic,
governed by orders and commands. But this is the game, and we have
got to play it, play it hard and play it through. Manifestly we
cannot quit as Russia did without getting Russia's ill-fortune.
There was a great empire of a hundred and eighty million people.
They mobilized twenty-five million men. Six million of them are
dead. The Czar was overthrown, a new government was set up, one of
conservative socialism, and that was swept aside and a group of
impractical socialists put in its stead, and where is Russia now?
Broken to bits, its population dying of hunger, its industries
unworked, its soil untilled, and Germany coming on with her great
feet, stamping down the few who are brave enough to interpose
themselves between Germany and her end. If we were to quit,
Germany would do to us, or try to do to us, what she has done to
Russia.

If there ever was a real defensive war it is the one that we are
engaged in, and we must sacrifice, and sacrifice, and sacrifice,
not merely for the world's sake but for our own sake. Ned is in
France. He went through England. He tells me that everybody is
serious, solemn, purposeful. They would rather all die than live
under Germany's mastery of the world.

The President is being bitterly criticized because he has taken
every opportunity to talk of terms and of ways out, but I think he
is right. He must make the people of the world feel that we are
not foolishly, and in a headstrong way, fighting to get anything
for ourselves or for anybody else, except the chance to live our
own lives. And we will show these Germans something. Our capacity
to produce aeroplanes is still altogether unrealized, and we will
have great guns a few feet apart along the entire front. We can
bomb German harbors where submarines are, and are made--that's
the work that Ned is going in for,--and we will hold that western
line until every resource is exhausted. And we will go through it
one of these days, perhaps not this year. But we must go through
it or else American ships will live on the sea by consent of
Germany, and Canada will become German territory. This is no
dream. Give Germany Paris and Calais and she can exact terms from
England. Why should she not ask for Canada? And give Germany
Canada and what becomes of the United States? An army of Germans
on our border, 5,000,000 men in arms in the United States always,
the army and navy budget taking thirty or forty per cent of every
man's income. Who wants to live in such a country? We are fighting
the greatest war that history has ever seen, not merely in numbers
but in principle. We are fighting to get rid of the most hateful
survivals from the past. The overlord, the brusque and arrogant
soldier, is the dominating factor in society and the government,
the turning of men's thoughts away from the pursuit of the things
of art and beauty and social beneficence into the one channel of
making everything serve the military arm of the nation.

This will be a better world for the poor man when all is over. We
must forget our dreams, what our own individual lives would have
been, and with dash, and cheer, and courage, and willingness to
make the ultimate sacrifice, set our jaws and go forward. The
devil is in the saddle and we must pull him down, or else he will
rule the world,--and you are to have a tug at his coat. And I envy
you. I'd take your place in a minute, if I could. Remember that
you are an individualist, not a collectivist naturally, but
individuals are of no use now. The war can be made only by great
groups who conform. The free spirit of man will have its way once
more when this bloody war is done.

I am glad you wrote me, and I want you to feel that you always can
write me, whatever is in your heart, and I will give you such
answer as my busy days will permit. There is only one way to look
at life and get any satisfaction out of it, and that is to bow to
the inevitable. We all must be fatalists to that extent, and once
a course has been determined upon, accept it and make the best of
it. The life of the old gambler does not consist in holding a big
hand but in playing a poor hand well. You and I are no longer
masters of our own fortunes. All that we can do is to abide by the
set rules of the game that is being played. I would change many
things, but I am powerless, and because I am powerless I must say
to myself each day, "All that God demands of me is that I shall do
my best," and doing that, the responsibility is cast upon that
Spirit which is the Great Commander. I like to feel at these times
that there is a personal God and a personal devil, and there has
been no better philosophy devised than that. God is not supreme,
He is not omnipotent, He has His limitations, His struggles, His
defeats, but there is no life unless you believe that He
ultimately must win, that this world is going upward, not
downward, that the devil is to be beaten,--the devil inside of
ourselves, the devil of wilfulness, of waywardness, of cynicism,
and the devil that is represented by the overbearing, cruel
militarism and ruthless inhumanity of Germany. You are a soldier
of the Lord, just as truly as Christ was.

I send you my affectionate regards, and with it goes the
confidence that you will, with good cheer and resolution, play
your part. Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

This boy died in France. Lane wrote to his father of him:--

To Frank Lyon

Washington, [November 16, 1918]

DEAR FRANK,--Have just heard. Dear, dear Boy! I was so fond of
him. He had a brave adventurous spirit. Well, he has gone out
gloriously. There could be no finer way to go and no better time.

I know your own strength will be equal to this test--and the
wife, poor woman, she too is brave. My heart goes out to you both
very really, wholly. With much affection.

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Miss Genevieve King

Washington, March 16, 1918

MY DEAR MISS KING,--These are times of terrible strain and stress,
and we cannot easily fall back upon those sources of power which
seem so distant and unavailing. I like to think of you as in our
last talk in the Millers' drawing room, where you had a much
better opportunity to express yourself than in the one that we
later had out on the porch. You then seemed to live your thought
and to have the capacity for its expression. I think of you, too,
up on that beautiful mountainside, where things like war and guns
and bandages and hospitals and men without arms and the lack of
ships, the need for saying goodbye, are so remote.

We still keep up a semblance of social life by going to dinners
every night. It is the one relief I have, and yet each time I go I
feel ashamed at what appears like a waste of time, and yet I know
is not, and the waste of good food which is needed by others so
much more than by us. Still the people have come down to a strict
and modest diet with surprising firmness. There is little evidence
of what you would call luxury or extravagance, excepting in the
way a few people live. The place is filled with soldiers of many
colors, breeds, and uniforms.

... Anne is busy every day at her work, and I see little of anyone
who does not come to me on business. The country seems strongly
with the President, and while his spirits are not gay, his purpose
is high and his determination is strong. We will do better, and
increasingly better, as time goes on, I believe. With warm
regards, as always sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Lane was a member of the Executive Council of the Red Cross, with
whom his wife was working during the war. He characterized its
symbol as,--"The one flag which binds all nations is that which
speaks of suffering and healing, losses and hopes, a past of
courage and a future of peace--the flag of the Red Cross."



To John McNaught

Washington, March 16, 1918

MY DEAR JOHN,--It is only now after a month's delay, that I have
an opportunity even to acknowledge your letter of the 17th of
February.

... The whole war situation seems to be so big that it overwhelms
the minds of men. ... But we are grinding on and going surely in
the right way. Not everything has been done that could be done,
but we are getting our step. This thing will be longer than we
thought. But as the President says, it is our job--our job is cut
out for us, and we are going to see it through. Russia has taught
us what happens to a nation that is not self-respecting. We are
hard at work, every one of us, big and little. The nation never
was as united, and while we do not realize just what war is, yet
we will realize it more from day to day and harder will our fibre
grow.

My boy is in France. He hopes to fly an aeroplane over a German
submarine base, and drop a ton of dynamite on it and put it out of
business.

How the world has changed since we dreamed together in the Cosmos
Club! How Paris has changed since we wandered through its
boulevards together! The day of the common man is at hand. Our
danger will be in going too fast, and by going too fast do
injustice to him. But your kind of socialism and mine is to have
its fling.

I was much pleased to meet your wife, very much indeed, and I hope
we may see you here one of these days. With my affectionate
regards, sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



On May 31, 1918, Lane sent a long letter to President Wilson in
relation to his plan for providing farms, from the public domain,
for the returning soldiers. The letter is given at some length,
because this plan was so dear to Lane's heart, and was one upon
which he had put much earnest study. In addition to the phases of
the subject printed here, he gave, in his signed letter to
President Wilson, detailed consideration to several other aspects
of the matter; such as, a comparison of his plan with land-tenure
in Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia; the need for an
extension of the method whereby land can be "developed in large
areas, sub-divided into individual farms, then sold to actual bona
fide farmers on long-time payment basis"; and also the part Alaska
should be made to play in affording agricultural opportunity to
our returned soldiers.

To Hon. Woodrow Wilson The White House

Washington, May 31, 1918

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--I believe the time has come when we should
give thought to the preparations of plans for providing
opportunity for our soldiers returning from the war. Because this
Department has handled similar problems I consider it my duty to
bring this matter to the attention of yourself and Congress. ...

To the great number of returning soldiers, land will offer the
great and fundamental opportunity. The experience of wars points
out the lesson that our service men, because of army life with its
openness and activity, will largely seek out-of-doors vocations
and occupations. This fact is accepted by the allied European
nations. That is why their programs and policies of re-locating
and readjustment emphasize the opportunities on the land for the
returning soldier. The question then is, "What land can be made
available for farm homes for our soldiers?"

We do not have the bountiful public domain of the sixties and
seventies. In a literal sense, for the use of it on a generous
scale for soldier farm homes as in the sixties, "the public domain
is gone." The official figures at the end of the fiscal year, June
30, 1917, show this: We have unappropriated land in the
continental United States to the amount of 230,657,755 acres. It
is safe to say that not one-half of this land will ever prove to
be cultivable in any sense. So we have no lands in any way
comparable to that in the public domain when Appomattox came--and
men turned westward with army rifle and "roll blanket," to begin
life anew.

While we do not have that matchless public domain of '65, we do
have millions of acres of undeveloped lands that can be made
available for our home-coming soldiers. We have arid lands in the
West, cut-over lands in the Northwest, Lake States, and South, and
also swamp lands in the Middle West and South, which can be made
available through the proper development. Much of this land can be
made suitable for farm homes if properly handled. But it will
require that each type of land be dealt with in its own particular
fashion. The arid land will require water; the cut-over land will
require clearing; and the swamp land must be drained. Without any
of these aids, they remain largely "No Man's Land." The solution
of these problems is no new thing. In the admirable achievement of
the Reclamation Service in reclamation and drainage we have
abundant proof of what can be done.

Looking toward the construction of additional projects, I am glad
to say that plans and investigations have been under way for some
time. A survey and study has been in the course of consummation by
the Reclamation Service on the Great Colorado Basin. That great
project, I believe, will appeal to the new spirit of America. It
would mean the conquest of an empire in the Southwest. It is
believed that more than three millions of acres of arid land could
be reclaimed by the completion of the Upper and Lower Colorado
Basin projects. ...

What amount of land, in its natural state unfit for farm homes,
can be made suitable for cultivation by drainage, only thorough
surveys and studies can develop. We know that authentic figures
show that more than fifteen million acres have been reclaimed for
profitable farming, most of which lies in the Mississippi River
Valley.

The amount of cut-over lands in the United States, of course, it
is impossible even in approximation to estimate. ... A rough
estimate of their number is about two hundred million acres--that
is of land suitable for agricultural development. Substantially
all this cut-over or logged-off land is in private ownership. The
failure of this land to be developed is largely due to inadequate
method of approach. Unless a new policy of development is worked
out in cooperation between the Federal Government, the States, and
the individual owners, a greater part of it will remain unsettled
and uncultivated. ...

Any plan for the development of land for the returned soldier,
will come face to face with the fact that a new policy will have
to meet the new conditions. The era of free or cheap land in the
United States has passed. We must meet the new conditions of
developing lands in advance--security must to a degree displace
speculation. ...

This is an immediate duty. It will be too late to plan for these
things when the war is over. Our thought now should be given to
the problem. And I therefore desire to bring to your mind the
wisdom of immediately supplying the Interior Department with a
sufficient fund with which to make the necessary surveys and
studies. We should know by the time the war ends, not merely how
much arid land can be irrigated, nor how much swamp land
reclaimed, nor where the grazing land is and how many cattle it
will support, nor how much cut-over land can be cleared, but we
should know with definiteness where it is practicable to begin new
irrigation projects, what the character of the land is, what the
nature of the improvements needed will be, and what the cost will
be. We should know also, not in a general way, but with
particularity, what definite areas of swamp land may be reclaimed,
how they can be drained, what the cost of the drainage will be,
what crops they will raise. We should have in mind specific areas
of grazing lands, with a knowledge of the cattle which are best
adapted to them, and the practicability of supporting a family
upon them. So, too, with our cut-over lands. We should know what
it would cost to pull or "blow-out" stumps and to put the lands
into condition for a farm home.

And all this should be done upon a definite planning basis. We
should think as carefully of each one of these projects as George
Washington thought of the planning of the City of Washington, We
should know what it will cost to buy these lands if they are in
private hands. In short, at the conclusion of the war the United
States should be able to say to its returned soldiers, "If you
wish to go upon a farm, here are a variety of farms of which you
may take your pick, which the Government has prepared against the
time of your returning." I do not mean by this to carry the
implication that we should do any other work now than the work of
planning. A very small sum of money put into the hands of men of
thought, experience, and vision, will give us a program which will
make us feel entirely confident that we are not to be submerged,
industrially or otherwise, by labor which we will not be able to
absorb, or that we would be in a condition where we would show a
lack of respect for those who return as heroes, but who will be
without means of immediate self-support.

A million or two dollars, if appropriated now, will put this work
well under way.

This plan does not contemplate anything like charity to the
soldier. He is not to be given a bounty. He is not to be made to
feel that he is a dependent. On the contrary, he is to continue,
in a sense, in the service of the Government. Instead of
destroying our enemies he is to develop our resources.

The work that is to be done, other than the planning, should be
done by the soldier himself. The dam or the irrigation project
should be built by him, the canals, the ditches, the breaking of
the land, and the building of the houses, should, under proper
direction, be his occupation. He should be allowed to make his own
home, cared for while he is doing it, and given an interest in the
land for which he can pay through a long period of years, perhaps
thirty or forty years. This same policy can be carried out as to
the other classes of lands. So that the soldier on his return
would have an opportunity to make a home for himself, to build a
home with money which we would advance and which he would repay,
and for the repayment we would have an abundant security. The
farms should not be turned over as the prairies were--unbroken,
unfenced, without accommodations for men and animals. There should
be prepared homes, all of which can be constructed by the men
themselves, and paid for by them, under a system of simple
devising by which modern methods of finance will be applied to
their needs.

As I have indicated, this is not a mere Utopian vision. It is,
with slight variations, a policy which other countries are
pursuing successfully. The plan is simple. I will undertake to
present to the Congress definite projects for the development of
this country through the use of the returned soldier, by which the
United States, lending its credit, may increase its resources and
its population and the happiness of its people, with a cost to
itself of no more than the few hundred thousand dollars that it
will take to study this problem through competent men. This work
should not be postponed. Cordially and faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

The bill, incorporating this plan, was rejected by a Congress
unwilling to accept any solution of any part of the after-war
problem, if the plan came from the Wilson Administration.



In 1918, Colonel Mears, who had been Chief Engineer and later
Chairman of the Alaskan Commission, in charge of the construction
of the Alaskan railroad, went, with many others, to the front, and
Lane was obliged to find new men to carry on the Alaskan work.

To Allan Pollok

Washington, July 17, 1918

You certainly can have more time, because I want you, and it is
not on my own account altogether, because I feel sure you will
delight in the kind of creative job that it is. I found that
Scotchmen had made Hawaii, and I would like to see some of that
same stuff go into Alaska. You see we have a fine bunch of men
there, practical fellows of experience, but not one of them looms
large as a business man or as a creator. I would personally like
to spend a few years of my life just dreaming dreams about what
could be done in that huge territory, and if I only got by with
one out of five hundred, I would leave a real dent in the history
of the territory.

That coal must be brought out of Alaska for the Navy, if the Navy
is going to use any coal, and we ought to be able to send a great
many thousands of Americans, as stock raisers and farmers, into
Alaska after this war. The climate is just as good as that of
Montana, and in some places much better. Of course it is not a
swivel-chair job. It is a challenge to everything that a fellow
has in him of ambition, courage, imagination, enterprise, and
tact, and if we can possibly get that road completed by the end of
the war, and know that we have another national domain there for
settlement, it would help out mightily on the returning soldier
problem. You and I cannot fight and that is our bad luck. We were
born about thirty years too early but I have a notion that we can
make Alaska do her bit through that railroad. ... If you want a
great mining expert to go in with you I can get one. ... Come on
into the game.

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To E. S. Pillsbury

Washington, July 30, 1918

MY DEAR MR. PILLSBURY,-- ... In these radical times when things
are changing so quickly it does not do to be too conservative or
things will go altogether to the bad. ...

Pragmatic tests must be applied strictly and the way to beat wild-
eyed schemes is to show that they are impracticable, and to
harness our people to the land. Every man in an industry ought to
be tied up in some way by profit-sharing or stock-owning
arrangements, and we should get as large a proportion of our
people on small farms as possible. If this is not done we are
going to have a reign of lawlessness.

When a sense of property goes, it becomes more and more apparent
to me, that all other conserving and conservative tendencies go,
and the man who has something is the man who will save this
country. So it is necessary that just as many have something as
possible. ... The one thing which the Bolsheviki do not understand
is that the economic world is not divided between capital and
labor, but that there is a great class unrepresented in these two
divisions--the managing class which furnishes brains and
direction, tact and vision, and no socialistic scheme provides for
the selection and reward of these men ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To William Marion Reedy Reedy's Mirror

Washington, September 13, 1918

MY DEAR MR. REEDY,--In the first place ... as to the coal
agreement, when coal was more than six dollars a ton and climbing,
and it was nobody's business to reduce the price, I made an appeal
to the coal operators to fix voluntarily a maximum price of one-
half of what they were then getting. This they did, with the
understanding that it would stand only until the Government fixed
the price, if it chose to do so later. The price was three dollars
in the East, and two dollars and seventy-five cents in the West,
and there is not a coal mine in the country to-day, under
Government operation, that is producing coal for as little as that
price, which the operators themselves upon my appeal, fixed ...

Some day or another we will meet, ... and I am inclined to believe
that you will think me less of a reactionary than a radical. I am
against a standardized world, an ordered, Prussianized world. I am
for a world in which personal initiative is kept alive and at
work. There are a lot of people here who believe that you can do
things by orders, which I know from my knowledge of the human and
the American spirit can much more effectively be done by appeal.

Everything goes happily here these days, because we are winning
the war, and the future of the world will soon be in the hands of
a man who not so long ago was a school teacher. A great world
this, isn't it? And the greatest romance is not even the fact that
Woodrow Wilson is its master, but the advance of the Czecho-Slavs
across five thousand miles of Russian Asia,--an army on foreign
territory, without a government, holding not a foot of land, who
are recognized as a nation! This stirs my imagination as I think
nothing in the war has, since Albert of Belgium stood fast at
Liege. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Notes on Cabinet Meetings Found in Lane's Files

October 23, 1918

Yesterday we had a Cabinet Meeting. All were present. The
President was manifestly disturbed. For some weeks we have spent
our time at Cabinet meetings largely in telling stories. Even at
the meeting of a week ago, the day on which the President sent his
reply to Germany--his second Note of the Peace Series--we were
given no view of the Note which was already in Lansing's hands and
was emitted at four o'clock; and had no talk upon it, other than
some outline given offhand by the President to one of the Cabinet
who referred to it before the meeting; and for three-quarters of
an hour told stories on the war, and took up small departmental
affairs.

This was the Note which gave greatest joy to the people of any yet
written, because it was virile and vibrant with determination to
put militarism out of the world. As he sat down at the table the
President said that Senator Ashurst had been to see him to
represent the bewildered state of mind existing in the Senate.
They were afraid that he would take Germany's words at their face
value.

"I said to the Senator," said the President, "do they think I am a
damned fool?" ... Yet Senator Kellogg says that Ashurst told the
Senators that the President talked most pacifically, as if
inclined to peace, and that Ashurst was "afraid that he would
commit the country to peace," so afraid that he wanted all the
pressure possible brought to bear on the President by other
Senators. At any rate, the Note when it came had no pacificism in
it, and the President gained the unanimous approval of the country
and the Allies.

But all this was a week ago. Germany came back with an acceptance
of the President's terms--a superficial acceptance at least--hence
the appeal to the Cabinet yesterday. This was his opening, "I do
not know what to do. I must ask your advice. I may have made a
mistake in not properly safe-guarding what I said before. What do
you think should be done?"

This general query was followed by a long silence, which I broke
by saying that Germany would do anything he said.

"What should I say?" he asked.

"That we would not treat until Germany was across the Rhine."

This he thought impossible.

Then others took a hand. Wilson said the Allies should be
consulted. Houston thought there was no real reform inside
Germany. McAdoo made a long talk favoring an armistice on terms
fixed by the military authorities. Strangely enough, Burleson, who
had voted against all our stiff action over the Lusitania and has
pleaded for the Germans steadily, was most belligerent in his
talk. He was ferocious--so much so that I thought he was trying to
make the President react against any stiff Note--for he knows the
President well, and knows that any kind of strong blood-thirsty
talk drives him into the cellar of pacifism. ...

One of the things McAdoo said was that we could not financially
sustain the war for two years. He was for an armistice that would
compel Germany to keep the peace, military superiority recognized
by Germany, with Foch, Haig, and Pershing right on top of them all
the time. Secretary Wilson came back with his suggestion that the
Allies be consulted. Then Baker wrote a couple of pages outlining
the form of such a Note suggesting an armistice. I said that this
should be sent to our "partners" in the war, without giving it to
the world, that we were in a confidential relation to France and
England, that they were in danger of troubles at home, possible
revolution, and if the President, with his prestige, were to ask
publicly an armistice which they would not think wise to grant, or
which couldn't be granted, the sending of such a message into the
world would be coercing them. The President said that they needed
to be coerced, that they were getting to a point where they were
reaching out for more than they should have in justice. I pointed
out the position in which the President would be if he proposed an
armistice which they (the Allies) would not grant. He said that
this would be left to their military men, and they would
practically decide the outcome of the war by the terms of the
armistice, which might include leaving all heavy guns behind, and
putting, Metz, Strasburg, etc., in the hands of the Allies, until
peace was declared.

I suggested that Germany might not know what the President's terms
were as to Courland, etc., that this was not "invaded territory."
He replied that they evidently did, as they now were considering
methods of getting out of the Brest-Litovsk treaty. He said he was
afraid of Bolshevism in Europe, and the Kaiser was needed to keep
it down--to keep some order. He really seemed alarmed that the
time would come soon when there would be no possibility of saving
Germany from the Germans. This was a new note to me.

He asked Secretary Wilson if the press really represented the
sentiment of the country as to unconditional surrender. Wilson
said it did. He said that the press was brutal in demanding all
kinds of punishment for the Germans, including the hanging of the
Kaiser. At the end of the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours,
he asked to be relieved of Departmental matters as he was unable
to think longer. I wrote a summary of the position he took, and
read it after Cabinet meeting to Houston and Wilson, who agreed.
It follows:--

If they (the Allies) ask you (the President), "Are you satisfied
that we can get terms that will be satisfactory to us without
unconditional surrender?"

You will answer, "Yes--through the terms of the Armistice."

"By an armistice can you make sure that all the fourteen
propositions will be effectively sustained, so that militarism and
imperialism will end?"

"Yes, because we will be masters of the situation and will remain
in a position of supremacy until Germany puts into effect the
fourteen propositions."

"Will that be a lasting peace?"

"It will do everything that can be done without crushing Germany
and wiping her out--everything except to gratify revenge."



November 1, 1918

At last week's Cabinet we talked of Austria--again we talked like
a Cabinet. The President said that he did not know to whom to
reply, as things were breaking up so completely. There was no
Austria-Hungary. Secretary Wilson suggested that, of course, their
army was still under control of the Empire, and that the answer
would have to go to it.

Theoretically, the President said, German-Austria should go to
Germany, as all were of one language and one race, but this would
mean the establishment of a great central Roman-Catholic nation
which would be under control of the Papacy, and would be
particularly objectionable to Italy. I said that such an
arrangement would mean a Germany on two seas, and would leave the
Germans victors after all. The President read despatches from
Europe on the situation in Germany--the first received in many
months.

Nothing was said of politics--although things are at a white heat
over the President's appeal to the country to elect a Democratic
Congress. He made a mistake. ... My notion was, and I told him so
at a meeting three or four weeks ago, that the country would give
him a vote of confidence because it wanted to strengthen his hand.
But Burleson said that the party wanted a leader with GUTS--this
was his word and it was a challenge to his (the President's)
virility, that was at once manifest.

The country thinks that the President lowered himself by his
letter, calling for a partisan victory at this time. ... But he
likes the idea of personal party-leadership--Cabinet
responsibility is still in his mind. Colonel House's book, Philip
Dru, favors it, and all that book has said should be, comes about
slowly, even woman suffrage. The President comes to Philip Dru in
the end. And yet they say that House has no power. ...



Election Day. November 5, [1918]

At Cabinet some one asked if Germany would accept armistice terms.
The President said he thought so. ...

The President spoke of the Bolsheviki having decided upon a
revolution in Germany, Hungary, and Switzerland, and that they had
ten million dollars ready in Switzerland, besides more money in
Swedish banks held by the Jews from Russia, ready for the campaign
of propaganda. He read a despatch from the French minister in
Berne, to Jusserand, telling of this conspiracy. Houston suggested
the advisability of stopping it by seizing the money and interning
the agitators. After some discussion, the President directed
Lansing to ask the Governments in Switzerland and Sweden to get
the men and money, and hold them, and then to notify the Allies of
what we had done and suggest that they do likewise. Lansing
suggested a joint Note, but the President vetoed this idea,
wanting us to take the initiative. He spoke of always having been
sympathetic with Japan in her war with Russia, and thought that
the latter would have to work out her own salvation. But he was in
favor of sending food to France, Belgium, Italy, Serbia, Roumania,
and Bulgaria just as soon as possible; and the need was great,
also in Austria.

He said that the terms had been agreed upon, but he did not say
what they were--further than to say that the Council at Versailles
had agreed to his fourteen points, with two reservations:--(1) as
to the meaning of the freedom of the seas, (2) as to the meaning
of the restoration of Belgium and France. This word he had
directed Lansing to give to the Swiss minister for Germany--and to
notify Germany also that Foch would talk the terms of armistice.
... He is certainly in splendid humor and in good trim--not
worried a bit. And why should he be, for the world is at his feet,
eating out of his hand! No Caesar ever had such a triumph! ...

November 6, 1918

Yesterday we had an election. I had expected we would win because
the President had made a personal appeal for a vote of confidence,
and all other members of the Cabinet had followed suit, except
Baker who said he wanted to keep the Army out of politics. The
President thought it was necessary to make such an appeal. He
liked the idea of personal leadership, and he has received a slap
in the face--for both Houses are in the balance. This is the
culmination of the policy Burleson urged when he got the President
to sign a telegram which he (Burleson) had written opposing
Representative Slayden, his personal enemy, from San Antonio, and,
in effect, nominating Burleson's brother-in-law for Congress. We
heard of it by the President bringing it up at Cabinet. Burleson
worked it through Tumulty. The President said that he did not know
whether to write other letters of a similar nature as to Vardaman,
Hardwick, ET AL. I advised against it, saying that the voters had
sense enough to take care of these people. Burleson said, "The
people like a leader with guts." The word struck the President's
fancy and although Lansing, Houston, and Wilson also protested, in
as strong a manner as any one ever does protest, the letters were
issued. ... Even before the Slayden letter was one endorsing
Davies, in Wisconsin, as against Lenroot. ... Then came the letter
to the people of the whole country, reflecting upon the
Republicans, saying that they were in great part pro-war but not
pro-administration.

November 11, 1918

On Sunday I heard that Germany was flying the red flag, and
postponed my promised visit to the Governors of the South, to be
held at Savannah. At eleven yesterday word came that the President
would speak to Congress at one, and that he would have no
objection if the Departments closed to give opportunity for
rejoicings. I went to a meeting of the Council of National Defence
and spoke, welcoming the members. It was a meeting called by
Baruch to plan reconstruction--but the President had notified him
on Saturday that he could not talk or have talking on that
subject. So all I could do was to give a word of greeting to men
who are bound to be disappointed at being called for nothing.

The President's speech was, as always, a splendidly done bit of
work. He rose to the occasion fully and it was the greatest
possible occasion. ... Lansing says that they (he and the
President) had the terms of Armistice before election--terms quite
as drastic as unconditional surrender.



TO DANIEL WILLARD PRESIDENT, BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD

Washington, November 7, 1918

DEAR MR. WILLARD,--I am extremely sorry to receive word that you
are leaving us, but of course you are going into a sphere of
action much larger than the one you are in here, and we must yield
you with every grace, no matter how unwillingly. You will be gone
from us only a short time, I trust, and then I shall have the
opportunity of seeing more of you and continuing a friendship
which has been of very real value to me.

All that you say about the Advisory Commission is true, and more.
If the history of the Council of National Defence and of the
Advisory Commission is ever written it will be seen that you
gentlemen, who gave your time and experience freely, gave the
first real impulse to war preparation, and we missed out only
because we did not have more authority to vest in you. I am very
proud of the first six months of the Council's work and of the
Commission's work.

I received your letter telling me of the death of your son and
daughter-in-law, and I did not have the heart to write you another
line. The mystery and the ordering of this world grow altogether
inexplicable when the affections are wrenched. It requires far
more religion or philosophy than I have, to say a real word that
might console one who has lost those who are dear to him. Ten
years ago my mother died, and I have never become reconciled to
her loss. This is a wrong state of mind, and I hope that you are
sustained by that unfaltering trust of which Bryant spoke.
Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To James H. Hawley

Washington, November 9, 1918

MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--... To my great surprise we have lost both
Houses. We felt sure that we would carry both, and did not
appreciate the extent to which the Republicans would be
consolidated by the President's letter, which, from what I hear
was one of the inducing causes of the result; although not by any
means the only one, for the feeling in the North and West was
strong that the South in some way was being preferred. I am fresh
from a talk with Senator Phelan who, to my surprise, tells me that
these were the factors in the New England States from which he has
just come. ...

The Wilson administration may be judged by the great things that
it has done--the unparallelled things--and the election of last
Tuesday will get but a line in the history of this period, while
the Versailles conference and the Fourteen Points of Wilson's
message will have books written about them for a century to come.
Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Samuel G. Blythe London, England

Washington, November 13, 1918

MY DEAR SAM,--I had not seen the review of my little book of
speeches [Footnote: The American Spirit.] made by the Daily Mail
until you sent it to me. I guess we are a nation of idealists and
it won't do any harm to have a little of this leaven thrown into
the European lump. I am amused when I read the reviews on this
book to see myself regarded as the rather imaginative interpreter
of the national attitude, after these twenty years of quiet, stiff
legal opinions on municipal law and rail-road problems.

Glad to hear of the boy! He is a poor correspondent, as most two-
fisted young chaps are apt to be. I envy you your opportunity now
to see the revolution in Germany, and it? possible spreading
elsewhere. I think you might write an I article on how revolution
comes to a country; a picture of just how the thing happens; what
the first step was; what kind of organization there was and how
they went about their business and got hold of the Government.
There is I a whole book in this, but immediately there is a chance
for a couple of mighty interesting articles.

Here we have gone wild over the victory and peace, and the fact
that the election went against us means nothing, so far as
international questions are concerned. We had not fixed the price
on cotton while we had fixed the price on wheat, and that made the
North feel that this is a Southern Administration. The Republicans
were united for the first time in ten years. These are the big
reasons for the shift. You see we have no idea here of Cabinet
responsibility or votes of confidence or lack of confidence. I
expect there will be some fun in Congress for the next two years.
As always, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, December 16, 1918

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I have your long letter, telling me of all your
sad experiences with red tape and how you have settled down at
last to do your bit at home. You have gone through the bitterness
that most fellows have experienced in trying to do anything with
the Government. I really am very sorry that you had to make such a
financial sacrifice and break up your home and then be fooled, but
probably it is all for the best. The war is over, the boys are
coming home soon and this brings me to the main point.

Ned got home this morning. Nancy, Anne, and I went to Norfolk to
meet him. He had no expectation of seeing us there and at eight
o'clock on a very rainy foggy morning, we came up along side of
his transport and he was taken by surprise. He had a fine lot of
boys with him, but since May he had been at the Naval Aviation
Headquarters as one of the General Staff.

He had many narrow escapes; had men killed standing beside him,
torn to pieces by shrapnel; was knocked over by the concussion of
shells; was over the lines in the battle of Chateau-Thierry in an
aeroplane, flew across the Austrian-Italian lines and chased the
German on his retreat through Belgium.

He seems to be in good health, though rather nervous. He very much
admires the men who were his comrades and his superiors, but is
glad to be out of it all. I think he would like to get on a big
farm. My plan for getting farms for the soldier is making slow
progress. I have got to put in all my effort now to get some
decisive answer out of Congress--either yes or no. ...

[Ned] has seen France very thoroughly, all the north of Italy from
Rome up, England, and Ireland. In the latter spot, he was shot at
three times, notwithstanding a general order that no Irishman is
allowed to have a gun. He was challenged to a duel by a Frenchman
who tried to get away with his seat in a car. He gave the
Frenchman a good licking and then discovered that he was liable to
court martial, but he got the seat and then told the French
lieutenant he would throw him out of the car window if he talked
any more about dueling. The following morning he offered the
Frenchman a cigarette which was taken, and they shook hands and
parted.

He went up in an aeroplane in Italy at one place and had a hunch,
he said, that something was wrong with the machine and so he
brought it down and landed. Another fellow took it up, an Italian.
He got up about one thousand feet in the air and the gas tank
exploded. The poor fellow came down burnt to a cinder, all within
five minutes. He shot a German from the Belgian trenches and has
been recommended four times for promotion, but hasn't got it yet.
With much love to Frances and yourself, I am, affectionately
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO EDGAR C. BRADLEY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

Washington, [December 18, 1918]

MY DEAR BRADLEY,--You wouldn't let me close my sentence yesterday
and I don't propose to close it to-day. Yet I am not going to let
you drive westward toward the land and people we both love so
much, without letting you carry a word of affection and greeting
from me, which you can just throw to the winds when you get there,
throw it out of the window to Tamalpais, it will sweep over those
eucalyptus trees on the right, throw it up to the Berkeley hills,
which now are turning green, I suppose, throw it up the long
stretch of Market Street till it reaches Twin Peaks, and let it
flow down over "south of the slot" that was, and up over Nob Hill,
even to the sacred brownstone of the Pacific-Union.

Go with a heart that is full of rejoicing that peace has come,
through our sacrifice as well as that of other of the nobler
peoples of earth, and with a heart that is proud that you were
able to help with your strength and sane judgment and great
gentleness of speech and manner, in carrying on this nation's
affairs in the day of its greatest adventure. We shall all miss
you greatly, whether you are gone two weeks or two years! Do just
what you think is right, just what she who is so much to you
thinks you should do. There is no better test of a man's duty.

If you can't return we shall stagger on. I shan't stop climbing
this ladder because a rung is gone--tho' many a rung is gone--and
a damn hard old ladder this is sometimes. ...

F.K.L.



XI

AFTER-WAR PROBLEMS--LEAVING WASHINGTON

1919

After-war Problems--Roosevelt Memorials--Americanization--Religion
--Responsibility of Press--Resignation


TO E. C. BRADLEY

Washington, January, 1919

MY DEAR BRADLEY,-- ... I am terribly broken up over Roosevelt's
death. He was a great and a good man, a man's man, always playing
his game in the open. ...

I loved old Roosevelt because he was a hearty, two-fisted fellow.
... The only fault I ever had to find with him was that he took
defeat too hard. He had a sort of "divine right" idea, but he was
a bully fighter. I went to his funeral and have joined in mass
meetings in his memory, which I suppose is all I can do. ... Of
course ... he said a lot of things that were unjust and
unjustifiable, but if a fellow doesn't make a damned fool of
himself once in a while he wouldn't be human. The Republicans
would have nominated him next time undoubtedly. They are without a
leader now, and we are just as much up in the air as ever. ... I
am standing by the President for all I am worth. I talked to the
Merchants' Association the other day and gave him a great send-
off, but they didn't rise to their feet at all, which is the first
time this has happened in two years. ... Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, January 30, 1919

MY DEAR GEORGE,-- ... The one thing that bothers us here is the
problem of unemployment. We have not, of course, had time to turn
around and develop any plan for reconstruction. Our whole war
machine went to pieces in a night. Everybody who was doing war
work dropped his job with the thought of Paris in his mind, with
the result that everything has come down with a crash, in the way
of production, but nothing in the way of wages or living costs.
Wages cannot go down until the cost of living does, and production
won't increase while people believe prices will be lower later on.
I to-day proposed to Secretary Glass that he enter upon a campaign
to promote production, (1) by seeing what the Government could
buy, (2) by seeing what the industries would take as a bottom
price, (3) by getting the Food Administration at work to reduce
prices. Perhaps it may do some good. ...

I have always thought the President was right in going across, and
I believe that he will pull through a League of Nations. When I
get a copy of it I will send you my speech on this subject, which
is rather loose but is a plea for dreams.

Ned is going West to. work for Doheny in some oil field, starting
at the bottom. I rather think this is right, but of course he
won't stay as a laborer very long. The boy is fine and gay, and
did splendid work, and is anxious to get into the game and make
money. Just where he gets this desire for making money I don't
know. Certainly I never had it. But he was telling me the other
day of his hope that by forty he would have made enough money to
retire. I told him you were the only fellow I ever knew who had
actually retired, and you had only done it half way. He will
report at Los Angeles, but I expect he will get up to see you as
soon as he can. He has a remarkable affection for California,
considering he has seen so little of it, and so has Nancy. They
both regard it as the golden land where all things smile, and
people have hearts. I have not attempted to cure them of their
illusion.

Do write me a good, long letter, for I am always eager to hear
from you.

F. K. L.



To George W. Lane

Washington, May 1, [1919]

MY DEAR GEORGE,--Well, what do you think of the Italian situation?
I think the President right, that Fiume should not go to Italy.
Certainly she has no moral claim, for by the Pact of London, Fiume
was to go to Croatia. Orlando says that he is answering the call
of the Italians in exile. Let them stay in exile, I say. They went
into a foreign land to make money and now they wish to annex the
land they are visiting, to the home country. How would we like it
if the Chinese swamped San Francisco and then asked to be annexed
to China? This is carrying the Fiume idea to its ultimate, a
ridiculous ultimate, of course, as most ultimates are.

Whether he [President Wilson] gave out the statement as to the
break too early, and without the consent of England and France, of
course I don't know. Quite like him to do it if he thought the
thing had hung long enough, and that Italy was too damn predatory.
And she does seem to be. The New Idea seems to have less real hold
in Italy--at least among the governing class--than in any other
European country. Her present position will postpone peace. This
will cause us trouble over the extra session of Congress for our
appropriations will run out. And perhaps in England it may give a
chance for labor troubles to rise. It will postpone the return of
good times to this country. But ultimately Italy will have to come
through. If economic pressure were put upon her she would be
compelled to yield at once, for she depends on England and
ourselves for all the coal she uses, and on us chiefly for her
wheat. Of course this form of coercion will not be resorted to.
She might think more kindly if she were given an extended credit,
say of two hundred million dollars. But the people being aroused
now over what they think is a matter of principle--loyalty to
their compatriots in Fiume--they may not be able to compromise.
Lord Reading rather fears that this is the situation and that it
might have been avoided if the President had not issued his
statement when he did. However, I have no doubt that the President
will have his way. He nearly always does. Surely the God that once
was the Kaiser's is now his.

To be the First President of the League of Nations is to be the
crowning glory of his life. I believe in the League--as an
effort. It will not cure, but it is a serious effort to get at the
disease. It is a hopeful effort, too, for it makes moral
standards, standards of conduct between nations which will bring
conventional pressure to bear on the side of peace, to offset the
old convention of rushing into war to satisfy hurt feelings.
Sooner or later there will come disarmament--the pistol will be
taken away and the streets will be safer.

The boy is having a tough time in his oil work. It is so dirty!
But I hope he sticks out until he proves himself. I hear that the
Dutch Shell people have bought out Cowdray in Mexico, and now are
trying to get Doheny's lands. They bestride the earth, and as soon
as their activities are known generally, this country will look
upon the Standard Oil as the American champion in a big
international fight.

... Well, dear old chap, I know that I could add nothing to your
cure if I were there but I am not content to be so far away from
you. ... F. K. L.



TO WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON ROOSEVELT PERMANENT MEMORIAL NATIONAL
COMMITTEE

Washington, May 20, 1919

MY DEAR MR. THOMPSON,--I told Mr. Loeb that I would feel greatly
honored to be a member of a Memorial Committee, to do honor to Ex-
President Roosevelt. To-day, I receive an agreement which I am
asked to sign in which the members of the Committee are to pledge
themselves to a memorial for the furtherance of Mr. Roosevelt's
policies. I do not know what such a phrase means. With some of his
policies I know I was in hearty accord but as to others, such as
the tariff, I have my doubts. This might be turned or construed
into a great machine for propaganda of a partisan character, and
it seems to me that the Colonel's memory is altogether too
precious a national possession to have that construction possibly
given to any memorial to him.

There are hundreds of thousands of Democrats, like myself, who
admired him and who would contribute toward a memorial, who should
not be asked to do this if it was any more than a straight-out
memorial to the man, the soldier, the naturalist, the historian,
the President, the intense, vital American.

And all of your officers, so far as I am acquainted with them, are
Republicans. This does not seem to convey quite the right
suggestion.

I have already planned for a lasting Roosevelt memorial in the
creation of a park in California, to bear Colonel Roosevelt's
name. I expect this will have Congressional approval at the
present session of Congress.

Last night I talked with Senator Frank Kellogg about this matter,
and he agrees with my view. He says that he understood the
memorial was to be something in Washington of a permanent and
artistic character, and perhaps the home at Oyster Bay, and that
the personnel of all committees was to be popular, including if
possible as many Democrats as Republicans.

Under these circumstances I beg leave to withhold my signature to
the agreement sent me. I would have no objection to asking
Congress to provide for a memorial, though I think this should be
deferred as a matter of policy until the public had subscribed
generously. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER PRESIDENT EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA

Washington, June 16, 1919

MY DEAR WHEELER,--I have seen your goodbye address at Berkeley,
and I am very glad I did not hear it, for it must have been a sad
day for Berkeley and for you. The address itself was a noble word.
I hear that you have bought Lucy Sprague's home and are to remain
in Berkeley. This is as it should be. You can ripen into the Sage
of Berkeley, and be a center of influence, stimulating the best in
others. A long, long life to you! Always sincerely and devotedly
yours,

FRANKLIN K, LANE



TO E. S. MARTIN LIFE

Washington, August 23, 1919

MY DEAR MR. MARTIN,-- ... It does not seem to me that this country
will rise to a class war. We have too many farmers and small
householders and women--put the accent on the women. They are the
conservatives. Until a woman is starving, she does not grow Red,
unless she is without a husband or babies and has a lot of money
that she did not earn. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, September 11, 1919

DEAR GEORGE,--You do not know how much of sympathy I send out to
you and how many words of prayer I send up for you. You need them
all, I expect. ... What a long siege you have had!

I suppose you will not be able to hear the President speak when he
is there. You will miss much. He is not impassioned nor a great
orator, such as Chatham or Fox, or Webster or Dolliver, or even
Bryan--but he has a keen, quick, cutting mind, the mind of a
really great critic, and his manner is that of the gentleman
scholar. He is first among all men to-day, which is much for
America.

My Nancy has been having a splendid time, even if she only saw
your ranch for a week--but she is the gayest thing alive--God
grant she may continue so always. ...

For the first time in twenty-five years we are living in an
apartment, large and in a nice place, but somehow my sense of the
fitness of things will not let me call the place "home"--altho' it
is the most comfortable habitation I have ever lived in, elevator,
whole floor to ourselves. ... and they let me keep my dog. I
wouldn't have come if they hadn't. We turned down a fine place
with a more expansive view because Jack was not wanted. But surely
in these days of doubt and disloyalty one must have some rock to
cling to, why not a trusting-eyed dog? ... But all this does not
recompense me for the absence of a "home"--which is a house,
anywhere. Yet we may have to do our own work. ... The cooks are
all too proud to work--I wish you would tell me just how this
economic problem should be settled. How much do you believe in
socialism or socialization? ... Do you think there can be a
partnership in business? I am inclined to think this can be worked
out, along lines of cooperative ownership, but not until an
enterprise is well standardized.

I expect bad times soon with labor. We are only postponing the
evil day. The President seems less radical than he was. He is
sobered by conditions, I suspect. The negro is a danger that you
do not have. Turn him loose and he is a wild man. Every Southerner
fears him.

... I am trying hard to believe something that might be called the
shadow of a religion--a God that has a good purpose, and another
life in which there is a chance for further growth, if not for
glory. But when I bump up against a series of afflictions such as
you have been subjected to, I fall back upon Fred's philosophy of
a purposeless or else a cruel God. ... I simply have a sinking of
the heart, a goneness, a hopelessness--not even the pleasure of a
resignation. Old Sid's cold mind has worked itself through to a
decision that there is no purpose and no future, and finds solace
in the ultimate; having reached the cellar he finds the
satisfaction of rest. I can't get there for my buoyancy, the hold-
over of early teachings or perhaps my naturally sanguine nature
will not permit me to hit bottom, but forever I must be floating,
floating--nowhere. Happy the man who strikes the certainty of a
rock-bottom hell, rather than one who is kept floating midway--
that is a purgatory worse than hell. I don't seem to have any
capacity for anger, as against God or man, for anything that
befalls me, but I get morbid over the injustices done to others.
Now I shall stop philosophizing on this matter for it is three in
the morning, and too hot to sleep, and such a time is made for
wickedness and not for righteousness.

I am sorry you will not see the President. He is worth hearing,
better than reading, and he always talks well. He can not pass his
treaty without some kind of reservations and he should have seen
this a month ago. The Republicans will not struggle to pass it in
his absence and think that they have done a smart thing, but in
the end Wilson and not Lodge would win by such a trick. The one
greatest of vices is smart-aleckism. Sometime I shall write an
essay on that subject. The burglar and the confidence operator and
the profiteer and the profligate and the defaulting bank cashier
are all victims of that disease--smart-aleckism. They will do a
trick, to prove how clever they are. I believe that is the way
ninety per cent of the boys and girls go wrong, and instead of
teaching them the Bible, why not try reducing the size of their
conceit and their disposition to boast. I just wonder how far
wrong I am on this?

... Don't let the family worry you. Call for the police if they
don't let you have your own way. ... What a plague of women! But
how did monks manage to live anyhow? Maybe they chose a hard
death--perhaps that was the secret of the whole monkery game!
Women let us down into the grave with much unction to our ego, I
mean sweet oil of adoration ... poured out upon the way down to
Avernus. ... Don't feel discouraged because you lie there. I feel
much more discontented than you do, right here at the heart of the
world. ... Love to Maude and Frances, and mention me with proper
respect and dignity to Miss Nancy Lane.

F. K.

TO VAN H. MANNING DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF MINES

Washington, September 24, 1919

MY DEAR MR. MANNING,--I have been intending for several days to
write you a letter regarding the Petroleum Institute, but the
opportunity has been denied me. Perhaps you will be good enough to
say to the gentlemen, whom I understand you are to meet tomorrow,
that I regard their work, if taken hold of whole-heartedly, as of
the greatest national importance. It is quite manifest now that
private enterprise must stand in the forefront in the development
of this industry, and that what the government can do will be
supplemental and suggestive. It is not an exaggeration to say that
millions of dollars must be spent in experiment before we know the
many services to which a barrel of oil can be put. There is almost
an indefinite opportunity for research work along this line.

Petroleum is a challenge to the chemists of the world. And now the
world is dependent upon it, as it is upon nothing else excepting
coal and iron, and the foodstuffs and textiles. It has jumped to
this place of eminence within twenty years, and the world is
concerned in knowing how large a supply there is and how every
drop of it can best be used. Practically, I think you should urge
that there be cooperative effort to protect against waste. The oil
men themselves should see the value of this and spend their money
freely to keep their wells from being flooded, to keep their pipe
lines from leaking, and to save their gas.

We are behind the rest of the world in the use of our oil for fuel
purposes. We are spendthrifts in this as in other of our national
resources. We can get three times as much energy as we do out of
our oil through the use of the Diesel engine, yet we are doing
little to promote development of a satisfactory type of stationary
Diesel, or marine design. Instead of seeing how many hundred
millions of barrels of oil we can produce and use, our effort
should be to see how few millions of barrels will satisfy our
needs. I say this although I am not a pessimist as to the
available supply, which I believe has been underestimated rather
than overestimated. I am satisfied that the man who has a barrel
of oil has something which, if he can save, is better than a
government bond. Throughout the Nation we must make a drive to
increase production--that is the slogan of this time--but that
does not mean that we should make a drive to exhaust resources
which God alone can duplicate.

Then too, I think that Congress can be largely helped by the sane
presentation of wise policies touching this industry. I have the
belief that whatever the body of oil men would agree upon would be
something that would make for the best use of petroleum, and for
the protection over a long period of this fundamental resource in
our industry. Congress has difficulty often in getting the large
view of practical men who speak without personal interest, and
such an Institute could speak not for the individual but for the
industry and show how it may best be developed in the interest of
the country.

To do these things, and to do them adequately, will require the
men in the industry to take the attitude of statesmen and not of
selfish exploiters. It means they must tax themselves liberally,
generously. It means that they must think of themselves as
trustees for a Public as wide as the world.

Please give my regards to the members of the Institute. Cordially
yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO E. C. BRADLEY

Washington, October 2, 1919

MY DEAR BRADLEY,-- ... I have all along said that the treaty could
not be ratified without some interpretive reservations. I think
that the President will see that, although he sees clearly, as I
do, that these interpretations are already in the treaty itself,
but on a question of construction two men may honestly differ. The
whole damn thing has gotten into the maelstrom of politics, of the
nastiest partisanship, when it ought to have been lifted up into
the clearer air of good sense and national dignity. ...

Hoover can be elected. He came home modestly and made a splendid
speech. We need a man of great administrative ability and of
supreme sanity who can lead us into quiet waters, if there are
any.

... We have imported, with our labor, their discontent, and the
theories which are founded upon it to obtain the price. But the
American workingman is a sensible fellow, when he can have the
chance to think without being overwhelmed by fear, and he will
realize that his betterment in a material way must come through
his own individual growth and the growth of the conscience of the
people who believe in a square deal. The serious thing in the
whole situation, to my mind, is the fact that so many workingmen
seem to accept the idea that they are of a fixed class; that they
can not move out of their present conditions; that they want
always to remain as employees and have no hope of becoming
superintendents, employers, managers, or capitalists; and
therefore think that their only prospect is in bettering their
condition as a part of a class. Great propaganda should be carried
on to show how false this is and how much demand there is for men
of ability.

With warm regards, old man, I am cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO MRS. LOUISE HERRICK WALL

Washington, Friday, [October 10, 1919]

MY DEAR MRS. WALL,--We heard through Ned of the Commodore's death,
and you can realize how shocked and terribly grieved we were, and
still are.

Poor dear girl, there is nothing anyone can say that will help
even a little bit. Every word of appreciation makes the loss more
serious. And you need no one to tell you that he was loved by us,
and every single person who really knew him. He was to me
Christlike, beautiful, gentle, wise and noble. Since that first
day, nearly thirty years ago on Grays Harbor, I have known him as
one of the rare spirits of the world, and Anne and I have loved
him deeply. Surely he must live on, and we must all see him again!

May strength come to you out of the Infinite resources of the
Universe to bear this blow. The world was made better by him! In
deep sympathy,

FRANK LANE



TO--

Wednesday, November, [1919]

MY DEAR OLD MAN,--I am sitting alone in my den having come down
stairs to write a line on my report, but instead have been lured
into an evening of delight with Robert Louis Stevenson, whose
letters, in four volumes, I advise you to read for the spirit of
the man. Much like your own, my brave fine fellow! He went through
tortures with a smile and a merry imagination which made him
great, and makes all of us, and many more to come, his debtor. I
know how little you read. The birds have been yours and the trees
and the dogs and fishes, but there are men in the world, or have
been, whom one can know through their writings. Did you ever read
Trevelyan's three volumes on GARIBALDI? No,--well get it before
you are a week older and you will thank me for ever and a day.

All of this, however, I had not intended to write, rather to tell
you ... how emotional I have been all day with the old soldiers
passing by on parade--the last that many of them will ever have.

Fifty years ago, Andrew Johnson received Grant's returned forces
on the same spot. There were 180,000, or so, then--and 20,000 now
--crippled, lame, one-legged, bent, halting most of them, but
determined to make the long journey from the Capitol to the White
House, and prove that they had lived this long time and were still
good for a longer journey. There was little of gaiety among them,
tho' some were swinging flags, torn, tattered, be-shot ... and
raised their hats to the President as they passed, tho' most of
them, doubtless, were sorry that he was not a Republican. It was a
time to remember.

... Nancy is back after her tour of glory--larger than ever but
not less tender or playful. She is the brightest spirit I have
ever met--and all her vanities are so dear and human and lie so
frankly exposed. I thank you for your kindness to her, she loves
you very much; yes, really recognizes those qualities which some
cannot see, poor blind things! But I can, and she can, and Frances
can, and many more when you give them a look in. May your grass
grow and soul keep warm and your spirit lift itself in song at
morning and at night. Affectionately always,

F.L.



TO M. A. MATHEW

Washington, November 3, 1919

MY DEAR MR. MATHEW,--I have your letter of October 27th, and I
appreciate very much its kind words. The Industrial Conference was
not a success because we got into the steel strike at first, and
people talked about their rights instead of talking of their
duties. We will have another conference, however, which I think
will do some real work and lay a foundation for the future. The
coal strike is a bad one, but the people are not in sympathy with
it, and sooner or later, in my judgment, it will come to an
adjustment situation in which the President will be perfectly
willing to participate. He, by the way, is getting along very
well, but I expect it will be many weeks before he is himself
again. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K LANE



TO HERBERT C. PELL, JR. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington, November 8, 1919

MY DEAR MR. PELL,--I wish you success with your Constitutional
League. I have no objection whatever to my name being used in
connection with it, providing the League is not an institution for
denouncing people or denouncing theories of government or economic
panaceas; but is a positive, aggressive institution for the
presentation to our people of the fact that we have in this
Democracy a method of doing whatever we wish done, which avoids
the necessity for anything like revolutionary action. The
objection to Bolshevism is that it is absolutism--as Lenine has
said himself, the absolutism of the proletariat. It is an economic
government by force, while our Democracy is a government by
persuasion.

I find that no good comes from calling names. The men who are to
be reached are the men who are not committed against us, but are
disposed to be with American institutions. We must show them that
we have a system that it is worth while betting on, and that if
they have another way of doing things economical, machinery by
which it can be instituted is in the people's hands. Our policy is
to look before we leap, and to submit our methods to the judicial
judgment of the people. This permits any doctrine to be preached
that does not subvert our institutions. Where do our institutions
come from? What have they been effective in bringing about? What
is the condition of the United States as a whole compared with
other countries? Can we hope to work out our salvation without
civil war? These are legitimate questions, the answer to which is
found in this other question--is not political Democracy the one
practical way to eventual industrial Democracy? Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO HENRY P. DAVISON

Washington, November 23, 1919

MY DEAR MR. DAVISON,--I wired you yesterday my conclusion, as to
your very generous and patriotic offer, which was the same that I
had come to before seeing you in New York. Your appeal was so
strong and went so much to my impulse for public service that you
made me feel that, perhaps, I was giving undue weight to the
considerations I had presented to you. So I sought the judgment of
others--all of them men of large distinction whom you know, or at
least have confidence in, and without dissent I found them saying,
voluntarily and unbidden, what I had said to you--that for me to
undertake this work of arousing the best patriotic feeling of
America, on a salary, would make seriously against the success of
the work and against my own value in it, or in anything else I
might undertake. If I were rich I would go into it with my whole
heart. But a poor man can not be charged with making money out of
the exploitation of the good opinion others have of his love of
country. This is not squeamishness, it is a rough standard,
arrived at by instinct rather than by any refined process of
reasoning.

I say this to you because of my deep confidence in you and my very
real confidence that you are my friend, and sought to do me a
kindness and give me an opportunity. Now let me see if I can be of
any help in this work. ...

[Here followed a full detailed plan of an Americanization program,
that concluded with the paragraph.]

These outline some methods of reaching the public with the idea
that this is a land that is lovable, prosperous, good-humored,
great, and noble-spirited. To carry it out will cost a great deal
of money, I should say that not less than five million a year
should be available. With warm regard, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, November 28, [1919]

MY DEAR GEORGE,--Do not be surprised if you hear that I am out of
the Cabinet soon, for I have been offered two fifty thousand a
year places, and another even more. I don't want to leave if it
will embarrass the President, but I do want something with a
little money in it for awhile. ... But I must see the President
before I decide ... and I don't know when that will be, now that
he is sick.

This life has a great fascination for everyone and I dread to
leave it; for anything else will bore me I am sure. I deal here
only with big questions and not with details--with policies that
affect many, and yet I have but a year and a half more, and then
what? Perhaps it is as well to take time by the forelock, tho' I
do not want to decide selfishly nor for money only. I must go
where I can feel that I am in public work of some kind. ...

... I have served him [the President] long and faithfully under
very adverse circumstances. It is hard for him to get on with
anyone who has any will or independent judgment. Yet I am not
given to forsaking those to whom I have any duty. However we shall
see, I write you this, that you may not be misled by the thought
that there has been or is any friction. Of course you won't speak
of it to anyone.

I am so glad you are able to be out a little bit. "Ain't it a
glorious feelin'?" The farm must look mighty good. Well, old man,
goodnight, and God give you your eyes back! With my warmest love,

FRANK



TO C. S. JACKSON OREGON JOURNAL

Washington, December 29, 1919 MY DEAR SAM,--I hear from Joe Teal
that your boy has been lost at sea, and I write this word, not in
the hope that I can say anything that will minimize your loss, for
all the kindly words of all men in all the world could not do as
much as one faint smile from that boy's lips could do to bring a
bit of joy into your heart.

But you are an old, old friend of mine. It is more than thirty
years since we dreamed a dream together which you were able to
realize. We both have had our fortune in good and bad, and on the
whole I think our lives have not added to the misery of men, but
have done something toward making life a bit more kind for many
people. And why should that boy be taken from you? There is the
mystery--if you can solve it you can solve all the other
mysteries. I hope you have some good staunch faith, which I have
never been able to get, that would enable me to look upon these
things in humility, in the confidence that this thing we call a
body is only a temporary envelope for a permanent thing--a
lasting, growing thing called a spirit, the only thing that
counts. If we can get that sense we can have a new world. I do not
believe we will change this world much for the good out of any
materialistic philosophy or by any shifting of economic affairs.
We need a revival--a belief in something bigger than ourselves,
and more lasting than the world.

With my warmest sympathy, I am, yours as always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS

Washington, December 29, [1919]

MY DEAR JOHN,--The manner in which you write assures me that you
are very happy, notwithstanding your marriage and your new
religion, for which I am glad. An even better assurance is the
picture of the bride. By what wizardry have you been able to lure
and capture so young, good, and intelligent-looking a girl? I
presume she was fascinated by the indirectness of your speech, the
touches of humor and your very stern manner. John, you are a
humbug, you have made that aloofness and high indifference a
winning asset. I shan't give you away. Only you fill me with a
mortifying envy.

As for your religion, various of your friends think it odd. I
think that you are a subject for real congratulation. A man who
can believe anything is miles ahead of the rest of us. I would
gladly take Christian Science, Mohammedanism, the Holy Rollers or
anything else that promised some answer to the perplexing
problems. But you have been able to go into the Holy of Holies and
sit down on the same bench of belief with most of the saints--this
is miraculous good fortune. I mean it. I am not scoffing or
jeering. I never was more serious.

This whole damned world is damned because it is standing in a bog,
there is no sure ground under anyone's feet. We are the grossest
materialists because we only know our bellies and our backs. We
worship the great god Comfort. We don't think; we get sensations.
The thrill is the thing. All the newspapers, theatres, prove it.
We resign ourselves to a life that knows no part of man but his
nerves. We study "reactions," in human beings and in chemistry--
recognizing no difference between the two--and to my great
amazement, the war has made the whole thing worse than ever. John,
if you have a religion that can get hold of people, grip them and
lift them--for God's sake come over and help us. I know you can
understand how people become Bolsheviks just out of a desire for
definiteness and leadership. The world will not move forward by
floating on a sea of experimentation. It gets there by believing
in precise things, even when they are only one-tenth true. I wish
I had your faith--as a living, moving spirit. Some day I pray that
I may get with you where you can tell me more of it and how you
got it.

I am leaving the Cabinet, tho' the precise date no one knows, for
the President is not yet well enough to talk about it. He seems to
be too done up to stand any strain or worry. But I must have some
money, for my years are not many, Anne is far from well, and Nancy
is a young lady, and a very beautiful one. She has just come out
and is quite the belle of the season, tho' like her father, too
anxious for popularity.

Great good luck of all kinds to you in 1920, old man--and do give
me a line now and then.

F. K. L.



TO FRANK I. COBB NEW YORK WORLD

Washington, [1919]

MY DEAR FRANK,--I have read your speech on Prussianizing the
Americans, and I concur. Of course repression ... promotes the
growth of error. We are not going to destroy socialism, or prevent
it from coming strong by refusing to answer it.

But I have a notion that you have not expressed as directly as I
should like:--That the newspaper is not influential enough to stop
it and perhaps does not care to, sometimes. Where are the papers
that are respected for their character? They are few. The most of
them are believed to be the allies of every kind of Satan. "They
are rich; their ads. run them; they pander to circulation, no
matter of what kind, to get ads.", that is the answer of the plain
people. If the papers were things of thought and not of passion,
prejudice and sensation and interest, they could do the work that
police and courts are called upon to do. They could effectively
answer the agitator. But the people do not believe them when they
cry aloud. Maybe I am wrong, but isn't there a grain, or a gram,
of truth in this?

For a year and a half I have been bombarding Congress with a
demand for a bill that would make a campaign, through the schools,
against illiteracy. I have made dozens of speeches for it, written
a lot, lobbied much, until Congress passed a law stopping my
working up sentiment for it, by a joint resolution. How much
sentiment has the press created? You had one or two editorials.
The Times one. No one else in New York gave a damn. The
Congressmen were not made to feel that those ignorant foreigners
who were fifty-five per cent of the steel workers, must learn to
read papers that were written in American, not in Russian or
Yiddish or Polish or Italian.

I tell you seriously we are not a serious people except when we
are scared. "Rights of free speech, O yes! they must be preserved.
Democracy has its balancing of forces." All this is forgotten when
the government is at stake--our institutions. These mottoes and
legends and traditions presuppose someone who will enlighten the
people and a people that can be enlightened. Otherwise you will
get the strong arm at work. It is inevitable. Has there been any
meeting of editors to map a course that will truthfully reveal
what Bolshevism is? or how absurd the talk of wage-slavery is? or
why the miners strike? or why this is the best of all lands?

Tell me why workmen don't believe what you print, unless it is
some slander on a rich man, or some story that falls in with
prejudices and hatreds?

Answer me that and you will know why the people sit indifferent
while papers are suppressed, speakers harried, and espionage is
king.

Mind you, I am not saying that you are alone to blame. Congress
is. The States are. The cities are. The people are. They have let
everything drift. What is our passion? What do we love? Do we
think, or do we go to the movies? The socialist takes his
philosophy seriously. The rest of us have no philosophy that is a
passion with us.

But there, I have scolded enough. You are right, but you are not
fundamental or basic or something or other, which means that you
can't put out a fire unless you have a fire department that is on
the job. Tenderly yours,

F. K L.

Lane never outgrew his passionate belief in the moral
responsibility of the press. To Fremont Older, when he took charge
of the SAN FRANCISCO CALL, Lane telegraphed:--

"There is no other agency that can serve our national purpose that
is one-half as powerful as a free press, and no other that has
one-half the responsibility. We need a press that will stand for
the right, no matter whether its circulating or advertising is
increased or not by such a position, and that means a press that
includes in its understandings and sympathies the whole of society
and serves no purpose other than the promotion of a happier and
nobler people. Journalism is the greatest of all professions in a
free country, if it is bent upon being right rather than being
successful. I hope that you may be both."



TO MRS. LOUISE HERRICK WATT

Watkins Glen, New York, [December, 1919]

MY DEAR MRS. WALL,--I am reminded by your letter to Anne that I
have said no word to you since that first word of attempt at
support, which I threw out on the first day. I meant it all and
more. Wall was always in my mind, as at heart, the truest Democrat
I knew. He really lived up to the standard of the New Testament.
He did love his neighbor as himself. He never did good or kindness
out of policy, but always from principle, from nature--which can
be said of very few in this world. He was without cowardice of any
kind, and without hypocrisy. I believe he had no vanity. He had
the pride of a noble man and lived as generously toward the world
as I have ever known man to live. This might be said of one who
was austere, but the dear, old Commodore was to me, and to us all,
the very symbol of warmth. The one thing I criticised in him was
his unwillingness that people should discover him for the
fanciful, humorous, wise, and exquisitely tender man that he was.
He did not leave an enemy, I know, unless that man was a
scoundrel. And with all his reticence he impressed himself
profoundly on hundreds. I know if there is another world that Wall
and I will find each other, and he will be with the gladdest,
gayest of the spirits. I hope you can look forward to such a
meeting with the confidence that Anne has, which always astonishes
me and makes me envious. He has gone to the one place, if any such
place there is, where the greatest longing of his soul can be
gratified--his love for justice.

If you have a picture of him, no matter how poor, won't you let me
have it, that I may hang it beside my work desk, and looking at it
find inspiration and be reminded of the sane, loving, lovable,
high-hearted chap whom I held as a brother?

Dear lonely woman, I wish I could speak one word that would
lighten your sense of loss, in him and in your mother. I know that
you are not lacking in courage, but stoutness of heart does not
bring comfort, I know. How exceptional your loss because how
exceptional your fortune--such a man and such a mother. Very
sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANK



TO MRS. M. A. ANDERSEN

Sunday, [December, 1919]

... The whole of mankind is searching for affection, tenderness,--
not physical love but sweet companionship. We could get along with
fewer pianos and victrolas if we had a more harmonious society. We
really don't like each other much better than Alaskan dogs. Now
what is the reason for that? Are we afraid of them stealing from
us--our houses, sweethearts, or dollars? Or are we so stupid that
we don't know each other, never get under the skin to find out
what kind of a fellow this neighbor is? Certainly we are self-
centered and we wonder that people don't like us when we don't try
to find what is likable about them--and keep stressing their
unlikable qualities.

All of which homily leads up to the Holidays. I hope that you will
enjoy them. Nancy is having no end of a gay time, and knows how
really good a time she is having, I do believe. She is the rarest
combination of old woman and baby I have ever known, cynically
wise, almost, and soft innocence. She has a dozen beaux and is
extravagant about, and to, each. ...

The President is getting better slowly, but we communicate with
him almost entirely through his doctor (Grayson). I shall be
mighty sorry to leave here, where we have so many friends, but my
hope is to get enough to buy a place in California, one of these
days, and settle down to the normal life of digging a bit in the
soil and then digging a bit in the brain.

Give my warmest regards to the Captain. You have ripened into a
fine beauty and a great usefulness, and I hope that you will find
serenity of mind and soul, which is all that the great have ever
searched for. With much love,

FRANK



TO GEORGE W. LANE

[December, 1919]

MY DEAR GEORGE,--Things are going well notwithstanding the
President's illness. No one is satisfied that we know the truth,
and every dinner table is filled with speculation. Some say
paralysis, and some say insanity. Grayson tells me it is nervous
breakdown, whatever that means. He is however getting better, and
meantime the Cabinet is running things. ...

Ned is here and having a good time with all his old girls, some of
whom have married and are already divorced, so he feels an old
man. Nancy is lovely and merry and quite a belle. She took with
the Prince of Belgium, and was quite as happy as you would be with
having caught a six-pound trout--just the same feeling, I guess.

Politically things do not look interesting. There are no big men
in the line except Hoover. The country wants some manly, two-
fisted administrator and it doesn't care where he comes from.

I hope your eye is better, dear old man. My love to Frances.

F. K. L.

The Dan O'Neill to whom the next letter was written, was a friend
of early days. Lane always liked to recall this episode. O'Neill,
a big elderly Irishman, was in the City employ, while Lane was
City and County Attorney, and had formed for his "Chief"--as he
lustily called him--a most disinterested affection. After Lane's
defeat for Mayor of San Francisco, O'Neill came one day and asked
for an interview. When greetings were over he stood hesitating and
twirling his hat, until Lane said, "Well, Dan, what can I do for
you?"

"You see, Chief," he answered, "The wife and I were talking it
over last night. We know how these damned campaigns of yours have
been taking the money. You see, we have two lots of land--out
there," with a jerk of the hat toward the great outside, "and a
little house--and we're well and strong, and all the children
doing fine at school--and we can, easy as not, put a mortgage on
the house, for two or three thousand. We'd like it fine if you'd
take it, until you get going again."

Lane did not have to mortgage his friend's house, but it was these
"sweet uses of adversity," more than anything else, that tempered,
for him, the pain of defeat. This friendship lasted to the end of
his life. In 1915, when going back from California on a hurried
trip, Lane wrote to O'Neill, "I did not see much of you and I am
sorry I didn't. It was my fault, I know. Your dear old Irish face
is a joy to me every time I see it, and whenever I go out you must
not fail to turn up, else I shall be brokenhearted."

When Lane was very ill in 1921, O'Neill came to pay his respects
to the wife of his Chief. As she went out into the hallway of her
friend's house, in San Francisco, the whole place seemed filled by
O'Neills, for he stood there and all his three great sons--one a
fire captain, and stalwart men all. It was a sad meeting and
parting.

 TO DAN J. O'NEILL

Washington, December 24, 1919

MY DEAR DAN,--I am delighted to get your nice letter. It is as
charming a letter as I ever received, because you tell me of all
the family and that they are doing well, and that you are in good
health, and that you want me back with you--all of which makes me
love you more and more. Give to the whole family my good holiday
greetings. Make them earnest and hearty.

I haven't got money enough, Dan, to pay my fare back after living
here so long, and I shall have to make some before coming back
there, but I hope to do it some one of these days. ...

Dan, I know you have been a bad man, and I know you have been a
good man; and there will be a place in Heaven for you, old fellow.
You have been an honest citizen, a credit to your country, and so
have your children, and you will never know anyone who is fonder
of you than I. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO EAMLIN GARLAND

December 3l, 1919

MY DEAR GARLAND,--I am going up to New York on the eleventh to
talk to the moving picture people at the Waldorf-Astoria. I had
them down here and had a resolution put through the Committees on
Education of both House and Senate, asking the Moving Picture
Industry to interest itself in Americanization, and I have been
appointed at the head of a committee to take charge of this work.
I have some schemes myself that I want very much to talk to you
about regarding Americanization.

I do not know how much time I will be able to give to this work
because I have got to make some money, but I am going to use my
spare time that way. Suppose when I get to New York I telephone
you and see if we can not get together. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

To one of the Moving Picture Weeklies, Lane contributed this
paragraph on Americanizing the foreign born:--"The one sure way to
bring the foreign born to love this land of ours is to show our
pride in its present, faith in its future, and interpret America
to all in terms of fair play and square dealing. America gives men
nothing--except a chance,"

TO HUGO K. ASHER

Rochester, Minnesota, January 3, 1920

MY DEAR HUGO,--I have not written you because my own plans must be
determined by circumstances. I think, however, that I shall leave
very soon. I hate to go because the work is so satisfactory. ...

Bryan has come back. What strength he will develop, no one can
tell. He evidently has determined that he will not be pushed aside
or disregarded. He has been, and will continue to be as long as he
lives, a great force in our politics. People believe that he is
honest and know he is sympathetic with the moral aspirations of
the plain people. They distrust his administrative ability, but on
the moral question, they recognize no one as having greater
authority.

... I hear there is talk among the business people of setting up a
third party and nominating Hoover. Two things the next President
must know--Europe and America, European conditions and American
conditions. The President of the United States must be his own
Secretary of State. We need administration of our internal affairs
and wise guidance economically. Hoover can give these. He has the
knowledge and he has the faculty. He has the confidence of Europe
and the confidence of America. He is not a Democrat, nor is he a
Republican. He voted for Wilson, for Roosevelt, and McKinley. But
he is sane, progressive, competent. The women are strong for him
and there are fifteen million of them who will vote this year. It
would not surprise me to see him nominated on either ticket, and I
believe I will vote for him now as against anybody else.

But I must quit talking politics because I am going out of it
entirely, completely, and I really have been out of politics ever
since I left California. I have tried to take a broad non-partisan
view of things which is one of the reasons I have had hard
sledding. But I am going without a grouch, without a complaint or
a criticism--with a great admiration for Wilson and with a
thorough knowledge of his defects; and with a more sympathetic
attitude toward my colleagues than any can have who do not know
the circumstances as well as I do. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO ADMIRAL CARY GRAYSON

Washington, January 5, 1920

MY DEAR ADMIRAL,--As you know, I am contemplating resigning. It
has been my purpose to wait until such time as the President was
well enough to see me and talk the matter over with him. I
understand from Mr. Tumulty that the President is prepared to name
my successor, and that it would not in any way add to his
embarrassment to fill my place in the immediate future. I would
like to know if this is the fact, for my course will be shaped
accordingly. Two years ago I had an offer of fifty thousand a year
which I put aside because I thought it my duty to stay while the
war was on. When Mr. McAdoo resigned, this offer was renewed but I
then thought that I should await the conclusion of formal peace,
which all expected would come soon. While the President was West,
I promised that I would take the matter up with him on his return,
and since then I have been waiting for his return to strength. I
need not tell you that I am delighted to know that he is in such
condition now as to turn to matters that in the best of health are
vexatious, if this is the fact.

My sole reason for resigning is that I feel that I am entitled to
have assurance as to the future of my family and myself. I have
been in public life twenty-one years and have less than nothing in
the way of private means. ... And having given the better part of
my life to the public, I feel that I must now regard the interest
of those dependent upon me. I wish you would be perfectly frank
with me, for I would do nothing that with your knowledge you would
think would make against the welfare of our Chief. Cordially,

FRANKLIN K LANE



TO HERBERT C. PELL, JR. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington, January 31, 1920

MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN,-- ... It is our boast and our glory that we
have a form of government under which men can make their
conception of society into law, if they can persuade their
neighbors that their dream is one that will benefit all. There is
nothing more absurd than to contend that the last word has been
spoken as to any of our institutions, that all experimenting has
ended and that we have come to a standstill. ... We are growing.
But this does not mean that all change must be growth and that we
can not test by history, especially by our own experiences and
knowledge, the value of whatever is proposed as a substitute for
what is. The dog that dropped the meat to get the shadow of a
bigger piece is the classical warning. We are for what is, not
because it is the absolute best but because it has worked well. It
is sacred only because it has been useful. Until a system of
government, or of economics, or of home life, can be demonstrated
to be an improvement on what we have, we shall not hysterically
and fancifully forsake those which have served us thus far.

Our Government is not our master but our tool, adaptable to the
uses for which it was designed; our servant, responsive to our
call. This makes revolution an absurdity. But it also makes a
sense of responsibility a necessity. And while we may not have
broken down in this regard we certainly have weakened. We have
proceeded in the belief that automatically all men would come to
see things as we do, have a sense of the value of our traditions
and a consciousness of the deep meanings of our national
experiences. The things we believed in we have not taught. Hence
the need for such institutions as the Constitutional League which,
however, can not do for each of us the duty that is ours of living
the spirit of our Constitution. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO HON. WOODROW WILSON THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, February 5, 1920

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,--It is with deep regret that I feel
compelled to resign the commission with which you saw fit to honor
me, by appointing me to a place in your Cabinet, now almost seven
years ago. If it will meet your convenience I would suggest that I
be permitted to retire on the first of March.

With the conditions which make this step necessary you are
familiar. I have served the public for twenty-one years, and that
service appeals to me as none other can, but I must now think of
other duties.

The program of administration and legislation looking to the
development of our resources, which I have suggested from time to
time, is now in large part in effect, or soon will come into
effect through the action of Congress.

I return this Department into your hands with very real gratitude
that you have given me the opportunity to know well a working
force holding so many men and women of singular ability and rare
spirit.

I trust that you may soon be so completely restored to health that
the country and the world may have the benefit of the full measure
of your strength in the leadership of their affairs. The
discouragements of the present are, I believe, only temporary. The
country knows that for America to stand outside the League of
Nations will bring neither pride to us nor confidence to the
world.

Believe me, my dear Mr. President, always, cordially and
faithfully yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO FRANK W. MONDELL

Washington, February 13, 1920

MY DEAR MR. MONDELL,--I wish to acknowledge, with the warmest
appreciation, your letter of yesterday, and to say that I am
literally forced out of public life by my lack of resources. The
little property that I have been able to save is all gone in an
effort to make both ends meet, and I find myself at fifty-five
without a dollar, in debt, and with no assurance as to the future.
I assure you that it is with the deepest regret that I leave
public life for I like it, and the public have treated me
handsomely, especially the men in Congress with whom I have had to
deal, and not the least of these, yourself.

I should like to stay, especially so, that we could put into
effect some of the legislation for which we have been fighting,
such as the oil bill, the power bill, and the farms-for-soldiers
bill. I shall leave a set of regulations as to the oil leases
ready for operation. The power bill will come into effect soon, I
hope. I am responsible for the three-headed commission, but it was
the only chance I saw of getting any unity as between the
different branches of the government.

Letters are still coming in from the boys who want to go on farms,
and I hope that we will be able to lead Congress to see that this
is a farsighted measure.

I thank you very much for your many courtesies to me. I trust that
your career may be one of still greater usefulness and expanding
opportunity. With the warmest regards, cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

Late in the year 1919, Lane wrote to James E. Gregg:--"... The
soldier-farms bill has been reported favorably by the Committee on
Public Lands to the House, but has not yet been taken up for
consideration on the floor. ... Of course, some of the opposition
has been by those who say the plan does not do something for all
of the soldiers, but this is hardly a good objection, as no other
constructive suggestion seems to have been made by any one that
would do anything for any of the soldiers, except the cash bonus,
which I believe is altogether impossible, improvident, and not in
the interest either of the country or the soldier."



TO ROBERT W. DE FOREST

Washington, February, 1920

MY DEAR MR. DE FOREST,--I do not know that I have received another
letter which has made me feel as conscious of the gravity of the
step I have taken as has yours. I have accumulated much in twenty
years of public life that ought to be forever at the service of
the public, and if I were alone in the world I would not think of
going out. But I must think now for a time in a narrower field.
Your own career shows that without holding office a man may do a
great good and give wide public service. Perhaps this opportunity
may be mine.

I shall be in New York soon and I hope very much to see you and
see you often. Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



XII

POLITICAL COUNSEL-LINCOLN'S EYES 1920

Suggestions to Democratic Nominee for President--On Election of
Senators--Lost Leaders--Lincoln's Eyes--William James's Letters


TO WILLIAM PHELPS ENO

Saugatuck, July 5, [1920]

Here I am at your desk looking out of your window into your trees,
up the gentle rise of your formal garden into the brilliant crown
of rambler roses above the stone gateway.

This is a very delightful picture. The sun is just beginning to
pour into the garden. He is looking through the apple trees and
having hard work to make even a splash of golden green upon the
lawn, but the silver spruce and the tiara of roses get the full
measure of his morning smile and are doing their best to show that
they understand, appreciate, and are glad. Oh, it is a great
morning!

And on the water side it has been even more stimulating, I have
walked along the stone wall, the water is down, very low, the boat
is stranded, like some sleeping animal, with its tether lying
loose along the pebbly strand. The gulls are crying to each other
that there is promise of a gulletfull. Nearer shore the fish are
leaping--only one or two I think but they make just enough noise
to make one realize that there is life in the smooth water, that
it is more than a splendid silver mirror for the sun which streams
across it. I disturbed a solitary king-fisher as I went out to the
wharf. He rose from his perch upon the rope, circled about for a
minute and then settled back, on his watch for breakfast.

It is altogether lovely, a quiet, gentle, kindly morning, such as
you have often seen, no doubt, when Judah Rock is making its giant
fight to rise triumphant from the sea.

But this is not a bit of geologic prophecy nor a Chapter I. to a
love story, that I am writing. This is a bread-and-butter letter.
I have been your guest and I am telling you that I have enjoyed
myself. But you, of course, wish something more than the bald
statement that I like your place and that your bread was good and
your butter sweet. Yes, you deserve more, for this place is an
expression of yourself. No one can be here and not see you at
every turn, even though you may be right now in Paris "making the
way straight." You have put your love of beauty, your restrained
love for color, and your exceptional sense of balance into the
whole establishment. It is a man's house--things are made for
use; the chairs will stand weight; the couches are not fluff; one
can lean with safety on the tables. But everywhere the eye is
satisfied. My bed is beautiful, French I fancy, yet it is comfort
itself. The lamp beside my bed is a dull bit of bronze which does
not poke itself into your sleepy eye, yet you know that it fits
the need, not only for light but for satisfaction to the eyes
after the light comes. And the bath tub--may I speak of a bath tub
in a bread-and-butter letter?--the bath tub is not too long--do
you ever suffer from the long, long stretch into the cold water at
your back and the imperfect support to the head which imperils
your entire submergence?--your bath tub is not too long, and I
grab it on both sides to get out. And as I dry myself I look down
into that garden of precise, trimmed and varied green upon which
the rambler roses smile.

It is well to have had money. No Bolshevism comes out of such a
place as this. It makes no challenge to the envy of the submerged
tenth. It has not ostentation. It gives off no glare, and it is
all used. For men who can put money to such use, who do not over-
indulge their own love for things of beauty, nor build for
luxurious living, but mould a bit of seashore, some trees and a
rambling house into an expression of their own dignified and
balanced natures, for such men I am quite sure there is or will
be, no social peril from the Red.

And may I close with a word, an inadequate and most feeble word,
as to the Lady of the House who so perfectly complements the
beauty and the refinement of her setting. She would make livable
and lovable a shack, and she would draw to it those who think high
thoughts. She has an aura of sympathy and companionability which
makes her one with the healing earth and the warming, encompassing
sunshine; May you and she give many more sojourners as much of the
right stimulus as you have given yours affectionately,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO ROLAND COTTON SMITH

New York, July 9, [1920]

MY DEAR PADRE,--Oh, that I could reply to you in kind, but alas
and alack! the gift divine has been denied me. My Nancy comes to
me tomorrow--Praise be to Allah! and I shall duly, and in
appropriate and prideful language, I trust, present her with your
mellifluous lines.

When the spirits Good and Bad will permit me to visit Ipswich I
cannot say. Are Doctors of the carnal or the spiritual? They hold
me. So soon as I was given a few ducats these banditti rose to rob
me. Polite, they are, these modern sons of Dick Turpin, and clever
indeed, for they contrive that you shall be helpless, that you may
not in good form resist their calculated, schemed, coordinated
blood-drawing. And I had as lief have a Sioux Medicine man dance
a one-step round my camp fire, and chant his silly incantation for
my curing, as any of these blood pressure, electro-chemical, pill,
powder specialists. Give me an Ipswich witch instead. Let her lay
hands on me. Soft hands that turn away wrath. Have you such or did
your ancestors, out of fear of their wives, burn them all?

Well, this is no way for a sober, sick, sedate citizen to be
talking to a Man of the Cloth, even tho' he be on vacation. Have
you read any of Leonard Merrick's novels? CONRAD IN QUEST OF HIS
YOUTH, for instance? If not, do so now. They are what you literati
would designate as G. S.--great stuff.

Give me another cheering line, do! For I live in a world that is
not altogether lovely.

F. K. L.



TO JAMES M. COX DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT

New York City, July 25, 1920

MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--I shall presume upon your flattering invitation
to speak frankly, not in the hope that I may in any way enlighten
a man of such experience and success, but that I may possibly
accentuate some point that you may recognize as important, which
in the rush of things, might be overlooked. If I should appear in
the least didactic, I beg that you charge it to my desire for
definiteness, and my inability to give the atmosphere of a
personal conversation.

A WORD AS TO GENEROSITY

The unforgivable sin in our politics is a lack of generosity.
Smallness, meanness, extreme partisanship, littleness of any kind
--these are not in accord with the American conception of an
American leader. A clever thing may gratify a man's own immediate
partisan following, but the impression on the country at large is
not good. We want a FULL, adequate appreciation of the fact that
there is hardly more than a film that divides Republican from
Democrat; indeed, in that fact lies our hope of success. We must
win FIRST VOTERS and Independents.

Let me be concrete;--The war was won by Republicans as well as
Democrats. ... Therefore, I would say, give generously of
appreciation to the Republicans, who raised Liberty Loans, who
administered food affairs, who put their plants at the Nation's
service, who directed the various activities, such as aeroplane
making, and transporting and financing during the war. ...

A day has come when partisanship with its personalities and
bitterness does not satisfy the public. We have seen things on too
large a scale now to believe in the importance of trifles, or in
the adequacy of trifling men. We must have men who are large
enough to be international and national at the same time, to be
politicians and yet American statesmen, to subordinate always the
individual ambition and the party advantage to the national good.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

I feel that we have not tried to interpret the League of Nations
to our people in terms of America's advantage. We Democrats are
looked upon as International visionaries because we have not been
willing to deal practically with a practical situation.

The League is not anti-national, it is anti-war; its aim is to
defer war and reduce the chances of war between nations. This is
to be effected, not by creating a super-nation, or by binding us
to abide by the decisions of a super-national tribunal, but by
establishing the method and machinery by which the opinion of the
world may become effective as against those inclined toward war.

By adopting the League, we do not pledge ourselves to any war
under any circumstances, without the consent of Congress. And
because we have not been willing to say this, we are now in danger
of losing the one chance the world has had to get the nations
together.

Loyalty to the President's principles does not mean loyalty to his
methods. They have been wrong as to the League, in my opinion. You
could deal with Congress, even a Republican Congress, on this
matter, I believe, and come out with the essentials. ...

Don't let Bryan get away from you, if you can help it, because he
really represents a great body of moral force and opinion. But
don't pay the price to Bryan or Wilson or Hearst or Murphy or any
one else, of being untrue to your own belief as to the wise and
practicable national policy, that you may gain their support.

There couldn't be a better year in which to lose, for something
real. You can not win as a Wilson man, nor as a Murphy man, nor as
a Hearst man. The nation is crying out for leadership, not pussy-
footing nor pandering. Be wrong strongly if you must be wrong,
rather than be right weakly. You can only win as a Cox man, one
who owns himself, has his own policies, is willing to go along,
not with a bunch of bosses, but with any reasonable man, asks for
counsel from all classes of men and women, does not fear defeat,
and expects a victory that will be more a party victory than a
personal one, and more a people's victory than a partisan one.

YOUR ENEMIES

Pick a few enemies and pick them with discretion. Chiefly be FOR
things. But be against things and persons, too, so that the nation
can visualize you as leading in a contest between the constructive
forces and the destructive critical forces.

And the thing to be against is the man who is looking backward,
who talks of the "good old days," meaning (a) money in politics,
buying votes in blocks of five; (b) human beings as commodities,
Homestead strikes, and instructions how to vote in the pay
envelop; (c) privately controlled national finances as against the
Federal Reserve System; (d) taxation of the poor through indirect
taxes on pretext of protecting industry; (e) seventy-five cent
wheat; (f) dollar a day labor; (g) the saloon-bossed city; (h) no
American Merchant Marine; all goods carried abroad under foreign
flags--those were the "good old days," for which the Standpat
Republican is sighing.

But the world has moved in the past twenty-five years, and America
not only has moved it, but has kept in the lead. ...

WHAT WE WANT

A greater America--that is our objective.

We want our unused lands put to use.

We want the farm made more attractive through better rural
schools, better roads everywhere, more frequent connection between
town and farm, better means of distribution of products.

We want more men with garden homes instead of tenement houses.

We want our waters, that flow idly to the sea, put to use; more
stored water for irrigation, more hydroelectric plants to supply
industries, railroads and home and farming activities. There
should be electric lights upon the farm, and power for the sewing
machine and the churn. It can be done because it is being done on
the best farms of the far West.

We want our streams controlled so that they do not wash away our
cities, farms, and railroads, and so as to redeem the submerged
bottom lands for the next generation. ...

We want fewer boys and girls, men and women, who can not read or
write the language of our laws, newspapers, and literature, ...
that those who live with us may really be of us. ...

We should dignify the profession of teaching as the foundation
profession of modern democratic life. ...

We want definite and continuing studies made of our great
industrial fiscal and social problems. The framing of our policies
should not be left to emotional caprice, or the opportunism of any
group of men, but should be the result of sympathetic and deep
study by the wisest men we have, irrespective of their politics.
There should be industrial conferences, such as those recently
inaugurated, to arrive at the ways by which those who furnish the
financial arm of industry and those who furnish the working arm of
industry may most profitably and productively be brought into
cooperation. ... Through the study of what has been done we can
give direction to our national thought and work with a will toward
a condition in which labor will have recognition and be more
certainly insured against the perils of non-occupation and old
age, and capital become entitled to a sure return, because more
constantly and productively USED.

Then, too, we need a study made of the health conditions of our
children,--of the reason for the large percentage of undeveloped
and subnormal children who are brought to our schools, and the
larger number who do not reach maturity. ... Underfed boys and
ignorant boys are the ones who turn to Bolshevism. We can not
stand pat and let things drift without their drifting not to the
"good old days" but to bad new days.

Why should not our system of taxation be subject for the
profoundest study? ... We must find ways by which the individual
may have tools for production which his skill and foresight and
thrift have created and yet take for society in taxes what society
itself gives. ... There must come to society an increasingly large
portion of the wealth created by each generation through
inheritance taxes. Thus all our boys and girls will start the race
of life more nearly at the scratch. This will be for the making of
the race and for the enriching of the whole of society. Yet there
must be saved, surely, the call upon the man of talent for every
ounce of energy that he has and every spark of imagination.

We want our soldiers and sailors to be more certain of our
gratitude and to have an opportunity to realize their own ambition
for themselves. We must not be driven into any foolish or
impossible course by the pressure of a desire to win their votes.
On the contrary, the pressure should come from us who had not the
opportunity to risk our lives, that those who did take such risk
shall be highly honored. For those who will identify themselves
with the tilling of the soil, there should be farms, small yet
complete, for which they can gradually pay on long time. For
others there should be such education for professional or
industrial life as they desire. For others, a home, not a
speculation in real estate, but a piece of that American soil for
which they fought. For these things we can pay without extra
financial strain, if we dedicate to this purpose merely the
interest upon the monies which other nations owe us. The extent of
our willingness to help these men is not to be measured by their
request but rather by our ability and their lasting welfare. ...

We are to extend our activities into all parts of the world. Our
trade is to grow as never before. Our people are to resume their
old place as traders on the seven seas. We are to know other
peoples better and make them all more and more our friends,
working with them as mutually dependent factors in the growth of
the world's life. For this day a definite foreign policy must be
made, one that is fair; to which none can take exception. Our
people shall go abroad for their good and the good of other lands,
with their skilled hands and their resourceful minds, and their
energetic capital, and they must be assured of support abroad, as
at home, in every honest venture.

TRUE AMERICANISM

AMERICA's ambition is to lead the world in showing what Democracy
can effect. This would be my conception of the large idea of the
campaign. It involves much more than the League of Nations. This
is our hour of test. We must not be little in our conception of
ourselves, nor yet have a conceit that is self-destructive.

America must prove herself a living thing, with policies that are
adequate to new conditions. ... We wish an international
settlement that will enable us to be more supremely great as
nationalists. This is the significance of the League of Nations.
It is a plan of hope. It is the only plan which the mind of man
has evolved which any number of nations has ever been willing to
accept as a buffer against devil-made war. ... It is a monumental
experiment which this century and other centuries will talk of and
think of and write of because it involves the lives of men and
women under it, and there is the possibility of giving our full
thought and energy and wealth to making life more enjoyable and
finer instead of more horrible and cruel. While other nations are
in the mood, we should agree with them, that we may spend our
lives and money in a rivalry of progress rather than in a
competition in the art of scientific boy-murder. There are times
when war is the ultimate and necessary appeal, but those times
should be made fewer by American genius and sacrifice.

And our prestige and power should not be wasted at this critical
time, because out of some fecund mind may come an abstract and
legalistic plan for some other kind of League. Let us be
practical. Let us go to the fullest limit with other nations who
are now willing to join hands with us, yet never yielding the
Constitutional Congressional control over our war making. ... Let
us take thought to-day of our opportunities else these may not
exist tomorrow. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO TIMOTHY SPELLACY

August 2, 1920

MY DEAR TIM,--Here you are, when you are sick yourself, worrying
about me. Now, don't give any concern to any matter excepting
getting thoroughly well, just as soon as possible. You are doing
too much. You are not resting enough, and you are worrying. You
have got enough to take care of yourself and your family for the
rest of your lives, you have the respect of every one who knows
you, and the affection of every one who knows you well; in fact,
you have nothing to work for, and every reason to be contented. So
I suggest that you learn, in your later years, how to bum. I have
no doubt that Mike will come across something very good in
Colombia, if he doesn't get the fever, or break his blooming neck.
I have never seen so aggressive a group of old men as you fellows
are. You will not admit that you are more than twenty-one. ...

With my warmest regards, as always cordially yours, FRANKLIN K.
LANK

With the presentation of an Irish flag, August 10, 1920.



To Edward L. Doheny, with the cordial esteem of Franklin K. Lane.

This flag is a symbol. It stands for the finest thing in a human
being--aspiration--the seed of the Divine. It represents the
noblest hope of a thwarted and untiring people. It makes a call to
the heart of every generous-minded man, and gives vivifying
impulse to the home-loving of all faces. It is a symbol of a
people to whom most of the arts were known when England and
America were forest wastes, whose women have made the world
beautiful by their virtue, and whose men have made the world free
by their courage.



To Franklin D. Roosevelt New York, August, [1920]

DEAR OLD MAN,--This is hard work--to say that I can't be with you
on this great day in your life. [Footnote: Notification ceremonies
following Franklin D. Roosevelt's nomination as Vice-president by
the Democratic party.] You know that only the mandate of the
medical autocrats would keep me away, not that I could do you any
good by being there, but that you might know that many men like
myself take pride in you, rejoice in your opportunity, and keep
our faith in Democracy because out of it can come men of ideals
like yourself. I know/that you will not allow yourself to become
cheap, undignified, or demagogical. Remember, that East and West
alike, we want gentlemen to represent us, and we ask no man to be
a panderer or a hypocrite to get our votes. Frankness, and
largeness, and simplicity, and a fine fervor for the right, are
virtues that some must preserve, and where can we look for them if
not from the Roosevelts and the Delanos?

It is a great day for you and for all of us. Be wise! Don't be
brilliant. Get plenty of sleep. Do not give yourself to the
handshakers. For now your word carries far, and it must be a word
worthy of all you stand for. I honestly, earnestly ask God's
blessing on you. As always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

Our love to your dear Mother,--proud happy Mother,--and to
Eleanor.



To Mrs. George Ehle

Katonah, September, 1920

TO THE EHLE,--Now this is a pleasure to have a minute's talk with
you in the cool under an apple tree. You are gay, with Grouitches,
and other festive creatures, while I am glum, gloomy and
lugubrious. You know this is a novel experience for me to be in
care of two nurses and a doctor, not to speak of a wife; but I am
obedient, docile, humble, tractable, and otherwise dehumanized.
The plan here is to follow my boy's statement of the modern
prescription for women, "Catch 'em young; treat 'em rough; tell
'em nothing." Well, they don't catch me young, but otherwise the
prescription is filled. They reduced me to weakness, dependence,
and a sort of sour-mash, and now they say that on this foundation
they will build me up. Tho' I am still to lose some weight, being
only twenty-four pounds under my average for twenty years. I will
emerge from this spot, if I emerge at all, a regular Apollo, and
will do Russian dances for you on that lovely lawn under the
mulberry tree. And what happy memories of that spot I do have, and
they cluster about you, with your soft hand and your understanding
eye and your sympathetic mouth. You don't mind my making love to
you in this distant fashion do you? Well, this is a charming jail,
but jail it is after all, for I can't flee, though all the leisure
in the world were mine--and it irks an American eagle or eaglet.

Dear Anne has been improving here. She now is jolly, tho' it has
been hot. Responsibility kills her, and I thrive on it.

I believe I will take that place we went to see on the Shepaug.
Ryan, my friend, is to manage it. Well, we have a place of refuge,
eh? where the wicked and the boring and the ununderstanding cannot
pursue.

But oh! my dreams do not come true these days, the magic touch is
lost, the Fairies have been hurt in their feelings, my Daemon has
deserted, and instead of beauty and joy and power, sweet content
and warm friendship, I am struggling merely to live--and to what
end?

Please go into my room some morning early and look out to the
gate, the cobwebs must be diamond-sprinkled on the circle at the
doorway, the catalpa trees must stand like stiff, prim, proper,
knickerbockered footmen, on either side of the hedge, the ground
must rise in a very gradual swell and culminate in the rose-
covered gate. Throw it a kiss for me--(I wonder if there could be
any roses left?). All of it is a lovely bit of man's handiwork,
and Mr. Eno should have been born poor so that his planning mind,
conceiving things of beauty in regular and balanced form, could
have been used by many.

Tell him I got his nice letter and will drop him a line one day.
With much love,

FRANK LANE



TO ISADORE B. DOCKWEILER

Washington, September 25, 1920

MY DEAR DOCKWEILER,--It is a great disappointment that I am not
able to speak in California this year, I wished so much to say a
word that might be helpful to Senator Phelan. I helped in his
election six years ago, and I wanted to be able to say to those
whom I then addressed, that Phelan had thoroughly made good in
Washington. He has been strong, honest, courageous, loyal to
California and the country, and at every minute he has been at the
service of his constituents. That is much to say, isn't it? Well,
every word is true. ...

These things I know, for I have watched him through the past six
years and for many years before. Indeed, it is more than thirty
years now since we first joined with boyish enthusiasm in the
activities of the Young Men's Democratic League, and always I have
wondered at his willingness to make himself the target of so much
criticism because of his loyalty to convictions that have not
pleased those in political or social power. He thinks; he does not
take orders. And you can rely on his being superior to the
partisan phase of any real issue. This self-respecting, or self-
owned individual is the sort of man we need to promote in our
political life, or else we will soon find ourselves back in the
pre-Roosevelt days of political invertebrates. I found in
Washington the secret of the exceeding great authority which the
older states carry in Congress, they return their Senators and
Congressmen, term after term, and give them opportunity to rise to
positions of eminence in the national legislature. The usefulness
of a Senator is not to be measured by the roundness of his
periods, nor even by the soundness of his ideas. He must pass
through a period of impatient waiting before his status is such
that he can really have the opportunity to have his ideas
considered seriously. By returning men who have been faithful, the
State strengthens itself in Washington and eventually gains
greatly in prestige, as in the case of Julius Kahn. Senator Phelan
has now passed through this initial period of gaining status, and
his future will be one of an assured and much strengthened
position among his colleagues. Not to return Phelan will mean a
loss at Washington that California can ill afford at this critical
time, for in the national mind he is identified with her prime
concerns.

... These are to be most momentous times ... Just where we are
going no one knows, but clearly the people here, as elsewhere, are
bent upon testing the value of Democracy as a cooperative
organization of men and women, and are determined to make of it a
fuller expression of human capacities and hopes. We must feel our
way carefully at such a time, but we must act constructively, else
there will surely come a dangerous radical reaction. Sympathy must
be checked by wisdom, a wise knowledge of man's limitations and
tendencies, that we do not take on burdens we cannot safely carry.
Yet we must dare, and dare purposefully. What can this Democracy
do for men and women--that is the super-question which rises like
Shasta and follows one throughout the day, dominating every
prospect. And the answer must be wrought out of the sober thought
and the proved experience of our statesmen. ... Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



In September, 1920, he wrote,--"Things look dark to me
politically. The little Wilson (as distinguished from the Great
Wilson) is now having his day. Cox is making a manly fight on
behalf of the President's League, but the administration is
sullen, is doing nothing. Cox will be defeated not by those who
dislike him but by those who dislike Wilson and his group. This
seems mighty unjust."

To Hall McAllister

Katonah, September 25 [?], 1920

MY DEAR HALL,--This paper is a concession to my love for color, it
is not yellow, but golden, and to make the touch truly Californian
I should write with a blue pencil.

I cannot write as gaily or as bravely as you did, for I have been
pretty well beaten down to my knees. My nights are so unforgivably
bad--wakened up two or three times, always with this Monster
squeezing my heart in his Mammoth hand--By God, it is something
Dante overlooked ...

Take my advice, dear Hall, and avoid doing any of the things which
the 3793 Doctors I have paid tell me cause this thing--among them
are;--smoking, eating, drinking, swearing, working.

You can recover partially--not wholly under any circumstances--if
you arrive at a state of Nirvana before death. ... Gay life this,
my boy! I've been so wicked and fast and devilish and hoggish and
gluttonous and always rotten and riotous that I needs must spend a
few months in this agony by way of preliminary atonement before I
may get even a chance at purgatory.

You know that sometimes in the most terrific crushing pain, I
laugh, at the thought that my steady years of drive and struggle
to help a lot of people to get justice, or a chance, should be
gloriously crowned by an ironical God with an end that would make
a sainted Christian, in Nero's time, regret his premature taking-
off. ...

Tell that most charming of all women, who is your sister, that her
noble man was in great good fortune; and I envy him because the
Gods showed their love for him even up to the last. The wicked,
torturing devils respected his gay spirit as he passed along and
forgot to fill him full of arrows, poisoned arrows, as he ran the
gauntlet down to the River. Her letters are beauteous reflections
of her thoroughbred soul, and they give delight to Anne and
myself. ... Yours as always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



TO MRS. GEORGE EHLE

Bethel, October [3], 1920

That is so charming and gracious a letter that it must be answered
within the day, not that any word in kind can be returned, but the
spirit may be echoed. We may be short in words but not in feeling.
Let me tell you, Lady Ehle, about this place. It is Nirvana-in-
the-Wilderness, the Sacred, Serene Spot. Beautiful, for it is a
ridge surrounded by mountains--or "mountings"--of gold and green,
russet and silver. Noiseless, no dogs bark or cats mew or autos
honk. Peaceful--no business. Nothing offends. Isn't that Nirvana?
No poverty. People independent but polite. Children smile back
when you talk to them, and you do. And the sky has clouds that
color and that cast shadows on purpling mountains and stretches of
meadow. Yes, this is one lovely spot over which a man named
Gehring presides, unofficially, modestly, gently; he has given it
purpose for being, for here he does good by healing, and some of
his wealthy patients have put up a handsome inn in his honor--and
they have said so in a bronze tablet over the mantel.

How much good he can do me I cannot say, but he is trying, Oh,
ever so hard to touch my trouble-centre, and I shall give him a
full chance yet awhile.

Wouldn't it be splendid if Shepaug were assured, or any other
place of simple beauty to which we could retire to commune with
the things that, alas, one only discovers to be the really great
things, the worth while things, late in life. Daily would we
foregather beside that stream to build some kind of altar to the
God of Things as we Hope they may sometime Be. ...

Give my regards to the Duke of Saugatuck and tell him that his
picture on horseback is good enough to enlarge--and then I want
one.

And to you, The Ehle, may the peace that gay souls need and seldom
get, and the joy that good souls long for, be with you always. And
do write some more!

F. K. L.



TO BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER

Bethel, [October 28, 1920]

MY DEAR B. I.,--It has been along time since your letter came, but
until now I have not felt that I could write. Most of the time I
have been in pain and I have also been much discouraged over the
condition of my health. No one wants to hear a man talk of his
aches and I haven't much else on my mind. I am beginning to crawl
a bit health-wards, I think; at any rate I am moving on that
assumption.

[Illustration with caption: FRANKLIN K. LANE IN 1917. TAKEN IN
LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK]

What a hell of a condition the land is in politically. Cowardice
and hypocrisy are slated to win, and makeshift and the cheapest
politics are to take possession of national affairs. Better even
obstinacy and ego-mania! Cox, I think, has made a gallant fight.
He is to be beaten because Wilson is as unpopular as he once was
popular. Oh! if he had been frank as to his illness, the people
would have forgotten everything, his going to Paris, his refusal
to deal with the mild Reservationists--everything would have been
swept away in a great wave of sympathy. But he could not be frank,
he who talked so high of faith in the people distrusted them; and
they will not be mastered by mystery. So he is so much less than a
hero that he bears down his party to defeat.

And after election will come revolt in the Republican party, for
it is too many-sided for a long popularity.

I am sorry to be out of it all, but the Gods so willed. I did want
to help Phelan. The country will think that what he has stood for,
as to California matters, especially oil and Japan, has been
repudiated if he is not returned. He was California incarnate in
Washington.

Remember me to the Lady and the Soldier. Always your friend,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John W. Hallowell

Bethel, November 3, 1920

MY DEAR JACK,--You have so much idle time hanging, dragging,
festooning on round and about your hands that I want to give you a
job, something to do. Eh, what!

I have taken it into my head, caput, cranium, that I will read
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and as the only
copy here is too poorly printed to read, and furthermore as I wish
to own said work myself, I would that you make purchase of same
and send it to me. Now, I do not wish an expensive copy, nor a
large copy, nor a heavy copy. Therefore I think it would be best
to buy a good second-hand set, say in half-leather--perhaps you
can get it in six or eight volumes--and it must not be heavy,
because I read in bed. About the size of an ordinary novel would
be very good, and pretty good sized type--leaded not solid. Yes,
the more I think of a second-hand set, the better I like the idea
--old binding but strong, old paper but light, old type but clear.
Twelve dollars I enclose for a second-hand set. By devoting twenty
dollars worth of time to the search I know you can get a second
hand set for twelve dollars. That is uneconomical, but think of
the fun you will have. I suggest to you that this was the very
thing you needed to do to bring perfect contentment into your
life. Search for Gibbon, pretty backs, good type, light in weight
for twelve dollars. Oh what joy you will have! Really I should be
selfish enough to do it myself but now that I have said so much
about it I can't withdraw this boon. ...

Well, get Gibbon and "with all thy getting get understanding."

F. K. L.



TO JOHN W. HALLOWETT

Bethel, November 12, [1920]

MY DEAR JACK,--I said nothing of the kind to myself. This is what
I said, "Now I want a Gibbon. Not a show-off set but a useful
one--light and small and well bound. How can I get it? Cotter in
New York? What does Cotter know of learning and books of learning?
What interest does New York take in such things anyway? There are
second-hand stores there but they must be filled with novels and
such trumpery. No one in New York ever read Gibbon--ninety-nine
percent never heard of him. So why should I send to New York? No,
Boston is the place. There is the city of the Erudite, the Home of
Lodge, and incidentally of Parkman, Bancroft, Thayer, Morse,
Fiske, and all others who have minds to throw back into the other
days, and make pictures of what has been. Every house there has
its Gibbon, of course, and some must, in the course of nature,
fall into the hands of the dealers. So to Boston,--and who else
but Jack Hallowell who knows what a book is, how in respectability
it should be bound, and what size book is a pleasure and what a
burden. A man of learning, identified with scholarship, through
his athletic course in Harvard, and withal a man of business who
will not pay more than a thing is worth. Ideal! Hence the letter
and consequent trouble to good Jack Hallowell, who as per usual
"done his damnedest for a friend," as Bret Harte says, in writing
a perfect epitaph. ...

The reason I sent twelve dollars needs explanation. I put that
limit because a very handsome edition of eleven volumes sold for
that price to a friend of mine. It was red morocco, tooled, etc.,
and I thought surely twelve dollars would buy something as good as
I needed.

Now you have the whole mysterious story. Make the most of it as
Patrick Henry suggested to George III.

I have your dear Mother's book and will write her when I have read
it. I also have a letter saying that Hoover has named me as
treasurer of his twenty-three million or billion fund. ...

Thank you for your kindness and write me as often as you can. ...

F. K. L.



TO ROBERT LANSING

Bethel, Maine, November 10, [1920]

MY DEAR LANSING,--It is good to see that letter-head, but aren't
you afraid to enter into competition with Mr. Tumulty, who has
now, I see, bought the old Shepard mansion and will settle in
Washington. How do they do it with the high cost of living what it
is? ... The transmutation of brass into gold is becoming a
commonplace.

To-night's paper speaks of Knox as probable Secretary of State.
... Tell me where the opposition is to come from--who are to lead
us? ... All possible leaders have been submerged, squelched,
drowned out, in the past eight years. I wish the whole country had
gone unanimously for Harding. Then we might have started on a
fresh, clean footing to create two parties that represent liberal
and conservative thought. As it is, I think you will see Hearst
and Johnson and La Follette try to capture the radicals of both
parties and make a new party of their own. Then I shall be with
all the rascals I have been fighting since boyhood--the Wall
Street rascals--as against the other group. But maybe the Lord
cares a bit for us after all.

I mend very slowly, but I delight in your recovery and wonder at
it. ... I do beg you will give me all the gossip of Washington
that you can, for I am here in a wilderness, beautiful but not
exciting. As always,

F. K. L.

To Carl Snyder

Bethel, November 13, [1920]

Dear Carl,--This is extremely disagreeable business, this of
repairs and restoration. I suppose I am doing fairly well
considering that I have been more than half a century getting my
gearings askew and awry. But I am taking orders now and say "Thank
you," when I get them. Just when I shall be well enough to take
hold again is not yet discoverable.

Strange how little news there is when you are above the clouds.
One must be local to be interested in ninety percent of what the
papers print. Make me a hermit for a year and I could see things
in the large I believe, and ignore the trifles which obscure real
vision. But a monk must be checked by a butcher. The ideal must be
translated into the possible. "Man cannot live on bread alone"--
nor on manna.

Outside it is snowing beautifully, across an insistent sun, the
fire is crackling and I do not know that I am ill but for the
staring bottles before me.

Give me a line when you have a free minute--and take to your
Beautiful Lady my warm regards.

F. K. L.

 To William R. Wheeler

Bethel, 17 [November], 1920

My dear Bill,--...I am mighty sorry to hear about the Lady Alice
Isabel. Funny that these women are like some damn fools, like
myself, and do things too strenuously, and then go bang. Damn that
Irish temperament, anyway! O God, that I had been made a stolid,
phlegmatic, non-nervous, self-satisfied Britisher, instead of a
wild cross between a crazy Irishman, with dreams, desires,
fancies, and a dour Scot, with his conscience and his logical
bitterness against himself,--and his eternal drive!

I can't tell you anything new about myself. I hope it is not a
delusion that I am growing slowly better. I cultivate that idea
anyway. ...

It was a slaughter, the election, and properly did it come to us.
Now be wise and you can have this land for many years. But foolish
conceit will put you out in four. ...I wish you Republicans had
carried all the South. I am glad for Lenroot--very! ... But
Phelan's defeat has about broken my heart and for Henderson and
Chamberlain and Thomas I am especially grieved. Well, it will be a
changed world in Washington, and I'm sorry I can't be in it and of
it.

Anne has gone to Washington to see Nancy who has not been well, so
I am alone but not for long. I get on all right. God bless you, my
dear old chap, and do rest awhile beneath your own fig tree. My
love to Alice. Affectionately as always,

F. K. L.

 To George Otis Smith

Bethel, [November] 18, [1920]

Dear George Otis,--I love this Maine of yours. It is beautiful,
and its people are good stuff--strong, wholesome, intelligent
young men. I like them greatly. I'd be content to sit right down
here and wait for whatever is to come. It is a place of serenity.
There is no rush, yet people live and the necessary things get
done. It doesn't have any Ford factories, but I rather fancy it
makes the men who go West and make the factories.

The autumn has been one long procession of gay banners on the
hillsides, and now that the snow has come the pines are blue and
the mountains purple; and mountains five thousand feet high are
just as good, more companionable, than mountains fifteen thousand
feet high. What is more lovely, stately and of finer color than a
line of these receding hills which walk away from you, as if they
continued clear across the continent?

I must get out against my wish, to have a lot more testing done--
for this doctor differs with the others--and I rather think he is
right. But I hope to get back here and enjoy this air. No wonder
this stock was for prohibition, the air itself is an intoxicant,
especially when the snow is on the ground and it comes to you
gently; it is as bracing as a cocktail, not a sensuous wine like
the Santa Barbara air--tell Vogelsang this--but I presume more
like the High Sierras, where the fishing is good.

I shall read your speeches with the deepest interest. Keep up the
publicity. It affects Congress and it justifies the good doctrine
we have preached. Cordially,

F. K. Lane

Have read the speeches and they are everything they should be.
Right theory, clear statement, conclusive facts. A few too many
figures perhaps, you should keep your prime figures in the air
longer so they can be visualized. This may be called juggling
figures in the right sense.

Lane

 To George W. Wickersham

Bethel, Maine, 18 [November, 1920]

My dear G. W.,--I have your good letter. By 'good' I mean many
things--well done as a bit of sketchy composition, a welcome
letter, kindly also in spirit, cheering, timely, telling of things
that interest the receiver, one, too, having the flavor of the
household whence it comes, altogether a good letter. I had one
also from Her; which I brutally answered with a preachment--in
pencil, too, for I can't write with comfort at a desk and, after
all, what have white paper and ink in common with these woods? I
am for harmony--a reconciler, like Harding. ...

Root, as you say, would give a good smack to the meal. The country
would at once say Harding knows how to set a good table. But tell
me--will he be a Taft? a McKinley? a Hayes? or a Grant? Pshaw! why
should I ask such a question? Who knows what a man will turn out
to be! Events may make him greater than any, or less. A war, a
bullet, a timely word of warning to a foreign power, a fierce
fight with some unliked home group, the right sort of a deal on
postal rates with newspapers and magazines--any one of these might
lift him into a national hero; while a sneaking act revealed, a
little too much caution, a period of business depression, would
send him tumbling out of the skies.

These be indeed no days for prophesying--Wilson gone, Clemenceau
gone, Venizelos gone,--Lloyd George alone left! The wise boy had
his election at the right moment, didn't he? Surely statesmanship
is four-fifths politics. Harding's danger, as I see it, will lie
in his timidity. He fears; and fear is the poison gas which comes
from the Devil's factory. Courage is oxygen, and Fear is carbon
monoxide. One comes from Heaven--so you find Wells says,--and the
other would turn the universe back into primeval chaos. Wilson, be
it said to his eternal glory, did not fear. They send word to me
from the inside that he believed in Cox's election up to the last
minute, although the whole Cabinet told him defeat was sure. He
"was right, and right would prevail"--surely such faith, even in
oneself, is almost genius!

I am glad you put Lincoln first in your list of great Americans. I
decided that question for myself when I came to hang some pictures
in my library. Washington or Lincoln on top? And Lincoln got it. I
have recently read all his speeches and papers, and the man is
true from the first day to the last. The same philosophy and the
same reasoning were good in 1861 as in 1841. He was large enough
for a great day--could any more be said of any one?

Lincoln made Seward and Chase and Stanton and Blair his mates. He
did not fear them. He wished to walk with the greatest, not with
trucklers and fawners, court satellites and panderers. His great
soul was not warm enough to fuse them--they were rebellious ore--
but his simplicities were not to be mastered by their elaborate
cogencies.

McKinley was simple in his nature, at bottom a dear boy of kind
heart, who put his hand into the big fist of Mark Hanna and was
led to glory.

Is Harding great and masterful in his simplicity, or trustful and
yielding? and if the latter where is the Hanna? Well, I don't want
to die in these next few months, anyway, till some questions are
answered. This would be a part of my Cabinet if I were Harding:--
Root, State; Hoover, Treasury; Warren of Michigan, Attorney-
General; Wood, War; Willard (of Baltimore)

You enviously write of my opportunity to read and contemplate. I
have done some of both. But that's a monk's life, and even a monk
has a cell of his own, and a bit of garden to play with; and he
can think upon a God that is his very own, an Israelitish
Providence; and, in his egotism, be content. Yes, with a cell and
a book and a garden and an intimate God, one should be satisfied
to forego even health. But I hold with old Cicero that the "whole
glory of virtue is in activity," and therefore I call my
discontent divine.

You speak of great Americans, and have named all four from
political life. I concur in your selection. Now what writers would
you say were most distinctly American in thought and most
influential upon our thought, men who a hundred years hence will
be regarded not great as literary men but as American social,
spiritual, and economic philosophers? It occurs to me that this
singular trio might be selected--Emerson, Henry George, and
William James. What say you?

Say "Hello" to the young Colonel for me.

F. K. L.

Lincoln haunted Lane's imagination, the humor, friendliness,
loneliness, and greatness of the man. This--written for no formal
occasion but to express part of his feeling--has found its way to
others who, too, reverence the great American.



Lincoln's Eyes

I never pass through Chicago without visiting the statue of
Lincoln by St. Gaudens and standing before it for a moment
uncovered. It is to me all that America is, physically and
spiritually. I look at those long arms and long legs, large hands
and feet, and I think that they represent the physical strength of
this country, its power and its youthful awkwardness. Then I look
up at the head and see qualities which have made the American--the
strong chin, the noble brow, those sober and steadfast eyes. They
were the eyes of one who saw with sympathy and interpreted with
common sense. They were the eyes of earnest idealism limited and
checked by the possible and the practicable. They were the eyes of
a truly humble spirit, whose ambition was not a love for power but
a desire to be supremely useful. They were eyes of compassion and
mercy and a deep understanding. They saw far more than they looked
at. They believed in far more than they saw. They loved men not
for what they were but for what they might become. They were
patient eyes, eyes that could wait and wait and live on in the
faith that right would win. They were eyes which challenged the
nobler things in men and brought out the hidden largeness. They
were humorous eyes that saw things in their true proportions and
in their real relationships. They looked through cant and pretense
and the great and little vanities of great and little men. They
were the eyes of an unflinching courage and an unfaltering faith
rising out of a sincere dependence upon the Master of the
Universe. To believe in Lincoln is to learn to look through
Lincoln's eyes.



To Benjamin Ide Wheeler

Bethel, 18 [November, 1920]

MY DEAR B. I.,--From both ends of this continent we talk to each
other. We have both retired from active things and can with some
degree of removal, and from some altitude, look upon the affairs
of men. Frankly, it challenges all my transcendental philosophy to
convince me that "deep love lieth under these pictures of time."
And yet I must so believe or die. It is a disheartening time--
Wilson, a wreck and beaten. Clemenceau, beaten and out. And now
Venizelos gone. Only Lloyd George, the crafty, quick-turning,
sometimes-lying, never-wholly-frank politician left, because he
called his election when spirits had not fallen.

And little men take their places, while Bolshevism drives Wrangel
into the sea, possesses all Russia and Siberia, and is a success
politically and militarily, tho' a failure economically and
socially. We have passed the danger of red anarchy in America, I
think, tho' no one should prophesy as to any event of to-morrow.
Communism, and socialism with it, have been made to pause. Yet
nothing constructive is opened by the world for men to think upon,
as a means of bettering their lot and answering the questions
flung to them by Russia, Germany, England, and our own home
conditions.

I can see no evidence of constructive statesmanship on this side
the water, excepting in Hoover. The best man in Congress is
Lenroot, and he writes me that unless the Republicans do something
more than fail to make mistakes that the Democrats will take the
power from them in another four years. But I am nothing for
parties. I cannot wait for an opposition to come in. I would like
to see the Republicans now address themselves to the problems of
the world at large and of this land. If Knox is to be Secretary of
State, as the rumor is, we will have Steel Trust Diplomacy,--which
will give us safety abroad, which is more than we have had for
some years--but it will be without vision, without love for
mankind. Root would give the Republicans great assurance and
confidence. He would make them smack their lips and feel that
Harding was not afraid of the best near him. Hoover may or may not
have a Cabinet place, but his brain is the best thing working in
America to-day, on our questions. If Penrose and Co. beat him they
will regret it,

If I were Harding I'd put Root, Lowden, Wood, Hoover, and Johnson
if he wanted it, into my Cabinet and I'd gather all the men of
mind in the country and put them at work on specific questions as
advisors to me, under Cabinet officers. One group on Taxes and
Finance, one on Labor and Capital, one on Internal Improvements,
one on Education and Health. And have a program agreeable to
Congress, which is sterile because it is a messenger-boy force for
constituents.

The Democrats could do this if they had the men,--but look over
the nation and see how short we are of talent of any kind. It may
be an opposition party but it has no force, no will, no self-
confidence. It hopes for a miracle, vainly hopes. It cannot gather
twenty first-rate minds in the nation to make a program for the
party. I tried it the other day--men interested in political
affairs, outside Congress--try it yourself. Get twenty big enough
to draft a national program of legislation for the party. I sent
the suggestion to George White, chairman of the National
Committee, and gave him a list, and at the head I put you and
President Eliot, classing you both as Democrats, which probably
neither of you call yourselves now, tho' both voted for Cox. ...

If I get to California I must see you. But I shall play my string
out here before trying the Western land. My best regards to the
Lady. Yours always, LANE

To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Bethel, Maine, [November, 1920]

To THE DEAR ROOSEVELTS,--... You realized what was coming, but I
fear Cox did not; could not believe that his star would not pull
through. I wish Georgia and Alabama had gone, too. The American
born did not like Wilson because he was not frank, was too selfish
and opinionated. The foreign born did not like his foreign
settlements. So they voted "no confidence" in his party. What we
will do in this land of mixed peoples is a problem. Our policies
now are to be determined by Fiume and Ireland--not by real home
concerns. This is dangerous in the extreme. Demagogues can win to
power by playing to the prejudices of those not yet fully
American. ... As always,

F. K. L.



To Lathrop Brown

Bethel, [November] 20, [1920]

MY DEAR LATHROP,--You are wrong, dead wrong, viciously, wilfully
wrong. I do like this exact science business. I worked at it and
in it on the railroad problems for seven years. There is only one
thing that beats it, puts it on the blink, and that is inexact
human nature which does wicked things to figures and facts and
theories and plans and hopes. Prove, if you will, that there is no
margin at all over wages, and a nominal return on capital, and you
do not kill the desire of someone to run the shop. ... Talking of
business men, what about the Shipping Board? O, my boy, they have
something to explain--these Hurleys and Schwabs! ... How does this
sound to you? They let their own tanks lie idle, commandeered
those of Doheny and rented them to the Standard Oil--so that they
could bid when Doheny couldn't--eh, what? ...

F. K. L.

To Timothy Spellacy

Bethel, [November] 22, [1920]

MY DEAR TIM,--I hear from Mike that you are not in New York, and
so I am writing you out of "love and affection," as I hope to see
Mike but won't see you when I go to New York for Thanksgiving. It
was my hope that we three could have a good talk over Mike's
Colombia plans, but do not trouble yourself with these business
concerns. Get well--that's the job for both you and me. We have
been too extravagant of ourselves, and especially you, you big-
hearted, energetic, unselfish son of Erin! Eighteen years I have
known you and never a word or an act have I heard of or seen that
did not make me feel that the campaign for Governor was worth
while, because it gave me your acquaintance, friendship,
affection. And Ned and George love you as I do. When I get mad, as
I do sometimes, over something that the Irish do, I always am
tempted to a hard generalization that I am compelled to modify,
because of you and Mike and Dan O'Neill, in San Francisco--and a
few more of the Great Irish--. ...

Well, my dear fellow, drop me a line when you feel like it and be
sustained in your weakness by the unfaltering affection of
thousands who know you, among them--

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Frank I, Cobb New York World

New York, December 6, [1920]

DEAR FRANK,--You are right, but too far ahead. We must come to
Cabinet responsibility, and I am with you as an agitator. Twenty
years may see it.

This morning you chide the Republicans for not having a program.
Good God, man, why so partisan? What program have we? Will we just
oppose; vote "Nay," to all they propose? That way insures twenty
years as "outs"--and we won't deserve to be in. What we lack is
just plain brains. We have a slushy, sentimental Democracy, but
don't have men who can concrete-ize feeling into policy, if you
know what that means. A program--a practicable, constructive
program--quietly drawn, agreeable to the leaders in both Houses,
pushed for, advocated loudly! That's our one hope--Agree? Yours
cordially,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To John G. Gehring

New York, December 9, [1920]

Well, my dear Doctor, here I am at another cross-roads. ... I
leave ... in a day or two with a new dietary and some good advice.
The latter in tabloid form being:--"Drop business for a time, go
into it again slowly, and gradually creep into your job." All of
which is wise, and commends itself greatly to my erstwhile mind,
but is much like saying, "Jump off the Brooklyn bridge, "slowly."
... I am not resigned, of course. Because I cannot see the end.
Definiteness is so imperative to some natures. However, I think
that I have done all that an exacting Deity would demand, and
cannot be accused of suicide, if things go badly.

Our plan is to go to Washington to see some old friends thence
south and so to California, for a couple of months. Delightful
program if one had health, but in exchange I would gladly take a
sentence to three months in a chain-gang on the roads.

One of my friends has suggestively sent me Burton's Anatomy of
Melancholy. To offset it I went out at once and bought a new suit
of bright homespun clothes and a red overcoat--pretty red. In
addition I have a New Thought doctor giving me absent treatment. I
am experimenting with Hindu deep breathing, rhythmical breathing,
in which the lady who runs this hospital is an adept. And what
with an osteopath and a regular and a nurse and predigested food,
I am not shirking. If melancholy gets the better of me now--
Kismet!

Tell your dear Lady that it was infinitely good of her to write,
(and she has, I may say, quite as brilliant a pen-style as
speech.) And one day I shall write her when the world looks
better. My best reading has been William James' Letters; and that
which amused me most a new novel, entitled Potterism, by Rose
Macauley, which cuts into the cant and humbug of the world right
cruelly. I see your beautiful serene landscape and envy you. And I
envy those who hear your hearty chuckle each morning in the Inn.
As always,

F. K. L.



To John W. Hallowell

New York, December 9, [1920]

DEAR JACK,--I have tried out New York again and find it lacking as
before. No help! They do not know. ... So I am going to
Californi...A. I wish I were to be near you--you really have a
special old corner in all that is left of my heart. And one of
these days well indulge ourselves in a good time--a long pull
together again.

I have been reading William James' Letters--and real literature
they are--far better than all your novels. What a great Man--a
mind, plus a man. Not to have known James in the last generation
is to have missed its greatest intellect; Roosevelt and James and
Henry George were the three greatest forces of the last thirty
years. Sometime when you come across a good photo or engraving or
wood-cut, or something, of James, will you buy it and send it to
me? I want a human one--not a professional one. I guess he
couldn't be the pedantic kind anyway.

Billy Phillips has a new baby-boy born Monday.

My plan is to leave here in a week, go to Washington and see
Nancy, and get a glimpse of some of my old people in the
Department, thence to South Carolina and then probably California
for two or three months. Ah me--most people would think this
luxury--I think it hell! But it may be for my great spiritual
good. Certainly if I could have you to walk with for these months,
and more of William James to read, I could take a step or two
forward.

Have also been reading a bit of Buddhism lately. It is too
negative--that is almost its chief if not its only defect, as an
attitude toward life. It won't make things move but it will make
souls content. And I can't get away from the thought that we are
here as conquerors, not as pacifists. I can't be the latter, save
in the desire.

Peabody dropped in yesterday from Chicago. (I have forgotten
whether you knew him well or not.) Able chap, fond of me, as I of
him. My boy works for him. He sent me a gorgeous edition of
Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy which I have always wanted, largely
because it is one of the curiosities of the world. ...

Write me as often as your Quaker spirit moves you to utterance.
Your dinner got quite a send-off in these papers, which is
something, for New York to recognize Boston! Terribly tough job
though. Poor babies! Hard to believe in a good God and a kind God,
isn't it?

I hear talk of shoving Hoover outside the breastworks. Fools!
Fools! Best for him but worse for the country. Whole question of
Republican success turns on the largeness of Harding. I don't ask
a Lincoln--much less will do. If he is only a smooth-footed
politician he will fail. So far he has been the gentleman. ...

My love to your whole circle, from Grandmother down.
Affectionately,

F. K. L.



To John G. Gehring

Rochester, Minnesota, December 31, [1920]

MY DEAR PADRE,--It is the last night of an unhappy year. Never do
I wish for such another. No joy--defeat, dreary waiting. These
words describe not merely my personal history and attitude but
fairly picture those of the world. It took guts to live through
such an unillumined, non-productive, soul-depressing year. Did
any good come out of it? Yes, to me just one thing good--I came to
know you, your Lady and the beauteousness of Bethel. And after all
a man does not do any better in any year than make a friend. No
man makes seventy friends in a life-time, does he? So I must not
repine nor let the year go out in bitterness. On the credit side
of my account book I have something that can be carried over into
1921, whereas most people can only carry over Hope.

I hope there is something significant and more than suggestive in
my turning up here on the last day of the year for examination--
"Getting a ready on" for a New Year--that's what you would
optimistically shout if you were here, I know. And that is my
Goodbye word to 1920--"You haven't beaten me, and I have lived to
take your brush."

I am being ground and wound and twisted and fed into and out of
the Mayo mill, and a great mill it is. Of course they are giving
me a private view, so to speak. Distinguished consideration is a
modest word for the way in which I am treated--not because of my
worth but because of my friends--. Those men are greater as
organizers, I believe, than as workmen, which is saying much
indeed, for they are the surgeons supreme. ... Two to three
hundred people, new people, a day pass through [their shop]. Sixty
to seventy thousand a year received, examined, diagnosed, treated
perhaps, operated on (fifty per cent), and cared for. The
machinery for this is colossal and superbly arranged.

Dr. Mayo told me to come over at two o'clock and register. ... I
stood in line and was duly registered, telling name, and other
such facts, non-medical. Then a special guide took me to Dr. Mayo,
who had already heard my story at the hotel but who, wished it in
writing. Accordingly, I was presented to a group of the staff and
one man assigned as my escort. I answered him a thousand
questions, touching my physical life for fifty-six years. Then to
the tonsil man, who saw a distinct "focus," now there, a focus in
the tonsils! Nose and ears without focus or focii or focuses. Down
an elevator, through a labyrinth of halls, down an inclined plane,
up a flight of steps, two turns to the left and then a group of
the grumpiest girls I ever saw or heard or felt. They were good
looking, too, but they didn't care to win favor with mere males.
They had a higher purpose, no doubt. They openly sneered at my
doctor escort. They lifted their eyebrows at my good-looking young
son, and they told me precisely where to sit down. I was not
spoken to further. My ear was punched and blood was taken in tubes
and on slides by young ladies who did not care how much of my
blood they spilled or extracted. They were so business-like, so
mechanical, so dehumanized, these young ladies with microscopes!
One said cryptically "57," another said "53." I was full of
curiosity but I did not ask a question. They tapped me as if I
were a spring--a fountain filled with blood--and gave me neither
information, gaiety or entertainment in exchange. Each one I am
convinced has by this life of near-crime, which she pursues for a
living, become capable of actual murder.

Thus has my first day gone. It is cold here--slushy underfoot,
snow dirty, sky dark. How different from a place we know!

There are one hundred and fifty physicians and surgeons in the
clinic, and Heaven knows how many hundred employees. No hospitals
are owned and run by the Mayos; all these are private, outside
affairs. The side tracks are filled with private cars of the
wealthy. Scores of residences, large, small, fine, and shabby are
little hospitals. The town has grown 5,000 in five years, all on
account of the Mayos, these two sons of a great country doctor who
without a college education have gathered the world's talent to
them.

I am tomorrow to be medically examined further, to the revealing
of my terrible past, my perturbed present, and pacific future. The
result of which necromancy I shall duly report. I am afraid that
they will not find that an operation will do good, if so I shall
truly despair. And if they decide for the knife, I shall go to the
guillotine like the gayest Marquis of the ancient regime. Yes, I
should do better for I have my chance, and he, poor chap, had
none.

I received your Christmas present in the spirit that sent it. I
can't say "No! No!"--for I preach mixing pleasure with business.
Things are all wrong when we don't. I will never repay you. If I
could, or did, you would receive none of the blessings that come
from giving gifts. The truth is, we knew each other years ago,
perhaps centuries ago, and you have done a good turn to an old
friend for which the old friend is glad, because it makes the tie
more binding.

I told you I would send Wells' history to you, and to it I have
added one of the greatest of human documents, William James'
Letters. I hope you love the largeness of the man, to be large and
playful and useful, I say, man, can you beat that combination? I
believe I know another beside James who meets the specifications.
And strangely enough he, too, evolved from physician to
psychologist, to philosopher.

Well, here's hoping that he and his High-Souled Partner meet with
many joys and few sorrows in 1921.

F. K. L.



XIII

LETTERS TO ELIZABETH 1919-1920


To Mrs. Ralph Ellis

[Camden, North Carolina, March, 1919]

MY DEAR ELIZABETH,--And so they call you a Bolshevik! a parlor
Bolshevik! Well, I am not surprised for your talk gives
justification for calling you almost anything, except a dull
person. When one is adventurous in mind and in speech--perfectly
willing to pioneer into all sorts of mountains and morasses--the
stay-at-homes always furnish them with purposes that they never
had and throw them into all kinds of loose company. I have
forgotten whether or no there was a Mrs. Columbus, but if the Old
Man on his return spoke an admiring word of the Indian girls he
saw on Santo Domingo you may be sure that he was at once regarded
as having outdone that Biblical hero who exclaimed, "Vanity of
Vanities, all is Vanity!," after having run his personal attachees
up into the thousand.

Yes, the very solemn truth is that adventuring is dangerous
business, and mental adventuring most dangerous of all. We forgive
those who do things that are strange, really more readily than
those who talk of doing them. People are really afraid of talk,
and rightly so, I believe. The mind that goes reaching out and up
and around and through is a disturber, it bumps into every kind of
fixed notion and takes off a chip here and there, it probes into
all sorts of mysteries and opens them to find that they are hollow
wind-bag affairs, tho' always held as holy of holies heretofore.
To think, to speculate, to wonder, to query--these imply
imagination, and the Devil has just one function in this Universe
--to destroy, to kill, or suppress or to divert or prevent the
imagination. Imagination is the Divine Spark, and old Beelzebub
has had his hands full ever since that spark was born. "As you
were," is his one military command. His diabolical energy is
challenged to its utmost when he hears the words "Forward March!"
There is not much--ANYTHING--of beauty or nobility or achievement
in the world that he has not fought, and all of it has been the
fruit of imagination, the working of the creative mind. You see I
come very near to believing in that old personal Devil which my
Presbyterian father saw so vividly, and which our friend Wells has
recently discovered, Satan is smart, and that is a very dreadful
thing to be, I never like to hear the Yankee called smart, it is a
term of reproach. I don't like to think of a Smart Set. And my
refuge is in the knowledge that there is just one thing that
destroys smartness and that is, to put it in a very high-sounding
word, Nobility. There is the test we can all put to ourselves--and
it really is conscience and ethics and religion all in one--is the
idea smart or is it noble? I'd take my chances of going to Heaven
on the conformity of conduct to that criterion.

But all this seems a far way from Parlor Bolshevism--yet it is
not so far. For it all comes down to this. The Lord he prompts us
to think and to advance, and the Devil he urges us to be smart, to
switch our thinkings, our very right thinkings, our progressive
impulses, to side tracks that will serve his ends.

And that is just what is happening to a lot of the finest minds.
Men and women who see clearly that things are wrong, who have
enough insight and knowledge to get a glimpse into the unnecessary
suffering of the world and who mentally come down with a slap-bang
declaration that this must stop, are allowing themselves to be
called by a name that history will execrate, and to smooth over
and palliate and defend things that are bad, out of which good
will not come.

You have no love for Czarism any more than you have for Kaiserism.
You do not care to make the world righteous by dictatorship,
because you know that it is not growth or the basis of growth, but
the foundation of hate. Now the very cornerstone of Bolshevism is
smartness--the get-even spirit. Because the Czars and the Dukes
have oppressed the poor, because when this land was divided among
the serfs the division was not what it pretended to be, and
because the German business managers of Russian industry made
wages and conditions that were brutal and brutalizing, the
peasants and workmen have said, "Let us have done with the whole
crew, and take all land and industry into our own hands, killing
those who were our masters under the old economic system. Let us
turn the whole world topsy-turvy in a night, and bring all down to
where we are. In our aspiration for Beauty, let us kill what has
been created. In our hunt for Justice, let us disregard fair
dealing. In our purpose to level down, let us do it with the knife
ruthlessly and logically," Thus disregarding the teachings of
time, that men are not the creatures of logic, of passionless or
passionate theses, but are the expression of an unfaltering
Spirit. Whenever men have been the victims of logicalness they
have been wrong. For instance, read the story of the Inquisition.
They saw what they wanted clearly, those old Fathers of the
Church. They knew their objective, which was to save men's souls.
And they thought they knew the way. Logic told them that those who
preached heresies were bringing men's eternal souls to everlasting
hell fire. And they set about to stop the preaching. Had I
believed as they did, I doubtless would have done as they did. But
to be infallibly right is to be hopelessly smart. Thus it is with
all who take a paper system and apply it to that strange thing
called Life.

This is the defect of the Intellectuals, the "parlor" Bolsheviks.
(Better by far be an outdoor Bolshevik, a Red Guard, if you
please, one who is in and of the fighting, who acts, who lives the
theory!) They do not think in terms of human nature, of natural
progress, of real facts. They say, "all men are born free and
equal," and at once conclude that the stable boy can step from the
stable door to the management of a factory or into the
legislature. Now experience teaches that this is a most dangerous
experiment, both for stable boy and society. The true philosophy
of Democracy teaches that the stable boy shall have, through
school and the step-ladder of free institutions, the chance to
rise to the management of industry or the leadership of the
Senate. That is why the foundation of Democracy is political. For
out of political freedom will come social and economic freedom.
That is why I favor woman suffrage, it gives women a chance to
grow, to think along new lines and grow into new capacities.

To feel acutely that things are badly ordered, and to feel that
you know what opportunities men and women and boys and girls
should have, is not a program of salvation, it is only the impulse
toward finding one. Why then, because we do feel so, should we
harness ourselves to a word that implies methods that we would not
countenance, and give character to a movement that is at absolute
defiance with America's spirit and purpose? There is danger, grave
danger, in doing this. For we can upset our own apple-cart very
easily these days. I have no more of this world's goods than the
humblest workingman. No man is poorer than I am, measured by bank
account standards. The education that I have, I fought for.
Therefore I do not speak for a class. To defend the methods by
which some men have made their money is not at all to my fancy. I
see as clearly, I think, as one can, the necessity for the strong
arm of society asserting itself, thrusting itself in where it has
not been supposed to have any business. Yet I know that a
Bolshevik movement, a capturing of what others have gained under
the system which has obtained, and the brutal satisfaction of
"getting even with the wage-masters" and making them feel to the
depths of their souls and in the pain of their flesh every
humiliation and torture, will permanently set nothing right.
America is fair play. Is it a failure? Have you tried it long
enough to know that it will not serve the world, as you think the
world should be served? Is there any experiment that we cannot
make? Are our hands tied? True, our feet may lag, our eyes may not
see far ahead, but who should say that for this reason man should
throw aside all the firmness and strength and solidity of order,
forget all that he has passed through, and start afresh from the
bottom rung of the ladder--from the muck of the primitive brute?

There are things that we would not hold, that we think unworthy of
our philosophy, that must be changed or else our sympathies and
abiding hopes will be forever offended. And this would be to live
right on under the pointing finger of shame. So we know it cannot
last, this thing that offends, the badness and brutality of
injustice, of unfairness to the weak, their inability to get a
squarer chance.

Yet this does not compel us to forsake the hopeful thing we have,
for which all men have striven, these centuries through. Must we
confess that revolution is still necessary? Are we no further
ahead for all that Pym and Hampden and Sam Adams and Washington
and all the rest of the glorified ones have done? This land is
truly a land of promise because it may be a land of fulfilment. It
shows the way by which without murder and robbery and class hatred
and the burning up of what has been, men may go right on making
experiments, and failing, making others and failing, and learning
something all the time.

So, I'm for America, because, if nationalization of land and
industry are wise experiments to make, no one can stop us from
making them, if partial nationalization of either, or both,
appeals to us as something that will right manifest wrongs, we can
try that solution. And to cry quits on the best that civilization
has done, because all that is wished for may not be realized or
realizable today, is to lose perspective and balance, and jump out
the window because the stairs go round and round.

There is really no use, and therefore no sanity, in being too gay
or too grave over this old world of ours. That smart Devil, who is
for the static life, is just now particularly active in his
favorite old line of propaganda. He knows that the fruit of the
tree will bring the millennium. Eat it and you will be happy. He
knows the short cuts to freedom and justice. He knows that the
curses that are promised for the breaking of the laws of the hunt
will be turned into songs. So he is urging and urging, telling
you, with your imagination and sensitiveness, that all is so bad
that it is best to take the great risk, telling the poor sightless
ones that their very primitive feelings and powers are the only
safe guides, their last ultimate reliance and hope. And out of
despair comes the bitter fruit we find in Russia, where they have
wrought what they call an economic revolution, but have in fact
produced nothing, for chaos is nothing. The wise Tinker who wrote
of the Pilgrim's Progress was too true a Christian Scientist, a
Christian and a Scientist, if you please, to picture his hero
reaching the gate of gold by adopting Despair as his guide.

Progress means the discovery of the capable. They are our natural
masters. They lead because they have the right. And everything
done to keep them from rising is a blow to what we call
civilization. Bolshevism is the supremacy of the least capable who
have the most power, most physical power. The thing Democracy will
do is to breed capacity, give capacity its "show." The premiums,
the distinctions, must go to capacity to promote it, to bring it
forth, to make it grow, to be its sunshine. A chance at the
sunshine, that's the motto. Sincerely yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Washington, 20 [March, 1919]

You said, you will remember, that you did not mind such
unconventional things as penciled letters--so here goes, Mrs.
Radium.

This is to be a conventional letter, too, one of the bread and
butter variety, the quail and dove, pigeon pie, creamed macaroni
variety, for all of which much thanks, likewise for much
stimulating talk, your help in planting my garden, many motor
flights through brown woods, and some most charming company,
including a man named Ellis and his celebrated son, the pigeon
shooter.

We left you in the best possible hands, a lion and lioness
[Footnote: Mr. and Mrs. John Galsworthy.] who through long years
of civilized captivity came tamely to your bars to be tickled and
patted, and, no doubt, when properly fed, purred back. If I were
you, I would loot their typewriter. Therein are the secrets of the
British government, copies of all unknown treaties, plans for the
extermination of Bolsheviki generally and the female kind in
particular; likewise, therein you will find, narrated with
particularity, the details of all loose conversations had with
hotel clerks, commercial travelers, teachers, chauffeurs, and
others of the illuminati, in which "impressions" are given to
foreign authors hunting for "copy." Mr. George Creel has these
aforesaid gents of the illuminati staked out, so to speak, for
this very purpose. Your dear friend Vera, the political Vamp, is
no doubt conducting these sweet Innocents abroad, tho' not in
person of course, being much too crafty and cunning for that. She
has directed them by the wireless magic of her mind to Horsebranch
on the Hill, there to discover a radiating and luminous Lady,
hidden in the pine woods, who will reveal among other things the
following: (1) The nature of Woodrow Wilson's personal character;
(2) The full reasons for his conduct; (3) His occult international
designs; (4) How he purposes to free Ireland; (5) The value of
being House-broken; (6) The real name of the Man in the Iron Mask.

And much, much more--for she is a well, a fountain, a geyser, a
Niagara, reversed, of information, misinformation, knowledge,
ignorance, modesty, audacity, in captivating breeches or in modest
demure caps or in flowing evening robe. Wise Vera, wise Creel--
they know their business! The English snooper, with typewriter in
hand, will have a generous swig of the Scotch whiskey of the
vintage of '56, and his tied tongue will loosen, a confiding and
tender and sympathetic hand will softly clasp his, and the Dark
Flower will open to the world--rather mixed that figure! eh, what?

Now, of course, this is not what I took my pen in hand to write,
not at all. I had intended after the formalities had been duly
observed to tell you a few words about my wife. Excellent woman,
that! But very jealous! very! No sense of her own place! Unwilling
to subordinate herself. Since she "came into my life" she has
walked around in it and otherwise behaved familiarly and at home.
Never, never I beg of you, permit anyone to come into your life.
It decidedly makes for clutter and disturbance. However, as I was
saying, she is an excellent woman and has been to the Doctor who
says that she has suffered much. (Charge for same $10.) As he
wishes to make the same charge for many days the excellent wife
will not go to Charleston but remain here, that the charge may
lawfully be imposed. (This is where the Christian Scientists are
more Scientific for they could make the charge in absentia.)

However and notwithstanding, the Peace Conference still lives. By
wireless I have the news that Lloyd George is still doing
politics, that Orlando is Fiuming (give that one to the
Englisher), that Colonel House has not told all he knows to
Lansing, and that Henry White dined last night with a Duchess who
held his hand four minutes while telling him terrible things.

But this is too frivolous altogether for a statesman to be writing
to one whose mind is interested only in serious things! I can see
her steady, cold, stern eye of reproach. "And this to me," she
says, "And 'twere not for thy hoary beard, etc., etc."

I tell you frankly, tho' you may not believe it, that I am not
entirely in a sober mood. Yesterday I planted bulbs with a lady
who was not bulbous. The day before I shot pigeons for a lark. And
I am boastful! fair boastful, my Lady! My secretary and my
confidential clerk and my many dark-hued messengers are solemnly
impressed with my prowess with gun and spade. The truth shall not
be heard in the land. I am my own talebearer and my own censor. I
know more about agriculture than the Secretary of Agriculture, and
I know more of Labor than the Secretary of the same. And for this,
this glorious bursting into fruitfulness at so advanced an age--
you and your good man are responsible and to be credited in the
Golden Book in which is written, What the Plain People Do for Each
Other.

Thanking you for the Bread and Butter, believe me yours for Life,
Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

F. K L.



Washington, Saturday, [January 19, 1980]

I am clothed in sackcloth and sitting in ashes. My head is bowed
in humility and I am beating my breast in contrition. There is no
joy in my face and my eyes look downward. Truly I am full of
regret. Did she not write long, joyous, inquiring, curious,
inviting pages to me? and I have not answered! And now will she
ever make her face to shine upon me and give me peace?

I would fly to her--yes, fly to her in monoplane, biplane, or
triplane--but many things deter me. A wife, who is busy with the
Gods of the Elder Days; a daughter, who is busy with the God of
the present day--to wit, a young man named Philip, surnamed
Kauffmann, son of "The Star" six feet two in stockings or
otherwise, late of His Majesty's Navy, Princeton, Football, etc.,
etc. The marriage is to be tied in April, God willing, Nancy
ordering, Philip consenting, Father paying.

As if this were not enough to hinder, the desk must be cleared for
exit--the office desk; for the place that knew me through seven
long years of trouble, anxiety, insult, joy, humiliation,
satisfaction, achievement, companionship, hope, shall soon know me
no more, forever.

Verily, I say unto you, that if ever mortal man or mortal mind
needed rest, recreation, recuperation, and other alliterative
things, that same man is now writing to the Lady Elizabeth Ellis,
of Terraced Garden, in Camden, by the Wateree. And he is writing
without hope that he will see the Lady and her Lord and the
Princeling, for moons and moons. This is a sad, sad word for him
to write. But the whole world is skew-jee, awry, distorted and
altogether perverse. The President is broken in body, and
obstinate in spirit. Clemenceau is beaten for an office he did not
want. Einstein has declared the law of gravitation outgrown and
decadent. Drink, consoling friend of a Perturbed World, is shut
off; and all goes merry as a dance in hell!

Oh God, I pray, give me peace and a quiet chop. I do not ask for
power, nor for fame, nor yet for wealth. Lift me on the magic
carpet of the Infinite Wish and lay me down on a grassy slope,
looking out on a quiet sunny sea, and make me to dream that men
are gentle and women reasonable. And forgive us our trespasses,
Amen!

And again I pray--Give me patience. Let me not ask for today what
may not come until tomorrow. Let mine eyes not be filled with
visions of things as they would be in a world wherein men were
Gods. Let mine ears be closed to Siren calls which lure to the
rocks. Stiffen my soul to make the climb. Keep from my heart
cynical despair. Make my mouth to speak slow words, and curb my
tongue that it may not outrun the Wisdom taught by the years. Give
surety to my steps, O Lord, and lead me by the hand for I know not
the way.

Your telegram lures as your letter did. But such pleasures are not
for us, because of our sins. "And those that are GOOD shall be
happy!"

Work. Work. Work. It is the order of the One Supreme. It keeps us
from being foolish, and doing as fools do. It is needed for the
mastery of a world that has its Destiny written, as surely as
we have ours. It is a chain and a pair of wings; it binds and it
releases. It is the master of the creature and the tool of the
Creator. It is hell, and it lifts us out of hell into heaven. It
was not known in Paradise, but there could be no Paradise without
it. A curse and a Savior! Our life-term sentence and the one plan
of salvation! Work for the weary, the wasted, and the worn. Work--
for the joyous, the hopeful, the serene. Work--for the benevolent
and the malevolent, the just and the cruel, the thoughtful and the
unheeding. Work--for things that life needs, for things that are
illusions, for dead-sea fruit, for ashes; and work for a look at
the stars, for the sense of things made happier for many men, for
the lifting of loads from tired backs, for the smile of a tender
girl, for the soft touch of a grateful mother, for the promise it
brings to the boy of one's hopes.

Work! Why work? It is the order of the One Supreme.

So saying, at one o'clock of Sunday morning, he lifted up his hand
and waved three times to the Southward--once for the Lady of the
Troubled Heart, who flirts with the Angel of Destruction, thinking
he may turn out to be a God, and once for the Lord of the Lady,
serenely fatalistic, and the third, and this a very big one, for
the Princeling who is making a manly battle, cheerfully,
confidently. The Friend of the Three.

F. K L.

Washington, [February 5, 1920]

And so, again the Boy has been attacked by a strange enemy, and
you are fighting. That is what you have been doing for years,
fighting for that bit of life you love more than your own self.
You did not think you could do it when you were a girl, did you?
You have wondered at yourself many, many times. And wondered at
the Fate which brought this long challenge to you. But it has been
a splendid fight, hasn't it? A glorious fight against odds. There
has been no justice in it. No justice, and our souls do so want
justice, an even chance, something in front of us that we can see
and know and fight. God knows why such tortures come to some,
while others sail on such smooth seas. Can it be that there is no
soul excepting the one we make for ourselves by fighting? Are
those really blest who have such challenges given to their
spirits? Or is this all by way of excusing God, or Nature, for the
unexplainable?

There is no way to make the fight excepting to believe that the
fight is the thing--the one, only, greatest thing. (To deny this
is to leave all in a welter, and drift into purposeless cynicism,
--blackness.) To determine that this is the way, the truth, and the
life, is to get serenity. Then the winds may howl and the seas
roll, but there can be no wreck.

I know you don't like to be coddled. You are not of the cotton-
batting school. You can take and give. But "may I not" say a word
of appreciation and perhaps of stimulation--give you a good
masculine thump on the shoulder by way of saying that for one who
lives in a mist you have lots of gimp. To love something better
than oneself is the first step, I guess, toward making that soul.

Please read the note, in special envelop, to Ralphie, when he will
be interested. By Jove, how fortunate that we could not leave. All
my force is sick. Three of my assistants are laid up. Six hundred
and eighty people in my Department are in bed. And I am struggling
to get out and leave my job up to date. Good fortune!

F. K. L.



[Katonah, August, 1920]

... You know that I love you--yes, just as much as Ralph Ellis,
who is a tough sailor man, and Anne Lane, who is a citizen of two
worlds, will let me. But I would love you more, much more, if you
did not have to be induced by my wife to write to me. Your love
letter was all right, but it was procured. Do you get that word--
procured--and my wife was the procuress. This may be de rigueur
and comme il faut and umslopogass on Long Island, but it does not
go in Katonah--peaceful, pure Katonah!

Here, in this sweet centre, if a lady wishes "for to make eyes" at
a man, by way of a letter, she does it without being told to do it
by the said man's wife. And then to open, "Dear Mr. Lane,"--Gosh
Lizzie! isn't that pretty warm!

My anger is so great that I am now sitting up in bed at the weary
hour of two to relieve myself--for otherwise I cannot sleep.

Your remarks upon the distraught condition of the public mind, the
unfortunate fix into which the Polacks have fixed themselves, the
heart-breaking cry that you send out for men to get together and
be sensible, before they are sadder,--these things have no
lodgement in my soul-center. For I am loved by a lady who speaks
much of free speech and courage and candor and other virtues of
prehistoric existence, but who talks of herself all through her
letter and never of me at all. How can the fire be kept burning
with a cold back-log like that? Talk about me! That's the first
principle of all conversation--even not amorous. Well, you are a
good woman, Mrs. Ellis, and I hope Mr. Ellis is well, and that you
are not having trouble with the help. Goodbye, Mrs. Ellis!

Come, sweet Elizabeth, let us join hands and go for a gay climb
over the piney hills--you can sing your minor note of sad
distress--your miserere, if you can, in the face of the puffy
clouds, and I will laugh at you for having too much of world
concern in your heart. The blessings do not come to those who are
"troubled about many things." The soul is an individual, you know.
We are saved by units not en masse. Every individual is a species
--isn't that what splendid Bergson says? So come away from
responsibilities and let your poor heart, which is so unselfish
that it cannot rest, indulge itself in the luxury of a peaceful
forgetting, for a few days.

Practically, this seems like a good place--the process is to
reduce you to a pulp and then gradually restore you to form. I am
just emerging from the mash.

Do give my greetings--graduated calorically as your judgment
suggests--to the many friends in your neighborhood who have
forgotten me.

Devotedly, yet very sore,

F. K. L.



[September]

This is a sentimental letter from a sentimentalist to a sent--,
for a sent--. It is by way of atonement, chiefly. I want to be
forgiven for all the hard things I have said to you. I feel that I
owe you much, at least a good word, for all the bad ones I have
given you.

You are a health-giver. That's not such a bad name, is it? In fact
I don't know a better. It doesn't sound sentimental, no husband
would be alarmed by it, and yet it carries in it implications of
gaiety and tenderness and rompishness with a touch of mysterious
adoration. Altogether it is a very real large word that does not
signify virtues but rather attractivenesses. Mind, I don't say
that you have not the virtues--all of them, offensive and
defensive, but the attractivenesses make life, don't they? And to
be a health-giver is not merely to have charm. That is the spell-
casting power, to be filled with witchery, to be a witch. Yes, I
believe it is something like that--very much in fact, but the
witchery must be balsamic, it must be radiant, it must go out in
rays or circles or waves, because it can't help going out, not
purposefully and selfishly, like the casting of a net--it must be
balsamic and radiant, the outbreathing of pines.

Now this is a very nice name I have called you--you can put it
into Latin or Greek or French and make it sound much better to the
unimaginative. But you deserve it, and I hope my little girl will
become one.

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Katonah, Sunday, [September 25, 1920]

... We leave here on Wednesday (D. V.) for Bethel because you said
to. Now how soon will you follow--a day--a week? Not more!

You made up your mind that you would go there, and there is now to
be proof given whether your mind is weak or riding strong.

Anne is to have H. Beale there, and they move in circles barred to
me. So I shall sorely need someone who knows my language. And I am
not frivolous when I say that you and I need nothing more than a
religious faith of some kind. Mohammedan, Christian Science, or
what you will. We are both religious--deeply. We pray--we do
things for the good of men and women,--but we do not relate
ourselves properly to the Great Enveloping, Permeating Spirit. I
have sought to, vainly, for many years, and yet I have not been
persistent. "Seek and ye shall find!" I want to believe that the
God of Things as They Are is not wilfully cruel. Is He
indifferent?

Are we mastering something? Tell me! Do you know? What philosophy
have you come to?

Well, all this we can talk over when we reach Bethel. Say, do you
ever answer letters or is it your Queenly prerogative to drop your
sweethearts down the public oubliette?

F. K. L.



Washington, 27 [December, 1920]

My wife won't let me call on you, "not now, anyhow," she says. Oh,
you have so many enemies! Adolph and Mary, Senator and Mrs.
Kellogg, Chief Justice and Mrs. White, Dr. and Mrs. Gehring. All
are against you, and against me--all plotting, planning, and
conspiring with my wife to keep us apart. They know the hold you
have on me, that I had rather have you as my doctor than any one
else in the whole vasty Universe--but why sigh? I am to be torn
away on Wednesday and rushed to Rochester, where the Mayos will
take me in hand, and do their worst. I have great hope that they
may cut me into happiness, and carve me into health, and slice me
into strength.

So, as Anne wired, we shall not see you in Camden, nor Ralph nor
the Junior nor anything that is Ellis--not for some moons anyway.

... The reason for going to Mayos? To see if it is true that my
stomach and my gall bladder have become too intimate. Rochester is
the Reno where such divorces are granted.

I'd like to say I love you and the whole kit and caboodle, but my
wife won't let me.

F. K. L.



XIV

FRIENDS AND THE GREAT HOPE

1921

Need for Democratic Program--Religious Faith--Men who have Influenced
Thought--A Sounder Industrial Life --A Super-University for Ideas
--"I Accept"--Fragment


To Mrs. Philip C. Kaujfmann

Rochester, Minnesota, January 1,1921

To that little Fairy with whom a young fellow named Frank Lane
used to wander in the woods, hunting the homes of the Fairies,--
Greetings on her birthday! Has she found where they live? I
believe she has. They live where eyes are bright with love, and
hands are gentle and kind, where feelings are not hurt and there
is song hummed, and Play, a very real God, still lives,

... I think that we have got to see each other some how,
somewhere, because life is passing awfully fast and there is one
best thing in it--supremely, overwhelmingly best--and that is
affection. I've chased around after fame and work for others, but
I just wish I had spent pretty much all my time loving you and
Mother and Ned, and let everything else come way down on the list.
The people who really love us are so few, aren't they? Lots of
them like us, lots of them are glad to be with us, but few can be
counted on "world without end, Amen."

... This is surely a very uncertain and unsatisfactory world for
me right now. How much we all do like definiteness and how few are
willing to trust the future to the Great Spirit. We fuss and fume
as if it would do good rather than ill. Happiness is the thing we
all desire and it is to be had easily through a most simple
philosophy; do your best and then have faith that things will come
right. Happy people are those who live with happy thoughts; those
who see good in people and by brave and cheerful thinking are
superior to depression and bitterness.

The longer I live the more I am convinced that it is our duty to
be gay; not reckless, never that; not boisterous, but light-
hearted. It saves doctor's bills, brings success, and is the one
method, the natural method, by which we become really big, and by
that I mean superior to the evil forces that try to break us down.
... To be gay one must see how very little some things are, and
how very big other things are. And the big things are things like
love and goodness and unselfishness; and the little things are the
selfish mean things, self-indulgent things, things generally that
come out of one's vanity, one's love of one's self. Get rid of
that and life becomes a pretty good place. Envy, vanity, self-
indulgence--these are devils.

... I wish you would really sink yourself into some religion. To
start right is so important. You will miss much joy in life, I am
convinced, by not having a faith; something to live by, something
that explains the questions that rise each hour. Buddhism does not
claim to be supernatural, is not founded on miracles, and yet
Buddha taught the philosophy of Christ five hundred years before
He came. The central note is getting above self--real self-
mastery. Possessing, mastering your body and mind so that you do
not allow envy or hatred to possess you, and do not hanker after
"things," possessions, or fame or popularity, and keep strong hold
on wilfulness and anger and your passions. Its fundamental maxim
is that unhappiness and sorrow come from ignorance of Truth--and
Truth is found by submerging self. The body is not bad, the lusts
of the body and the mind are not bad, but the body is no more than
an envelop for the soul, its master.

Good-night to you both, you are fast asleep by now. ... In my long
days and nights I think so much about you, wondering what the Gods
have in store for her who has been so much to me. Much, much love
little one.

DAD



To Benjamin Ide Wheeler

Rochester, Minnesota, January I, 19L1

To the Wheelers with the warmest greetings of the Lanes! A bonny
year be this to you--a year of sunny faces--may you live
surrounded by those whom you love and damned indifferent to all
the rest!

I, Franklin K. Lane, am trying to find out if the last doctor in
New York was right. He said my trouble came from an improper
alliance between my gall-bladder and my pyloric orifice, and that
here in Rochester they could be summarily divorced. (If you don't
know where the pylorus is you may locate it as the N. W. 1/4 of
the N. W. 1/4 of the stomach. Until you reach fame you never have
a pylorus--and then it is most costly.) So here I am in a real
Reno, hoping that a knife will be able to "put me to work anew,"
... and writing this as a proof of "love and affection," whatever
the legally great may mean by the distinction. ...

And talking of language, have you read what Wells has to say in
his Outline of History on this subject? I found it very
interesting; probably all old stuff to you, however. Can there be
a science of language, or of anything that a human creates? I am
rather Bergsonian in my idea of the individual man--each is a
species.

Miller is very unhappy because [Governor] Harding may leave the
Board. He [Miller] will go if the new man is not satisfactory. But
I think he will be. For Harding will be conservative and a great
respecter of wealth. And Miller while a radical in many things is
a classicist as to Finance.

If Harding leaves out Hoover he will do himself and the country
harm, and Hoover good. At last the sun shines!

F. K. L.



To Lathrop Brown

Rochester, Minnesota, January 3, [1921]

Well, my dear young Spirit of the Renaissance, I am not yet dead,
not even dying. Slowly I am doing the stations of the Cross in
this most thorough institution. I am delighted with my experience.
Here is concentrated every form of torture and annoyance to which
one can be legally subjected. Cruel and unusual punishments are
forbidden by the Constitution, but I take it that one may yet take
torture and punishment, if he pays for it. All that I have ever
done, been or thought has been revealed--probed for, and found
out. ...

Truly, this is the most scientifically organized organization of
scientists that ever was. Henry Ford could not improve upon it.
Combine him with M. Pasteur, add a touch of one Edison, and a dose
of your friend, Charlie Schwab, and you have the Mayo Clinic, big,
systematized, modernized, machinized, doctorial plant, run by a
couple of master workmen. I am seeing it all, and am prepared for
any fate. Thus far I am no more than twenty-one years of age. My
organs seem to be working union hours and to react with proper
promptitude, self-respect and authority. Tomorrow I am to be
photographed and fluoroscoped--and then will come the verdict. If
it is the guillotine I shall go gaily, like one of your ancestors
in those tumbril days of France. What I fear is an order to
"rest," on a new diet. But I guess whatever is said will be the
last word--the Supreme Court decision. Fine reputation, that, for
two young chaps who never went to Harvard, eh, what?

Well, tell me the news. You have been silent too long. I long to
know of your further adventures in politics with one G. White. ...

And now, my dear Lathrop, may I extend to you the greetings of the
New Year. May you have a continuous and abiding and keen sense
that you are doing good, likewise doing well.

F. K. L.



To Mrs. George Ehle

Rochester, Minnesota, January, [1921]

It is only a little below freezing. The sky is grey. Snow, hard
and frozen over, covers the ground, sleighs go through the
streets, jingling their merry way. Boys throw each other down upon
the encrusted snow. Girls in red woolen caps pick their way
cautiously. Farm horses drawing sleds make their heavy way. And in
these sleds, families sitting on the heaped straw in the bed of
the wooden box, smiling mothers and happy babies, lined up
together, warm, protected from the wind. Trees outlined against
the sky, looking like dark coral rising out of a sea of snow into
the dull light. An old man, gaunt, bewhiskered, trudges along
confidently although he looks over eighty. A younger man,
evidently a stranger, feels his cautious way over the slippery
walk, covered with furs, hands, head, and body. After him a still
younger man, without an overcoat--a postman.

Can you see it all? Do you recognize the picture? Was it once part
of your life? This world is not so very bad when nature challenges
every one to fight for life. Nothing doing for me now! That's the
word. Too much risk. ...

Bless you, Lady Dear of the Understanding Eye. May we yet meet
upon the gentle banks of the Shepaug and there make medicine for
our poetic souls.

Anne has been a trump through these ten days of anxiety. Yours
affectionately,

F. K. L.



To Mrs. William Phillips

Rochester, Minnesota, January 11, [1921]

The black cat, yellow-eyes, came, dear Lady Caroline--came to me
here in a hospital and I put him on my table alongside my tiny
bust of Lincoln, which is the sacred place. I wish indeed those
eyes could see within this shell of mine and tell what it is that
twists my heart, physically turns it on its axis, so that its
polarity is changed. From mystery to mystery we have traveled the
past year, Anne, with her unfaltering trust, and I, a doubting
Thomas. We came here for an operation, but the doctors somewhat
doubt its wisdom at all, certainly not now, when pneumonia might
befall. So after ten hard days of closest examination I go forth
from this, the Supreme Court of Surgery in the Land, with no
decision. "Wait and see what good it has done to live without
tonsils, and in the California sunshine until spring." ... But
they live in the Land of Guess!

And so another baby has come to bless you and William! Truly you
are a confident couple! Age would hesitate to bring into a world,
so filled with shadow, an increasing number of our species. What a
supreme act of faith the continuance of the race is. ... Oh, the
cunning of Nature--how empty the heart of man or woman who has
not felt the clutch of a baby's hand, or drunk deep of the heaven-
made perfume of a baby's breath. And the impulse that babies give
to life, the challenge that they make to the father is always a
noble one. It is not so as to women; less, as to ourselves. We are
urged to courses that are petty, unworthy, selfish, debasing,
supine, and brutal by our own natures or those of our mates. But
for the child we act nobly, its call to us is always to our finer
side, and so gradually we are lifted higher. Did any man in
history ever do a cruel or wicked thing because of the appeal made
to him by the smile of his child? He may have accredited his
action to the prompting of love for his baby, but I believe it
would be found that there was another motive, generally an
overwhelming personal vanity; so great a lust for power, perhaps,
that it would carry across the gulf of death.

I hardly believe that you need fear immediate expulsion from your
new-found Eden. My expectation is that you will be treated with
kindness by the new Administration, which will act most cautiously
on all things. I shall know how to get a word, any word you wish,
to the new President, I think, and my services as you know are at
your order at any time. But if you are sent into the Limbo of
private life you will be welcomed by a host who have preceded you
and who will selfishly rejoice.

My gayest greetings to Sir William and, in cloudy Holland, may the
sun shine in your hearts always.

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To James H. Barry

San Francisco Star

Rochester, Minnesota, January 12, [1921]

DEAR JIM,--The Star has set--it goes the way of Nature--the
circle must be completed. The only question one may ask is, "Was
it useful?" I think it was, Jim, it held many to the true course,
it was an honest guide in a bewildering world.

Do let us meet when I am West, and talk of Henry George and John
Marble and Arthur McEwen, who have gone on, and left not their
like. ...

F. K. L.



To Michael A. Spellacy

Rochester, Minnesota, January 12, [1921]

MY DEAR MIKE,-- ... I shall await your re-coming with great
interest. Truly you should write up what you see. Get good
pictures and I will get it all in the National Geographic
Magazine, and then we'll see what the Cosmos Club will say! I am
in earnest about this--keep a diary in which you write, in your
own gay style, what you see, and you will soon have fame as well
as fortune.

The news from Mexico is not very encouraging. Obregon is sick so
much, and without policy, without dependable friends. Cardinal
Gibbons came near dying, but, thank God, pulled through! A very
wonderful man. I am very fond of him and he likes me I know, for I
handled the Indians for seven years and had no trouble, because he
and I had a flat understanding that I should take my church
troubles, if any arose, to him.

The old Chief Justice called on us in Washington. He is seventy-
five and almost totally blind. And the greatest Chief since John
Marshall.

De Valera has landed and I expect things to be doing pretty soon.
The British are greatly mystified as to how he got over and back.
You see you are not the only adventurer on the face of the globe.
We used to think that these were prosey, stoggy, flat-footed days,
but there is any amount of adventure--from the fields of Flanders
to the mountains of Colombia--even the Spanish main has had its
rebirth.

Mrs. Lane wants me to thank you for your thought of her. As you
know no one holds a deeper, surer place in her heart than you and
Tim.

Well, old chap, I am sitting in bed--four in the morning--with a
devilish sore throat and without anything to eat or much sleep for
thirty-six hours, so if this screed is not one of great
illumination or information you will know that it was only a
message of cheer and good-will from one who is fond of you, but
who warns you to be careful for all of our sakes. As always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To William R. Wheeler

Rochester, Minnesota, January 13, [1921]

DEAR BILL,--Off to see you eventually, I trust, tomorrow. Had my
tonsils out, won't do anything else till Spring. Meantime I want
to see no doctors. Having tried twenty, and come "out by that same
door wherein I went." An osteopath, yes. Faith cure--Indian
Medicine men--anything else, but no doctors! I turn from
Esculapius to Zoroaster, from medicine to the sun. I want to "lie
down for an aeon or two." (Alice knows where that comes from.)
With much love to you both.

FRANK



To V. C. Scott O'Connor

[Rochester, Minnesota], January 13, [1921]

MY DEAR SCOTT O'CONNOR,--It is a joy to get your letter and to
know of your new book which I have not seen, for the very good
reason that for five months I have been in hospitals. Angina
pectoris they call it, but where it comes from they don't say,
they don't know. Am off to California for a couple of months, then
probably back to New York.

I have read Wells' History, which seems to me the most remarkable
thing of the historical essay kind ever hit off; and therein I
discovered your friend Asoka, but I have been able to learn little
else about him.

Buddhism attracts me greatly, as perhaps the most perfect attitude
on the negative side that has ever been developed and largely
lived. It is not complete for a temperate zone people, who are and
must be aggressive. Nor does it reveal, so far as I know, the
spiritual possibilities that Christianity does. The constructive
seems to be lacking. But it is so far ahead of the purely
opportunist attitude that Christianity takes that I should like to
be a Buddhist, I verily believe.

I see that Lord Reading goes to India. He is the greatest of
diplomats, an oriental by nature, and will do good, if good can be
done in that unhappy situation. I admire the cheerful way Lloyd
George keeps. He is a great man. Each six months I have looked to
see him fall, but he keeps up, even with Ireland, India, Egypt,
South Africa on his back.

Tell me what you are doing now, anything beside writing, and
writing what next? I wish that I had the literary endowment--
ideas, plus style, plus energy. Good fortune to you always.
Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



Letter sent to several friends

Rochester, Minnesota, January 10, 1921

"And when they came upon the Snark, they found it was a Boojum--or
words to that effect--and so, my dear Jack, they couldn't operate
now.

There is the whole story. Details there are, of course. But
Meissonier's style never did appeal to me. After peering into, and
probing, all known and unknown parts of the Mortal Man, they found
that the heart in one part changed its polarity,--turned over, by
George, or tried to,--hence the Devil's clutch. But why did it do
this vaudevillian act? Bugs, bugs, of course. But where? So they
chased them to their lair in that wicked, nasty-named and most
vulgar organ known as the gall-bladder. Damn the gall-bladder! Out
it must come! On with the knifing! But soft, not so swift. Suppose
the heart should try to play its funny stunt in the midst of the
operation? Or suppose again in this icy weather, pneumonia should
ensue and the naughty heart should take to turning? Eh, what then,
my brave Bucko? "No," they said, "We are experts in eliminating
this same appropriately named organ from the system--eight
thousand times have we done it. It is a twenty-five minute job, A
mere turn of the wrist and out the viper comes. And it never comes
back! This is positively its last appearance, save as a memento
for the morbid-minded in a bottle of alcohol. But hearts that do
somersaults and lungs that choke up, fill us with fear. So out
with the tonsils where bugs accumulate and men decay, and then off
with you to California where bugs degenerate and men rejuvenate.
Then come back when the sun shines and the trees begin to burgeon
and the trick will be done. Hold yourself where you are, grow
better if you can, and we'll have to take the risk of the tumbling
heart, but the pneumonia risk will be gone."

Thus saith the Prophets! And this day, therefore, will be spent
with the Master of the mysterious fluoroscope, who reverses Edward
Everett Hale and looks "in and not out," and with the dentist who
must fill a pesky tooth, and then with the surgeon who tears out
tonsils. Rather a full day, eh? And after two days in hospital, or
three, over the hills to 8 Chester Place, Los Angeles,--by no
means a poor-house,--but alas! carrying the malevolent bugs and
their nesting place with me. Then I shall rest, "and faith I shall
need it, lie down for an aeon or two, till the Master of all good
workmen shall put me to work anew."

I am disappointed. I would take the risk if it were left to me.
But I shall go West--why did those soldier boys ever use that
phrase with such sinister meaning, or did it signify a better land
to them? I shall go West in good hope that I shall return, and
meantime will try to develop a strong propaganda in favor of race
suicide in the land of the bothering bacteria, Adios.

F. K. L.



To John G. Gehring

Rochester, Minnesota, January 13, [1921]

MY DEAR PADRE,--I wrote you an impressionistic sketch of what the
politicians call the "local situation," a couple of days since.
... It is subject to attack on every possible ground as to
details, for no man can know from it what these doctors found. But
it is a perfect picture from the artist's standpoint, because it
produces the result on the viewer or reader that is truth, and
that result is a large, purple befuddlement. I am whole, but I
have a pain. ...

After I had practically been declared one hundred per cent
pluperfect I gave the electric cardiograph man a picture or
exhibition performance under an attack. This revealed to him a
change in polarity in the current passing through, which signified
something, but what that something was, other than that I was
having a spasm, I don't know. ...

The smug, mysterious gentleman who made this picture was much
pleased, apparently at nothing more than that he had proved that I
had a clutch of the heart, which I had announced, by wire, before
arriving here.

Am I impatient or am I a damn fool?

Well, with my tonsils out I am in Royal Baking Powder condition
and tomorrow we start for California. I cannot hope to be out
there till May or June, when you would come. But Heaven knows I'd
like to introduce you to the Yosemite! ...

Do you know I am beginning to admire myself. Now many have thought
that that was my favorite sport. But I can assure you that no one
ever felt more humble than I have, any appearance to the contrary
being a bluff for success--effect. But now that I have been wisely
and scrupulously and unscrupulously examined by the most exalted
rulers of the Inner Temple, and they pronounce me all that man
should be, why shouldn't I strut some? But, damn it, strutting
brings that Devil's clutch--and a man cannot be anything more
strutty than a dish-rag then. In William James you will find a
questionnaire, "Why do I believe in immortality? 'Because I think
I'm just about ready to begin to live.'" There speaks self-
justifying age--I'm there, too.

I'd love to look on Bethel this morning, and see what your poet-
partner calls the hills in their wine bath. Good luck.

LANE



To Lathrop Brown

Los Angeles, [January] 15, [1921]

MY DEAR LATHROP,--I have yours of the eleventh. First question, as
to men and women for the Executive Committee,

Answer: Get men who can make a program, something that the party
can push, outside Congress, if too cowardly in. People who don't
want anything, if possible.

Think of these! (I don't say they will do, but they stand for
something.)

Charles W. Eliot. Benjamin Ide Wheeler. (Ex-President of the
University of California. Ex-Chairman, Democratic Committee,
Elmira, New York.) E. M. House. Frank L Cobb. John W. Davis.
Robert Lansing. R. Walton Moore. (Congressman from Virginia, big
fellow.) Gavin McNab. Governor Parker, of Louisiana. James D.
Phelan. Van-Lear Black.

For solid thought I'd choose out of that bunch--Eliot and Moore.
For cleverness--Black and McNab. For diplomacy--House and Davis.
For progressiveness--House and Parker. For Conservative Democracy
--Wheeler and Lansing. For writing ability--Cobb and Eliot.

I know no women who think, particularly. ...

The kind of publicity we need is the advocacy by the National
Committee, and by Democrats in Congress of first class measures,
known to be Democratic measures, part of a program.

I'll tell you how to get all the publicity you want when I see
you--or White--a new kind, cheap, but requiring brains. ...

F. K L.



To Lathrop Brown

Los Angeles, January, [1921]

DEAR LATHROP,--(1) You are right as to standardization. The Devil
devised it as a highway to socialism. It is the Bible of the great
Tribe of Flatfoot, not for artists like you and myself. And
speaking of programs, please read what Wells says in his first
volume of Outline of History, on David, Solomon, Moses. It will
delight your anti-semitic soul. ...

Yes, standardization is like all else, good--for a distance. The
whole bally outfit of life is a matter of balance, maintained by
war among the unintelligent bacilli and other primitives, and by
will among men (goat feed for men, eh?) But do you get my point?
Something to it!

(2) George White will be eaten up first thing he knows, unless he
moves. Your friend McAdoo is here declining the next nomination
daily, speaking much, and, I understand, well. ... Why doesn't G.
W. get Frank Cobb and Hooker, of the Springfield Republican, and
Van-Lear Black, and Senator Walsh, and Phelan, and Congressman
Walton Moore together, or any other group, and put up his plan and
ask them what they think of it tentatively,--just a quiet chat,
but start.

He doesn't need to resign, if he can get someone as a quiet
organizer "who will give all his time" to take up that job under
him, with sub-organizers. Who is this genius who can organize
inorganic matter, and give it life? Thought He was dead sometime!

"Wanted--A Miracle Man who can overcome a majority of seven
million votes with a hearty handshake and a warm brown eye. Need
have no program, no money. Must be a hypnotist who can make the
people forget a few things and believe a few things that are not
true. Must be able by reciting poetry to make the cunning
capitalist see that he is safer in the hands of the Democrats than
elsewhere, and at the same time educate the worker by a pass of
the hand to know that it is decent to stay bought. Must have
received the Gift of Tongues on the Day of Pentecost, so as to
talk Yiddish, in New York; Portuguese and Gaelic, in
Massachusetts; Russian and German, in Chicago; Scandinavian, in
the Northwest; Cotton and Calhoun, in the South; John Brown and
wheat, in Kansas; gold and Murphy, on 14th Street; and translate
Jesus Christ into Bolshevism, Individualism, Capitalism, Lodgeism,
Wilsonism! Must be as honest as old Cleveland and as clear of
purpose as Abraham Lincoln."

Put this want ad. in the papers and send me, by freight car, the
replies. With my warmest,

F. K. L.



To Adolph C. Miller

Los Angeles, January 26, [1921]

DEAR ADOLPH,--I see that Harding [Footnote: Governor Harding of
the Federal Reserve Board--a rumor of resignation.] is to leave
you, and this is a note of sympathy. What will you do? Poor chap!
I know the satisfaction you have had out of working with him and
now he follows Warburg, Delano, and Strauss. By Jove, that's why
we can't make things go as other countries do--because we can't
give our people enough to live on. This is at once the meanest and
most generous of Republics. Mean collectively, generous
individually.

He will wait until after March 4th. "Right oh!" I expect you to
have some say as to his successor, especially as to the new
Governor. And if you can't work with the new man you can lift your
skirts and skip! Freedom of movement, assured as to all by Adam
Smith, is exclusively the prerogative of the fortunate few. Don't
be downhearted! You can't be as badly off as you were for several
years. Just think how unlucky I am as compared with you, and pat
yourself on the back and take one of the old time struts. Good
belly! Good brains! Good pocket-book! Good friends near you! Good
dog to walk with in the woods--and woods in which you can walk!
Good house, with your own books to look at you friendly-like. Oh
boy, rejoice and be glad!



February 17, [1921]

We are most terribly disappointed. Your promised visit was a
bright spot,--a sunshiny place--to which we have looked forward as
to nothing else since we came here. Well, life is a series of such
jars, and child-like I submit, but am not reconciled.

... Are you coming later? How is Mary? We really seem far away
from our friends. The land is beautiful, but friends convert a
shack into a palace, a desert into a heaven.

F. K. L.



To John G. Gehring

Pasadena, near Paradise, February 18

Before breakfast this morning, indeed before dressing, I sent you
a message which was a combined confession, apologia, report, and
appeal. I said, "I have done wrong, I apologize, I am slightly
better, and I hope and pray you will not become downhearted." I
also promised to write and here I am at it. But you would have had
this letter just as early anyway, for this morning was to be yours
and mine. All other mornings for two weeks and more have belonged
to someone else. I have been pretending to work, by going to the
office each day. And last night I said good-bye to the Napoleon of
our institution, who took his private car and rolled away to
Mexico, to Galyeston first, thence by private yacht to Tampico,
there to see his properties and spend two or three weeks.

... They desired us to go greatly, and ours would have been every
possible comfort that one can have while traveling, ... but the
tyrant Anne thought that as I was picking up a bit it was wrong to
change conditions, and I yielded, hardly against my judgment, but
strongly against my desire.

So here I am, the first hour after release, sitting on the porch
of a villa, looking across a valley at amethyst mountains, crowned
with a sprinkling of blue and white snow. The noises that come to
me are not raucous;--the twitter of birds, a rooster crowing, a
well-pump throbbing its heart out, the shouts of some children at
play, a distant school bell, with no silver in its alloy, however,
the swish of a wood-sawing machine in some back-yard. So my ears
are not lonesome. Immediately before me is the gray-lavender bole
of a tall eucalyptus, not a leaf or branch for fifty feet, and
then a drooping cascade of blue-green feathers. Beyond it a few
feet a red-blue eucalyptus, sturdy, branching almost at the ground
and in blossom. These stand near the border of a drive which is
marked by a cypress hedge, trimmed and proper, and beyond the
drive, on the front of the terrace are magnolia and iron-wood and
avocado and palm and spruce, rising up out of beds of carnations
and geraniums, jasmine and pansies (all violet), and cherokee
roses, five-petaled, white with golden centers, and rose colored--
(the wild rose with a university education, a year or two in
Italy, and the care of a good maid). While beyond this terrace are
orange, and tangerine, and lemon, and grapefruit with their green,
yellow, and deep red-golden fruit pendant; and still further on, a
fringe of blossoming pear trees tell you that this is not the
tropics after all. The breeze is a gentle woman's hand, a soft
touch, kindly, tender, emotional, but not disturbing. It is not
lotus-eating time. I don't know that that time ever comes here.
Autos whisk through the woods, buildings are going up, the air is
dry and has tang; it has challenge in it, but it does not give off
the heady champagne of the air that the snow breathes out on your
Millbrook hillside.

I remember as I looked from my window at the sunset at Bethel
saying to myself, "Can there be any fairer spot than this?" And
this morning as I saw the sun rise into the pink and blue of the
sky, empurpling the shadowed hills and splashing rose leaves on
the snowy mountains, I again said "Is there anything lovelier,
anywhere?" Great blessing, these catholic eyes! Should the heart
be equally catholic? There is a real problem in philosophy and
sociology for you!

And now that you know how happily circumstanced I am as to
environment your doctorial demand is for something as to the
behavior of the organs and nerves which we call the physical man.
Well, I can't tell you much. I do not rise and walk half a block
without that trigger being pulled, but the explosion is not
dynamite, rather poor black powder, I should say. If I walk half a
dozen blocks I stop a half a dozen times, and once or twice nibble
at a precious pellet of nitro. At night I am wakened as of yore,
but the agonizing, crushing pains do not come every night. ... I
eat prunes and bran biscuit and coffee for breakfast; a bit of
cooked fruit (and that in this land of oranges and alligator pears
and ripe raspberries!), chicken and green peas, and bran biscuit
and tea for lunch; a couple of green vegetables and bran biscuit
and a small black, for dinner. And all this I write with a supreme
sense of virtue, which Simon Stylites or St. Benedict could not
more than parallel. As to smoking--a pipe, generous in size but of
the mildest possible tobacco, after breakfast. A mild, large cigar
after lunch, and pause here and worship--no cigar after dinner.
(But this latter is a Lenten innovation. I would not have you
think I am preparing for immediate ascension.)

As to treatment, an osteopath and a Christian Scientist are my
present complement. Each morning the former, and each evening the
latter. The former to gratify myself, the latter to gratify a dear
friend who "believed and was saved." The osteo is rational, the C.
S., with limitations and reservations. ...

The C. S. is a woman, the sister of an artist I used to know. If
she did not ask or expect that I believe certain things, we would
get on better. I can believe in God as the Principle of Life, that
seems scientific. I am willing to call Him Spirit, that is
Christian. That He is Supreme in the Universe, I admit. That sin
and sickness may with further light be overmastered I do not deny;
physical death, of course, seems to me a thing not worth bothering
about. But that God is all good, I cannot asseverate in the living
presence of a few Devils whom I know, unless I deny that He is
omnipresent and omnipotent, or unless I say that Bad is Good. God
cannot be good and all powerful without being also responsible for
Bad, and therefore be both Good and Bad. This I can believe, and
it brings me to Emerson's transcendentalism, which is set forth in
the Sphinx--"Deep Love lieth under these pictures of Time, which
fade in the light of their meaning sublime." In a word we are
growing into the Good. The Bad is not the ultimate, but is none
the less real. This is better than Manicheism, the Miltonian
contest between the Good Spirit and the Bad, which Wells also in
his Invisible King presents; a simple theory, understandable but
not to my mind subject to careful scrutiny. There is but one God,
one Force, one Principle, one Spirit, and it is working its way
through, expressing itself as best it can. And Evil is a partial
view, one phase of undevelopment, the muck through which, by God's
own law, we must come; and indeed He could not have sent us any
other way. This means that He is bound, too. Is this supposable?
Omnipresent? Yes! All pervading! In all! But Omnipotent? No, not
in the sense that He could change the Order of Things, for He is
the Order of Things Himself. Is there even in Him complete Freedom
of Will, freedom to make a world other than this? One wishes, in a
sense, to say so, but the horror of it! for then He is responsible
for the cruelty of the ant-heap, the feeding of the carnivorous
upon the vegetable eaters, the preying and persecution of the
malevolent upon the kindly--and He could have made it all
otherwise! With a Free Will He could have brought growth without
pain, being omnipotent. Here we see God as a monster,--responsible
for sweat shops and the Marne, in the sense that His will could
have averted these things. So I say God is not Good, save in the
sense that He is that sunrise this morning. But night cometh, when
thieves break through and steal. More sunlight--that is the
meaning of the phrase "God is Good"--a belief in a tendency, in
the temporality of darkness, of night, a sureness that the day
will come and "There will be no night there."

This is a long disquisition, but I just had to get it out of my
system; yet I can't, it bothers, and confuses, and perplexes, and
hinders, I believe. Better brush it away for practical purposes
and have the Will to Believe, for thence cometh strength.
Pragmatically C. S. works out with certain people; and to them it
is Truth. I wish it were so with my doubting mind, that I could
believe. I am willing to be cured tho' I do not understand and
cannot believe, and this they say they can do. But it has not been
done with me.

Lunch broke into this discourse, and then a walk. This time on the
other side of the house, the other side of the hill. There I found
a new world. Palms, huge ones, thirty feet across, with their dead
branches strewing the ground, making a coarse woven carpet; and
pines, large ones, yet not so gigantic as yours on the road beyond
the creek; and acacia in full golden bloom, glorious, yet modest
tree, a very rare, non-self-assertive tree, a truly Christian
tree, beautiful but not prideful. Bamboo in great clumps, erect,
yielding but not to be broken--wise, tenacious orientals! And I
walked on the off-cast seed of the pepper, and beside cacti higher
than my head with spears of crimson, and across a sweep of lawn
over which oranges had been dropped, by the generosity of an up-
hill row of trees that were saying, "We must make room for the
next generation." The flowers (oxalis) and leaves I enclose made a
mat, close clinging to the earth, a mat of white, red, and
lavender resting on these clover-like leaves that rested in turn
directly on the ground. And all about, a hundred plants I did not
know, into which my footsteps sent quail and rabbit, that did not
fear me really but could not quite say that Man is Love.

I have written you a long line, may it serve for a time as a word
also to your dear Lady, whose letter and rare bit of verse I have
also received. I do hope that you soon master whatever ails you.
Don't lose faith in yourself, above all things. Believe that you
are all that your friends believe you to be--a Civilized Medicine
Man. Be as deluded as we are. Affectionately,

LANE



To John W. Hallowell

Los Angeles, February 21, 1921 MY DEAR JACK,--It is Sunday
morning, very early; the sun is trying to get out of bed, a
mocking bird is hailing its effort with great gurgling. I am
sitting near an open window looking down into orange trees, which
are a very dark shadow, and I am just as happy in my heart as I
can be with a bum heart, and no home, and a scattered family. But
--! Bad word that "but."

Roots we all have and we must not be torn up from them and flung
about as if we were young things that could take hold in any soil.
I have been, all America has been, too indifferent to roots--home
roots, school roots, work roots. ... We should love stability and
tradition as well as love adventure and advancement.

Your new job interests me, but I wonder if you will go with the
Secretary of Commerce [Hoover], ... I guess he did right. But
unless he gets to be the leading adviser he'll have to get out.
For I'm afraid we are to see too much politics--Republican
Burlesonism in the saddle. Government by unanimous consent is not
practicable, and it looked as if this were Harding's motto until
Hoover's appointment. Hoover will be the man to whom the country
will look for some guidance along progressive lines, and the
country will expect too much, more than any man can deliver.

Please tell your dear Mother that I have her book, and last night
read two chapters. I know Bok and did not think him capable of
such a literary work, or that he had such character as his book
reveals. ... My love to the Troop, and write just as often as you
can.

F. K. L.



To Curt G. Pfeiffer

Pasadena, 22 [February, 1921]

MY DEAR OLD PFEIFFER,--I have treated you shamefully. Yes, I have,
don't protest! But I have been pretending to be busy. Mr. Doheny
wanted me to go to Mexico, and Anne did not want me to go, and I
have had a hard time. They have gone and we have come out here
with Mrs. Severance, in the loveliest hillside spot you ever saw.
Flowers and trees all about and mountains in the distance.
Wonderful land!

To-day I celebrated G. W.'s birthday by taking on a new doctor.
... Thought I had escaped from doctors but it is not so to be. ...

This is all my news. I do wish I were there to talk politics with
you. Poor Harding! He will suffer the politicians, I fear, till
they undo him. ...

The Germans seem to have recovered their audacity. They should
have been driven into their own land and then some. I am not for
revenge nor for their paralyzing, but just reparation they should
pay. Perhaps things have been botched, I do not trust Briand. I'd
trust Hoover to get all they could pay, and he's the only one I
know who could be just and at the same time sensible in method,
but he can't be used where he should be used. ...

March 31

... You are a delight and joy to a thirsty man, a true water
carrier, you give of the water of life. For you know that men
shall not live by bread alone. Not only words of wisdom, sage
counsel, come from you, but there is a heart behind which does not
wane with the years, but on the contrary grows stronger and more
generous. I look forward to returning to New York to be able once
again to feel with you the pleasure of an intellectual
companionship, wherein the mind is so refined as to be emotionally
sympathetic. You would take the greatest joy out of the beauty in
which I am living. ... The night is fragrant (Do you remember
telling me of that Japanese criterion?) with orange, wisteria, and
jasmine. Oh, this is exquisite country, if I only had health! But
there is little beauty where pain is, and my pain holds on even
when I was with my brother on his farm, eighty acres, south of San
Jose, tucked in the foothills--raises nothing but kindliness and
a few vegetables and some hay. It is the sweetest place in its
spirit I have ever felt, and lovely physically, too. I wish I
could get you to go out there with me. Put up a comfortable adobe
on the knob of a hill with a wide prospect and then make things
grow, including our own souls. ...

I'm going back there in a week or two, then East, I hope, to Ned's
wedding. ... The girl is all a girl should be, I believe. Smaller
than he is, a tiny thing in fact, very gentle in voice and manner,
sweet natured, musical, wholesome.

... I still dream of that place on the Shepaug river, in
Connecticut, where you think I would be lonesome. A winter here
with George and a summer there with you, would quite suit me. ...
Well, write me, for books are not old friends after all, are they?
Forever and ever yours,

F. K. L.

Writing of the days of their youth Pfeiffer said later,
"Friendships are inexplicable, they defy analysis, but whatever it
was that we might be doing, we were usually in harmony about it. I
can only explain it by saying that we liked each other. We liked
each other just as we were, and we knew each other with intimacy
that deepened with the years, and never disappointed us. The magic
circle came later to include others, and they were accepted and
appreciated with the same affection and trust. ... It is a
singular and beautiful thing that such a multiple and intimate
relationship should have survived throughout all of our lives.
Perhaps it was because we were friends without capitulation. ...

"Some of us did not meet again, after that first period, for
years, but whenever we did meet, it was always in the spirit of
the early days. A few words would tell us what we knew of the
latest doings of the rest, and we would then 'carry on' just as if
there had never been a break in our intercourse. The strength of
our joint memories, based on our youthful experiences in common
and added to from time to time, grew with the years."



To John G. Gehring

Pasadena, February 24, [1921]

MY DEAR DOCTOR-AND-MORE,--This is a note of cheer written by a
somewhat dolorous duffer who spent last night in pain, but this
morning is rather comfortable. ...

Am reading William James' Varieties of Religious Experience, and
it is really the most helpful religious or philosophical work I
have ever read. Nothing else anywhere near as good for the groping
mind that wants to be led cautiously, reasonably, suggestively to
the "Water of Life," but shown that there is water there. (Pretty
poor figure, but perhaps understandable.) I must re-read his
answer to the questionnaire in his Letters, and compare it with
his conclusions in this book. You remember my thought that
probably Emerson, William James, and Henry George had been the
greatest writing minds we had produced. Probably you can improve
on this.

Have been interested myself in thinking of a list of books that
have made great movements in the world, Darwin's Descent of Man,
for illustration. Books that have provoked the minds of men into
action of one kind or another:--The Bible, Koran, in religions, of
course! What started modern medicine? I mean in the way of a book?

What are, or have been, the great movements in history, anyway?
Wars, of course, don't count, when merely predatory.

    Man's relation to God.
    Man's relation to the World.
    Man's relation to Man.
    Man's relation to the Good.
    Man's relation to the True.
    Man's relation to the Beautiful.

These ought to cover Art, Science, Philosophy, Religion, Progress.
Civilization of every kind. And this progress has come in waves,
hasn't it? Did any book start, or give evidence of the starting of
these waves? That's the question. Outside religion and philosophy
books were the results not the causes of movements. How true is
that? As always and always,

F. K. L.



To D. M. Reynolds

Pasadena, [February, 1921]

I'm writing this late at night and will mail it in the morning,
for I'm going to Santa Barbara for a couple of days. Do with it
what you will. Judge for me what it is wise to say. And be as
condensed as possible.

What I've written is to be dropped in at the right places, it is
not conservative. Will see you next week, I hope, perhaps
Saturday.

F. K. LANE

Cooperation is the word of this century and we don't know what it
means yet. We work together most imperfectly in things political,
and we are just beginning to feel our way into the worlds of
social and industrial life. I'm not afraid of socialism. I really
don't know anyone who is. We're all afraid of blundering attempts
at getting a thing called by that name, which is a mechanical
method of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, without
changing the human spirit.

The call for socialism or communism is generally a call for more
of justice and of honesty and of fair dealing between men, rather
than a demand for any particular and organized method of carrying
on industrial life. If business is squarely conducted we won't try
experiments in mechanicalizing and sterilizing business. But a few
more years of profiteering, and Conservatives would have become
Reds.

Now we should be studying and planning for a safer industrial
life, one in which there will be fewer waves, a safer and more
even sea. That we can have, if we are willing to be less greedy
now, less venturesome and predatory.

The only people who have done much in the way of substantial
thinking as to cooperative action, collective action, are those
who think in terms of immediate and large fortunes for themselves,
through plans of capitalizing combined brains and money. Their
example is a good one to follow in lesser things, where the object
is not great wealth but a more even measure of good living.
Insurance is the right word for it, business life insurance
through honest cooperation. You mark my word, that is the next big
move in business affairs. Nationalization of things is not their
socialization. Not at all. It may mean their deserialization,
their withdrawal from the use of society altogether, or their more
imperfect use. Calling things by nice names, popular alluring
names, does not solve problems. Nevertheless such names evidence
our social dreams. We all feel that there must be more of justice
in the economic world. But we don't want it at the expense of
society, that is at our own expense, for that means Bolshevism and
Bolshevism is paralysis. ...

Oil is one of the fine forms of Power that we know, for many
purposes the handiest. Industrially it is as indispensable and
staple as the soil itself. To lose faith in the future of oil--
why, that's as unthinkable as to lose faith in your hands. Oil,
coal, electricity, what are these but multiplied and more
adaptable, super-serviceable hands? They may temporarily be
unemployed but the world can't go round without them.

A slack time is always one of fear, never of confidence. And no
policies should be adopted in such an atmosphere. For the man who
can afford to take the long view these are great days. He can take
up what others cannot carry. Better still he can prepare for the
demand of to-morrow, or the day after to-morrow--find more oil, if
you please, plan for its fuller use, as we are talking of oil, but
the principle applies to everything. Take the railroads. Their car
shortage is mounting and their out-of-order equipment is way up.
This has always been so in hard times. But this is the very time
when they should have plenty of money, to get road bed and
equipment in perfect shape for to-morrow's rush. No, the nation
would do no better if it had the roads. Congress doesn't think
ahead two years. It is a reflector, not a generator. The fault is
ours.

Right now the call in national affairs of every kind is for the
long view; we have use for the men who can see this nation in its
relation to other nations, next year and next generation, and for
men in business who can think in terms of 1922, and 1925, and
1945. That's what really big business can do--hold its breath
under water and watch the waves.



To Mrs. Cordenio Severance

[Pasadena, March, 1921]

DEAR MAIDIE,--It is six in the morning. The sun is a long streak
of salmon pink in a gray skirt of fog. Chanticleer is very loud
and conquering. The little birds are twittering all about, in
wisteria, in oranges; and over on the hillside, by the cherokee
roses, there was a mocking bird that hailed the dawn, or its
promise, an hour ago.

And for all this beauty, this gay cheer, this soul-lifting day-
breaking I have you to thank. It is the one most exquisite spot in
which I have ever laid my head. And pity is that I have been so
down-cast that I could not feel fully what was here, nor show what
I did feel.

Forgive me for my many ungraciousnesses and credit yourself, I
beg, with having done all and everything that human hands and
heart could do to make me "come back."

You have spent a lifetime doing good, giving out of your heart,
and the only reward you can get is the evidence of understanding
in paltry words like these.

F. K. L.

To Alexander Vogelsang Assistant Secretary of the Interior

Los Angeles, March 4, [1921]

DEAR ALECK,--The end has come. We were identified with an historic
period, one of the great days of the world. And none can say that
our part, of relatively slight importance maybe, was not well
played. We did not strut and call the world to witness how well we
did. We did not voice indignation at injustice, and make heroes of
ourselves at the price of unity. And some things we did, and more
we tried to do, and all were good. So I look back over the eight
years with some personal satisfaction, for not a thing was done or
attempted ... that was unworthy, ignoble, unpatriotic or little.

I am glad to get news of the force, and sorry that I cannot have
them all round about me for the rest of my days. Had I been well I
would have been with you this morning, to bid you all good cheer.
It was my hope when I saw you in December that this might be.

I like your plans for the future and, by the starry belt of Orion,
I'd like to join you. ... I am stronger and look very well, but my
damn pains are about as frequent and crunching as ever. ... No one
can say that I have not fought a good fight and stood a lot of
punishment. Good luck, dear Aleck.

F. K. L.



To James S. Harlan

Pasadena, March 5, [1921]

MY DEAR JIM,--That was a fine long letter in your old-time style,
and I am doing the unprecedented thing of answering it promptly.
To this I am prompted by the near-by presence of a very handsome
young woman formerly named Wyncoop, now Mays, who knows Mrs.
Harlan well, having been much at the Crater Club. ... Who would
have thought such a thing possible--that here as I lie on a couch
in a doctor's office with a rubber tube in my mouth, I should
attract the curiosity of a baby who came to see the "funny tube,"
and that she should be followed by a nice-looking, blue-eyed,
bright-cheeked girl who says, "I believe I saw you once at Lake
Champlain. You know Mrs. Harlan."

Well now, as George Harvey might say--"One day After!" I want to
help in any way I can to make this administration a success. ...
If Hoover can work with Harding, or the latter with him, all will
be well. But I fear the politicians--especially ... [those]
ambitious for a great political machine. The country will be
generous for a time to Harding. ... But it will turn against him
with anger unbounded if he turns the country over to the men who
want office and the men who want privilege and favor. The
politicians and the profiteers may be his undoing. I hope not!

... I cannot close without a special word to that most gracious,
tender, and charming Lady who is your "sweet-heart." As I wander
and see many, I find no limitation, no reservation, or
modification to put to that declaration of admiration and
devotion, which I made to Her now some fifteen years ago, nearly.
Tell her that this old, sick troubled man thinks nice things about
her often. My affectionate regards to you, dear Jim.

LANE



To Adolph C. Miller

Morgan Hill, March 9, [1921]

When my eyes opened this morning they looked out upon a hillside
of vivid green, like the tops of Monterey cypress, flecked with
bits of darker green embroiderings, and behind this was green,
too, but very dark, and it had great splashes of a green so dark
that they looked black--and my heart was glad. It was a common
scene, nothing rarely beautiful about it. Fog enclosed the earth.
There was no sky. But I had known it as a boy, this same kind of a
picture, and it went to this poor tired heart of mine and was like
balsam to a wound. By Jove, it is balsam! These hills are for the
healing of men. I have been here three days and have taken more
exercise than in three months--walking and climbing; beside the
creek lined with great sycamores--alluvial soil, crumbles in your
hand, and with our friend the gopher in it; and climbed up through
a bit of manzanita--big fellows, twenty feet high some of them--
and such a rich brown, near-burgundy red! I barked a bit of the
bole to get that green beneath, spring green, great contrast!

And above the grove of manzanita was a flat top to the hill, from
which I could see three ways, and all ending in cloud-wrapped
mountains, that had shape and were blue of some kind, as far as
you could see. Ah man, this is a glorious land--even the people!
Along the road I talked to Lundgren, who used to be a ship-
carpenter, but he had a prune orchard here "since the fire." I
must "see his horses," great snuzzling monsters that he had raised
himself (sold one of them once, and sneaked off and bought it
back) and his calves, twins out of a three-year-old--and she had
had one before. Oh shades of Teddy Roosevelt, there's your ideal!
(Do you remember Kipling's line in the Mary Gloster, "And she
carried her freight each trip"?)

And next to Lungren was the Frenchman--far up on the hill
cultivating his grapes, for which he got $110 per ton last year--
and this year he puts out five acres more. The Frenchman has
indigestion and lives alone ... that hillside of vines gives him
something to love.

When we come to the turn in the road, where you cross the creek to
climb the hill, there the "Portugee" lives. He always has lived
there. He was found just there when the Padres came. And his name
was Silva. John Silva, of Stevenson's Treasure Island--born in the
Azores, of course--there are no other Portuguese in America.

And John has--how many children? Give you three guesses. All by
one wife, too, and she is in evidence, and a native daughter. I
saw her with my own eyes, black hair, dark skin, slight figure,
voluble, smiling, large-knuckled hands and a flashy eye, oh! a
long way from being uninteresting to John yet, or a merely "good
woman." Well, how many children did they have, right there by the
road?--eleven. Eight boys and three girls--and four dead, too.
Fine boys and girls, one I saw plowing or cultivating straight up
and down the vineyard, a sixty degree hill, I should say. I was
struggling with a cane to get one foot before another on the
sloping road and he was outdoing a horse, that he drove with his
neck and shoulders, while with his hands he guided the little plow
straight up toward the sky. I am not envious of such youth. I
never had it. I was always lazy. But it is a real joy for me to be
near such youth--just to know that such things can be done--by
angels from the Azores. You remember Anne's story, "In future it
is prohibited to refer to our beloved Allies as 'the God-damned
Portuguese'"? Well, I feel the same way.

Yes, this land of yours is good. (All land is good, I believe.)
And the stillness, and the birds, and the flowers! The simplicity
of these two dear hearts--George and his wife--the little they
need! A paper once a day for five minutes, a song to break day
with, and a round of songs and piano pieces to end the day, every
act one of consideration, and each word spoken with a tender look,
a gay lilt to the voice, even in asking to pass the salt. "Better
a dinner of herbs where love is," etc. Well, they have it, herbs
and all,--beet tops and mustard leaves. ... Good luck to you.

F. K. L.

P. S. You don't deserve this--you stingy, skimpy mollusk!



To Lathrop Brown

Morgan Hill, [March] 16, [1921]

MY DEAR LATHROP,--I wish I could be with you just to laugh away
that cynical mood. I know that I do not see the world undressed,
naked, in the raw, as you youngsters do. Illusions and delusions,
let them be! I shall cherish them. For whatever it is inside of me
that I call soul seems to grow on these things that seem so
contrary to the results of experience. "If a lie works, it's the
truth," says Dooley. So say I, in my pragmatism. I have "become"
in the eyes of men and I want to "become" in the eyes of my better
self, that ego must be gratified at least by an effort. And to
"become" requires that there shall be some faith. We don't
accomplish by disbelieving. That is your Mother's religion. It is
my philosophy. She has capacity for faith which I have not,
because she climbs, while I stand still.

Of course the inauguration business was commonplace. That is Ohio
statesmanship, somehow. But good may come of it, and you and I
want to help it, so far as it wants national food, to bear fruit.
Damn all your politics and partisanship! Humbug--twaddle--fiddle-
dee-dee, made for lazy louts who want jobs and bosses who want
power. Well, we are out now for a long time, and we might as well
forget bitterness, or rather submerge it in the bigger call of the
nation. All of which you characterize as sentimentalism--so says
Burleson, too.

I am beginning to despair of doctors and to say to myself, "Better
get back to work, and go it as long as you can, then quit and live
on rolled oats and buttermilk until the light goes out." ... Well,
goodnight, dear chap.

F. K. L.



To John G. Gekring

[March] 21, [1921]

And how are you, Padre? Do you find that there are those who can
probe into the secrets within you and tell more than you as
patient can tell yourself? Has a physician who follows the
biblical advice, "Heal thyself," a Fool for a Doctor? What has
been taught you in the ill-smelling center of darkness, dreariness
and torture, where there is more need for beauty than in any other
place, and less of it, more need for gaiety, and less of it, more
need for wholesome suggestion and less of it? ... All hospitals
should have bright paper on the walls, or bright pictures. To hell
with the microbe theory! There are worse things than microbes. All
nurses should be good-looking. They should paint and pad, if
necessary, to give an imitation of good looks. Now, honestly, do
you not agree? And they should not have doors open, nor ask
perfunctory silly questions, such as "Well, how are we today?"

On examination nurses should be rated largely for things that
don't count--looks, cheerfulness, silliness, sympathy, softness of
hand, willingness to listen to the victim-patient! ...

I am going to Rochester, ... my brother is going with me. Bless
him! He'd be glad to take you back, and he can give you wood to
chop, and a black-headed grosbeak to sing for you. Ever hear one?
Better than Caruso.

May the Lord make his light to shine upon you and give you peace.

F. K. L.



To John H. Wigmore

Los Angeles, March 25, 1921

MY DEAR JOHN,--Hail to you brave leader of the Moral Forces! Isn't
that an offensive title? You see I have been asked to join you in
"Potentia." Isn't that word out of the Middle Ages?

I would like to join against crooks, thieves, and liars. But the
American people don't like anyone to assume that he represents the
Moral Forces. And "Potentia" sounds too mystic for any land this
side of Egypt. Am I not right? Answer in one of your sane moments.
You cannot go against ridicule in America. Bishops here are not
the same as Lords in England. They cannot save from ridicule
pretentious good things. Now Ross and you are wise things. How do
you stand for "Moral Forces" and "Potentia"? No, no, dear John!--
less hifalutism!

I write for information. Tell me--do you think good will come of
it? My immediate judgment is against it, strongly. In purpose--
good, in method, name,--impossible. It is as if one were to say,
"Come let us gather together the Good and the Wise, and say who
shall be called honest men." Cicero, I believe, formed government
by the "boni." No one likes the good who advertise. I don't. Am I
all wrong? ...

LANE

To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt

[Pasadena], March 25, [1921]

Your letters, my dear Mrs. Franklin, are refreshing breezes. They
are quite what breezes should be--warm, kindly, stimulating; not
hard, stiff, compelling things, off a granite Northern shore. Anne
rejoices in them, without words.

I have been lately with my one brother on his ranch--a large name
implying vast herds quietly grazing over infinite valleys and
mountains. But all farms here are ranches, as you doubtless know,
as all weather is fine. My brother's ranchita is eighty acres of
beauty; a stream below, running up to manzanita crowns on good-
sized hills, and oaks and sycamores and bays, and many other trees
between. He has a house, all of which he planned in fullest detail
himself, with as lovely a site as anywhere, and a pretty and
artistic wife; a good saddle horse, a noble dog, a loyal and most
excellent cook, many books--and what more could he have in heaven?
Outside his dining-room window he has built a dining-table for the
birds, and so as we dined within, they dined without. Each morning
I saw the sun rise, and I whistled as I dressed. One morning I
climbed the hills and found the cow and drove it in for the man to
milk. But my only morning duty was to pick a golden poppy or a
cherokee rose or a handful of wild forget-me-nots for my button-
hole. All day I sat in the sun, or drove a bit or walked a little
--talking, talking, talking; of law, and Plato, and Epictetus, and
Harry Lauder, (whom we imitated, at a distance; for my brother
sings Scotch songs); and we talked too of our old girls and the
early days of good hunting in this semi-civilized land, and of
Woodrow Wilson and H. G. Wells and Emerson and Henry George, and
of Billy Emerson, the negro minstrel, and William Keith our great
artist. And we planned houses, adobe houses, that should be built
up above, over the manzanita bushes, and the swimming-pool that
should just naturally lie between the two live-oaks hidden behind
the natural screen of mountain laurel, but open clear up to the
sun. Each night we closed with a round of songs, and maybe a hymn.
And bed was early. Now wasn't that a good place to be?

Not so very different in atmosphere from Hyde Park! But what would
Broadway say of such a life! Oh, the serenity of it all, the
dignity, the independence, the superiority over so much that we
think important. There one could get a sense of proportion, and
see things more nearly in their natural color and size. Truly, I
could have been religious if I lived in the country--and not been
too hard driven for a living! (For one can't be anything good or
great when pressed and bullied by necessity of any kind.)

So I grew in strength on the little ranch and unwillingly came
back for treatment here, which was not half so good for soul or
body as to sit in the sun and see the birds daintily pick their
crumbs and know that the dog at my knee understood what I did not
tell him.

Give to the Ducal lady at Hyde Park my spring greetings, and to
the "young lord lover" who bears your name my respectful regards.
I expect to go to Rochester, or elsewhere, in May, and in the
meantime think me not silly because I like you and have written of
what I like.

F. K L.



To John W. Hallowell

Los Angeles, March 31, 1921

DEAR JACK,--I went to your Church on Sunday. Now there! Real
Friends. I wondered, "Why the two doors?" as I went up the steps,
but I said, "I'll take the nearest." Someone was talking, so I
plumped down in the backmost seat. Then I looked about and found
that I was faced by three rows of sisters, in poke bonnets on a
raised platform, at the end of the room. Around me were women,
women, women, and children. Not a man!

My wits at last came to me. I discovered there were two rooms
really, divided by pillars. And there were the men, the blessed,
homely men. So up I lifted hat and coat and piled over on the
man's side and breathed again.

The speaker looked like the late Senator Hoar and was intoning or
chanting his speech or address or sermon. I had never heard it
done and the cadence was charming. It adds to the emotionalism of
what is said. When he sat down, there was a long pause, and then a
sister, on the opposite side now, quoted, modestly, a psalm. Two
more, a man and woman, spoke. Then a prayer and at twelve, with
one accord, we all rose and went out.

It is the essence of Democracy and I fear the forward there, and
not the most worthy of being heard, come to the front. Please tell
your mother how good I was! And write me, you scoundrel!

F. K. L.

 Postcard to John G. Gehring

April 20, [1921]

On the eastbound train, traveling toward a little man who carries
a little knife in his hand and beckons me toward the north. I do
not go gladly, because I am feeling so much better. Have had whole
days and nights without pain, by the exercise of all kinds of
care. Still that is living "on condition." Is there never again to
be freedom? You see I am a natural Protestant. Good luck to you,
dear man.

LANE

To Hall McAllister

R.R. Train, Minnesota, April 22

DEAR HALL,--I am now on the St. Paul road going to Lake City,
where, it is said my son is to be married to a charming, little
Irish girl, one generation away from Ireland.

Right now, I am sitting opposite Mrs. Franklin K. Lane who is, in
turn, sitting beside my brother who has come East with me as
secretary, nurse, doctor, mentor, spiritual advisor, valet, and
companion. On my right is the Mississippi river, of which you may
have heard. On Sunday I hope to go to Rochester again and then be
cut in two, tho' I am not sure they will do it.

I left California last Tuesday. It was quite pleased with itself
and full of pity for all the rest of the world. It surely has much
to say for itself, and says it with frequency and normalcy. The
only disappointment in dying will be the unfortunate contrast--eh,
you Californian? But then you and I are not like those
transplanted Iowans who fill Southern California, most of whom
have never seen Mt. Tamalpais nor the Golden Gate and yet think
they know California!

I look at the paper and see "Harding" at the top of every column.
Then I think of W. W. looking at the paper and seeing the same
headlines. Oh, what unhappiness! Not all the devices of Tumulty
for keeping alive illusions of grandeur could offset those
headlines. Ungrateful world! Un-understanding world!

I hope you like your new boss. He will be a good western
Secretary, and is quite likely to get into a row with our eastern
conservation friends. I am glad he is from the Senate, they care
for their own.

I don't like Harrison jumping on Harvey after confirmation. Looks
little, weakens his influence as "our" man, and is not
sportsmanlike. We must take our medicine and let Harding have his
own way, and it won't be such a bad way, but surely very
different.

... I should like to get back to Washington and loaf for a time
around Sheridan Circle. I know a woman there who intrigued me (as
you writers say) long, long ago with various fascinations of
spirit and mind and eye and voice. But I fear she would not know
me any more.

Now do not be discouraged because you have a bit of sickness. You
are youth, you can beat old whiskered Time. Life has many a laugh
in it yet for you. Why you look forty years younger than Joe
Redding--but don't tell him I told you.

LANE



To Mrs. Frederic Peterson

Rochester, Minnesota, April 26, [1921]

MY DEAR MRS. PETERSON,--... Once more I am going through the
grinding of the Mayo mill, and this time I hope to some concrete
purpose, and have an end to this coming out "by that same door
wherein I went" The dear old meditative, contemplative Orientals
threw up their hands in despair long years ago and found the
figure of the unending wheel to symbolize all processes and
procedures: a world, a universe, without termini. Sometimes I
think them right, but then again my western mind will not have it
that the riddle of the Sphinx may not be solved. Our assurance
meets every challenge; mystery may make us humble; we may be
baffled; but we do not despair because we know we are Gods to whom
all doors must open eventually. That seems to be the real
underlying strength of our position. Why men go on with research
excepting out of some such philosophy I cannot see--nor why they
go on with life.

Tell your good man that I long to look once more into the sweet
face of the Shepaug, and that while I have been wandering in the
delicious and rare places, I have not forgotten the fresh
wholesomeness of the Hoosatonic. My first visit shall be to the
meeting place of the Three Rivers. Why might not fortune lead us
to have a summer in Connecticut and a winter in California? "I
know a place where the wild thyme grows," many such places indeed,
and high hillsides of wild lilac and a wee mountain crowned with
the flowering manzanita. Oh, this world is a place to make souls
grow if one can get an apple tree, a pine and an oak, a few
lilies, a circle of crimson phlox, a stretch of moving water and a
sweep of sky, that can be called one's own.

We saw Cordy Severance's place on Sunday--went there from the
wedding of my boy to Catherine McCahill--and found a volume of the
Chinese Lyrics [Footnote: By Dr. Frederic Peterson.] in the big
room. Great chap Cordy, and a great room he has to play the organ
in, and more people love him than anyone else I know, for he loves
them with an aggressiveness that few men dare to show, that gives
him distinction and is a glory.

How far away the war seems--way back yonder with the fight for
Independence and the French Revolution, almost back to Caesar.
Well, I must quit mental meanderings. With all good will,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Roland Cotton Smith

Rochester, Minnesota, [April] 30

And you know that I cannot even write Spoon River! Vain man!
Strutting cock o' the walk! Knight of the Knickerbocker Club!
Gazer upon Fifth Avenue and the Foibles and Frivolities! Reveller
in things of life and Enjoyer of Gaiety!

Look thou upon me. To Minnesota driven. In a hospital-hotel.
Punched and tapped by every stray Knight of the Golden Fleecers.
Awaiting a verdict from puzzled doctors. ... Bless you, I have
been through years of watchful waiting but not of this kind, and a
few weeks of this is enough. But I am a patient, long-suffering,
Christian martyr upon whom the Pagans work their will.

And you, poor man. Tied to a woman's foot! Now that is what I call
humiliating. Worse than being tied to her apron strings or to her
chariot, (in the latter, they say, there is often much joy.) Why
should people have feet anyway in these days of autos? A mere
transportation convenience! Well, all our transportation
facilities seem to be out of order these days. Fallen arches, in
sooth! Reminds one of Rome. Very much more aristocratic than
infected gall-bladder after all. And I do hope they can be
restored, those arches, and the world once more put on its
peripatetic way.

But you do not tell me of yourself. Can you chop wood or saw wood
or play golf or do aught else that doth become a man of muscle,
energy, life, vim, go, pep? Take a trip to the South Seas, a
knock-about trip, casting off clerical garb and living in the
open, mixing with the primitive peoples, seeing beauteous nature,
climbing mountains, swimming in soft waters, not seeing newspaper
or book. They tell me that in Burmah live a happy people who love
beauty, are always smiling and follow the Golden Rule far nearer
than those who live by trade and are blest by civilization. Ah,
that I might see such a people! The nearest I ever came was at
Honolulu, and there was the taint of the Christian, alack-a-day!
The White Man's Burden is the weight of the load of sin, disease,
death, and misfortune he has dropped on the happy ones who never
knew a Christian creed. We have given them bath tubs in exchange
for cheerful living!

I am as much in the air as to the future as I was in the russet
days of Bethel. But one of these days, let us hope we may gather
over a bottle of something sound and mellow, and laugh together
over our adventure into the land of the woebegone. I do not take
to it, tho' they say some people live in it by choice, for they
find something to talk of there, and feel saintly because they
suffer. Well, we will have more knowledge in that happy future and
more of sympathy. What a lot one must endure to gain a wee bit of
wisdom. And then to have it die with us. Maybe it does not, eh?
Maybe it somehow, somewhere finds a corner into which it drops and
carries someone over a hard place. I don't know what kind of
theology this is that I am dripping from my pen, but I cannot yet
be beaten to the point where I say it is all purposeless. And that
is the faith that may not save a soul but does save souls, I
guess.

I wish you the joy and elevation of spirit that you have many
times given to my sick soul and to others. Did I tell you my boy
is married--to a Catholic girl too, of much charm? They were
married on the ancestral farm with the ancestor of ninety years
present and in high spirits. A Dios, Padre mio,

F. K. L.



To John G. Gehring

Rochester, Minnesota, [April] 30, [1921]

Tomorrow will be May day--once, before the world became
industrial, a day of gladness, now a day of dread, another result
of mal-adjustment.

What ever would these doctors do if they had no cheeks in which to
hold their tongues while telling sick folk what ails them, and the
cure? You are learning, Sir, how much of wisdom some men lack who
have certain knowledge. And wisdom is what we are after, we
Knights of the Mystic Sign. Wisdom--the essence of lives lived;
knocks, blows, pains, tortures reduced to fears, and these
incorporated into a string or queue of people who have eyes,
nerves, and powers of inference, and the initiative to experiment
and the impulse to try, and try again. Result--a nugget no larger
than a mustard seed of intellectual or spiritual radium, y-clept
wisdom. It does not grow on ancestral trees or on college
campuses, nor does it come out of laboratories or hospitals, tho'
it is sometimes found in all these places. A Carpenter is known to
have possessed more of it than any other man; tho' most of us
don't possess enough wisdom to know that He did possess so much of
it. An Indian Prince is also celebrated for the richness of his
supply. These men have been followed by others who sometimes
carried mirrors, but some had tiny grains of the real thing also.
And those are called Optimists and Transcendentalists and
Idealists and Fools who think that more and more of these grains
will come into the hearts and minds of men; while those are called
sensible, and shrewd, and sane, who assert that the supply is
uniform, stationary in quantity but moved about from time to time,
producing nothing but the illusion that something is worth while.

But you and I say, "Suffer the Illusion to come into me, for of
such is the Kingdom of Heaven." Emerson says each man is an
"inlet" of the Divine Spirit--just a bit on the side, out of the
infinite ocean. Thus all of us are connected up, and thus there is
hope that some day doctors will be wiser than today. ...

I should like to hold your hand for a time. It's the best service
one man can give another. We are great hand-holders, we men,
natural dependents, transfusers of sympathy and understanding and
heartening stuff. They tell me here that your blood for purposes
of transfusion is 1, 2, 3 or 4. The last is common denominator
blood and will go into anyone safely, but is uncommon. All the
other three will kill if not put into those of corresponding
quality of blood. Well, you and I like each other because we have
the same wave-length to our nerve current, perhaps, and we could
hold hands without danger to the other fellow, and possibly with
some benefit to the world,--for human sympathy makes good
medicine.

Good fortune betide you! My brother, who is sitting by, wishes his
affectionate regards to go with mine, and he hopes you will some
day see him in that vale of Paradise where he lives.

F. K. L.

To Adolph C. Miller Federal Reserve Board

Rochester, Minnesota, May 1, [1921]

May Day, Glad Day, Day of Festival and Frolic,--once. Now Day of
Portent, of Threats and the Evil Eye. Such is the miracle worked
by Steam Engine, Mechanics, Quick Exchanges, Industry!

With this happy opening let me to your letter in which you love me
a little, which I very much like, calling me baby,--child,
anyway. And so I am. I laugh at myself. I cannot think of myself
as Grandad or possible Grandad. In fact, I should not be Grandad
or Dad, notwithstanding the beauty and noblemindedness and
capacity of my dear kids. But I have always been a priest, married
to things undomestic, and without the time which every father
should have to train and educe the mind of his offspring;
especially to give sound and substantial bread and meat to their
subconscious mind when they are young. Then, too, a father should
have a religion, a sense of relation between himself and the
Master, and be able to instill this by gentle and non-didactive
method into his bairns, so that they may steer by the North Star
and not by shiftier, flashier stars.

Yes, altho' I am now tottering, bruised, battered, down on the
floor like a prostrate prize-fighter "taking the count" and hoping
for strength enough to rise, altho' an "aged man" as I was once
described in my hearing, I am the youngest thing inside that I
know; in my curiosity and my trustfulness and my imagination, and
my desire to help and my belief in goodness and justice. I want to
strike right out now and see the world, and having found the good
bring it back and distribute it. And I see every day things that
should be done which make me long to live, even tho' I only tell
others that they should be done. And one thing that bothers me
right now is our money scheme. I know I am far off from your
standpoint, but there is something wrong when there is so great a
variation in the purchasing power of things produced. Why is not
Irving Fisher on the right road? I should like to lay a quieting
hand upon the feverish desire for things which so possesses our
people. So few things will do, rich, beautiful, solid things, but
not many; and then to live with them, proud of them, revelling in
them, and making them to shine like well-handled bronze--not
glossily but deeply. The great luxury we will not allow ourselves
is repose; that is because we are not essentially dignified. The
soul is not respected sufficiently; it is not given that food on
which it grows. Curious, the turn of my mind now, too. Having been
thinking, and while I still am thinking, in large terms,--the
city, the state, the nation, all peoples (I have grown through
them all, never really thinking of the family unit)--I am now
thinking of a nest, a roof of my own, a bit of garden, a tree of
my planting--little things, indeed, on which the mind can rest,
after casting an eye over the world and talking in terms of
continents. (And I wonder if the gardens of the British--their
week-ends at home with flowers and birds, may not bring them down
to those little things which make for good sense, sanity, wisdom!)
But I fear me I may never so indulge myself, and that is wrong--
that a man should live for fifty-seven years and never thrust his
hand into his own bit of his country's soil--such condition makes
against loyalties that are essential.

Now I have talked with you for a long time, but not long enough.
How I should like to sit in the big re-upholstered chair beside
the lamp, beyond the fire, and throw a match into your brain stuff
that would start it blazing. Yes, and I would like to gather
around that fire a few whom I love. You and Aleck and Sid. and
Pfeiffer and Jack Hallo well and John Burns and Brydon Lamb and
Lathrop Brown and Cotton Smith and John Finley and Dr. Gehring and
John Wigmore--the real world is very small, isn't it?

It just may be that the verdict here will be one of exile to
California, to my brother George's farm; ah, yes he should be with
the few great, and I say 'exile' for I wonder if I should ever see
any of you then? My doctor in Pasadena said that I should live as
a country gentleman, and I answered, "But that takes money." Yet I
would not know where the farm should be, for climate is not all.
So long, old man.

F.K.

Many months later, writing to Mrs. Lane this friend of many years
says, "I want also to recall the remark Frank made when you and
Mary, and he and I, were rain-bound in the little chalet at St.
Mary's in Glacier Park, nine years ago. That was an outstanding
experience in my long friendship with Frank. We had many hours to
discuss things, and no matter on what road we started, we always
came back to a discussion of life; what it was all for, and what
it was about, and what principle a chivalrous man should take in
adjusting himself usefully to the going world. I remember late one
night we sat in the dimly lighted room after a long discussion, he
arose, and turning to me said: 'Doesn't it, after all, just come
to this,--To spend and to be spent--isn't that what life is?'
Every subsequent experience with Frank confirmed me in the belief
that that was his personal philosophy. That is why he lived
greatly while he lived, and died nobly when his life was spent."

 To Robert Lansing

Rochester, Minnesota, May 2, [1921]

MY DEAR LANSING,--I am to be operated on on Friday and so send you
this line that you may know that I have yours of April sixteenth,
and have rejoiced very much at its good news, that you were
better, and that you were not bitter because of the come-back
campaign.

Really, I think Harding is doing well, or rather that the whole
administration is being supported well by the country. Oh, these
Republicans have the art of governing, and we do so much better at
talking! No one knows just what his foreign policy is, but
something will work through that will satisfy a very tired people.
There seem to be comparatively few out of work now. We are not out
of the woods yet. But the Lord will take care of them. He may even
keep Johnson from bolting Harding. They will temporize through;
that's my guess.

Good English the people don't know. Ideality they have had enough
of for a time. They just want to get down to brass tacks and make
some money, so that the Mrs. can have more new dresses. I do
earnestly wish them luck. God gave us the great day, and you and
I, anyway, are not ashamed of the parts we played. In fact, the
party loomed pretty large those days--the whole country breathed
lung-fuls and felt heroic. We shall not look upon such another
time nor act for a people so nobly inspired.

Please give to Mrs. Lansing my very best regards--fine spirit,
that she is--and to you, as always, dear Lansing, my affection and
esteem.

LANE



To James D. Pkelan

Rochester, Minnesota, May 2, 1921

MY DEAR JIM,--Glad to hear from you and to get so cheerful a word,
for surely you are justified in looking upon the world as very
much of a friend of yours. You have a rare home, in which to
gather your many friends, and you have had honors in abundance,
and now may rest and write and speak and adjust yourself to
things--terrestrial and celestial--and other service will call
you. There must be some Democrats appointed to adjust European or
other difficulties, even by a Republican, and you will be the
prominent one. So I can look across the mountains to Montalvo and
find you ripening into a fine old mellow age, conscious of
usefulness, in health and in happiness. May it be so!

Just as soon as my boy gets here, I shall be operated on. ... Ned
is now on his honeymoon with his darling little bride, a Catholic
Irish girl named Catherine McCahill, whose grey-whiskered
grandfather of ninety quite took the shine off the bride at the
wedding. He is a Democrat (State Senator for thirty years) a Sinn
Feiner of the most robust sort, and a fanner of many acres.

Poor Anne, she is in for a bad time, with Nancy sick, but she has
a good stout heart and a most adequate and comfortable religious
faith, which throws things that are personal into a very minor
place. The theory of relativity has more than one expression
indeed, and things are small when looked at from a height. And it
is good to find one who can be both religious and large.

The country seems to be liking Harding and his cabinet more and
more. They do have a faculty for getting things done, those
Republicans, and they are subjected to so little criticism. It is
really good to see them do their work and get away with things so
neatly. ... As always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hertle Gunston Hall on the Potomac

Rochester, Minnesota, May 2

DEAR PEOPLE,--What good angel ever put it into your heart to wire
us--and such a warm electric message!

I tell you this is not Gunston Hall--so few birds, flowers, trees
--but I like the great sweep of the sky out here. There is nothing
mean about this land of ours. It gives you something, and gives it
to you generously, something lovable wherever you are.

The Doctors have not decided what to do with me. ... But we'll be
out of suspense this week, I expect.

I can see your garden now--fountain, hedge, roses, bird-boxes,
pergola, box and all--with the dignified, stately Potomac way out
yonder, beyond the cleared fields and the timber. Lucky people,
and you deserve it all. No one, not even the Bolsheviks, would
take it from you. Cordially yours always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE



To Alexander Vogelsang

Rochester, Minnesota, May 4, 1921

DEAR ALECK,--I must pass under the knife, that is the verdict. On
Friday morning the act takes place. And out will come gall-
bladder, adhesions, appendix and all things appertaining thereto,
including hereditaments, reversions, lives in posse, and
sinecures. So that's that!

They say that my heart has grown much worse in the last three
months, but that I probably have four chances out of five of
pulling through, which is more chance than I ever had in politics
in California. I believe I am to be operated on while conscious,
as they fear to give ether. I trust my curiosity will not
interfere with the surgeon's facility.

Ah well, this old shell is not myself, and I have never felt that
the world's axis was located with reference to my habitat. But
this is so interesting an old world that I don't want to leave it
prematurely, because one does run the risk of not coming upon one
equally interesting. So I shall think of you and try to see you
later, in the new offices in the Mills Building. May clients come
thick as dogwood in Rock Creek Park; and trout streams in hidden
places be revealed unto you, within an hour's flight by aero.
Affectionately,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

P. S. Give my regards to the boys with you and in the office, when
you see them--and to Wade Ellis and Ira Bennett and others who may
be interested. Love to your dear Lady!

To John Finley New York Times

Rochester, Minnesota, May 4, [1921]

MY DEAR FINLEY,--I have your postal from London and it cheereth
me--Yea, thou hast done a kindly act to one who is sore beset. ...

When you and I can talk together I want to urge a new field upon
your great paper. Perhaps you can take it up with Mr. Ochs and
perhaps he can see how he can add to his usefulness and to the
glory of his paper's name.

My thought is that there should be somewhere--and why not in New
York?--a Place of Exchange for the New Ideas that the world
evolves each year, a central spot where all that is new in
science, philosophy, practical political machinery, and all else
of the world's mind-products shall be placed on exhibition where
those interested may see. Why should not the Times do this?

It would cost very little. All the plant needs would be a building
which would contain one or two fine halls for public speaking, and
a few properly appointed apartments. No faculty--but a super-
university with all the searchers and researchers, inventors,
experimenters, thinkers of the world for faculty. No students--but
every man the world round interested in the theme under
consideration, welcome, as student without pay. The only executive
officer a Director, whose business would be to see that the great
minds were tapped,--a high class impresario, who would know who
had thought thoughts, developed a theory, found a new problem, or
a new method of solving an old one, and [would] bring the thinker
on the stage and present him to those who knew of what he talked;
and could intelligently, quickly, distribute it to the ends of the
earth.

Money? The lecturer would get his expenses from his home and back
again, and be cared for appropriately in one of the apartments.
Otherwise the incidental expenses of administration. Aside from
the single and simple building the whole thing should not cost
more than $100,000 a year.

To illustrate--it took years for the world to know what Rutherford
was doing with radium. Why should he not have been brought to some
central place and there, before all the students who might choose
to come, tell his story? Pasteur, Einstein, Bergson, Wright
Brothers, Wells (theory of Education). These names are suggestive.
The great of the world could walk, as it were, in the groves with
their pupils and critics, and we could have a new Athens. Whatever
progress the world had made, in whatever line, would be reported
at that time. And the world would know in advance that this was to
be so. Germany has been the world thought center for forty years.
England is now planning to take Germany's place. Why not America?
But the government has not the imagination, and this must be done
quickly.

Why not the Times? And why shouldn't you start it for the Times--
be the first Director?

Then I want someone to take over another of my ideas--a sort of
Federal Reserve Board on the good of the nation, an unofficial
group of men with foresight, who would be a spur to government and
suggest direction. Somebody whose business it would be to attend
to that which is nobody's business and so waits, and waits, until
sometimes too late. Why should we have had no plans for caring for
our soldiers as to employment and giving them the right bent on
their return?

There was no one to concentrate attention--the attention of
Congress and the public--on any definite plan. I tried it with my
scheme for making farms for soldiers, but Congress, as soon as it
found that I was really agitating, passed laws making it
impossible for me to use a sheet of paper or the frank for the
purpose. I do not say my plan was the best possible. Then someone
should have come forward with another, and pushed it against a
Congress made up of Republicans who feared that Democrats would
get the credit, and Democrats who feared Republicans would. Hence,
deadlock, and a great opportunity lost! ...

Seers, or see-ers, that's what these men should be. Elder
Statesmen, if you please, independent, away above politics.

Doesn't it seem to you that we are coming to be altogether too
dependent on the President? That office will be ruined. Every one
with a sore thumb has come into the habit of running to the
President. This is all wrong, all wrong. He cannot do his job well
now. And he is only nominally doing it, and only nominally has
been doing it for years. But each month seems to add to his duties
as arbiter of everything from clothes to strikes, from baseball to
disarmament.

I see a tremendous field for a body of a few ripe minds who would
talk so little, and so wisely, and so collectively, that they
could get and hold the ear of the country, governmental and
otherwise.

I outlined for Mezes, in your old job, a series of lectures by
Americans who have done things on Why America is Worth While--and
he has expanded it into a whole course on America, so that I
believe he will have something new and great--teaching history,
geology, art, everything, by the history of that thing in America,
and how it came to come here, or be here, or what it means here.

Well, I have written you a book and must stop--I don't know where
to address you but will send this to the Times. Please remember me
to Mr. Ochs--who can see things, and here's hoping it won't be
long before we meet. Yours always,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

To James H. Barry San Francisco Star

Rochester, Minnesota, May 5, [1921]

MY DEAR JIM,--I have nothing of importance to say, except that I
am to be operated on tomorrow and hope for the best, for Dr. Will
Mayo is to do the operating, and I am not in a very run-down
condition.

I find myself quite serene, for I can look forward even to the
very worst result with the feeling that there is no one to meet me
over there to whom I've done any wrong. And while I haven't done
my best, my score hasn't been blank. I honestly believe I've added
a farthing or two to the talent that was given me.

My brother George is here, with his splendid philosophy and his
Scotch songs; and Ned, my boy, and his bride have just come back,
so that Anne and I are very well content that things are just as
they should be. I go to St. Mary's Hospital where they have nuns
for nurses, and when time comes for recuperation I shall go to the
near-by estate of my old friend, Severance, the big St. Paul
lawyer, whom I have known these thirty years.

I hope, my dear old man, that you will find new occupation soon
that will give you use for your pen, and sterling love of justice.
My regards, sincere and hearty to your family, and my other
friends.

F. K. LANE



To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Rochester, Minnesota, May 5, [1921]

Just because I like you very much, and being a very old man dare
to say so, I am sending this line, which has no excuse in its
news, philosophy or advice; has no excuse, in fact, except what
might be called affection, but of course this being way past the
Victorian era, no one admits to affections! I will not belittle my
own feeling by saying that I have a wife who thinks you the best
Eastern product--and probably she'd move to strike out the word
"Eastern." At any rate, I think I should tell you myself that I am
to be operated on tomorrow, by Dr. Will Mayo, and am glad of it.
We shall see what we shall see.

I find myself quite serene about the matter, altho' I believe my
heart is so bad that they fear giving ether and will keep me
conscious if they can, applying only a local anesthetic.

I'd like to have Anne's perfect sureness as to the future, but
lacking it, I do not look forward with fear, even if the worst
should happen. I've never done a wrong to any man or woman or
child that I can now recall--but maybe my memory is failing.

My boy and his bride came back this morning--happy! Oh, so happy!
And my "best beloved" brother who sings Scotch songs is here--a
great philosopher whom you would deeply admire--and our friends
the Severances of St. Paul, thirty year-old friends, they come
over tonight. So we will be a merry, merry company. I'd love to
see you and the gay Cavalier, but let us hope it won't be long
till we meet! Au revoir!

F. K. L.



To friends who had telegraphed and written urgently for news

May 11, 1921

It is Wednesday afternoon and I am now sitting up in bed talking
to my good friend, Cotter. Until yesterday I did not clearly
visualize any one thing in this room and did not know that it had
a window, except that there was a place that noise came through,
but I did know that it had a yellow oak door that stared at me
with its great, big, square eye, all day and all night.

Last Friday, you see, about ten in the morning, I took the step
that I should have taken months, yes, years ago. I was stretched
on a stiff, hard table, my arms were clamped down and in three-
quarters of an hour I had my appendix and my gall bladder removed,
which latter was a stone quarry and the former a cesspool. Today,
most tentatively, I crawled on to a chair and ate my first
mouthful of solid food. But four days ago I managed to shave
myself, and I am regarded as pretty spry.

I have seen death come to men in various ways, some rather novel
and western. I once saw a man hanged. And I have seen several men
shot, and came very near going out that way myself two or three
times, but always the other fellow aimed poorly. I was being shot
at because I was a newspaper man, and I should have been shot at.
There must be public concern in what is printed, as well as its
truth, to justify it. That is something that newspapers should get
to know in this country. After the earthquake in San Francisco, I
saw walls topple out upon a man. And I have had more intimate
glimpses still of the picturesque and of the prosaic ways by which
men come to their taking off.

But never before have I been called upon deliberately to walk into
the Valley of the Shadow and, say what you will, it is a great
act. I have said, during the past months of endless examination,
that a man with little curiosity and little humor and a little
money who was not in too great pain could enjoy himself studying
the ways of doctors and nurses, as he journeyed the invalid's
path. It was indeed made a flowery path for me, as much as any
path could be in which a man suffered more humiliation and
distress and thwarting and frustration, on the whole, than he did
pain.

But here was a path, the end of which I could not see. I was not
compelled to take it. My very latest doctor advised me against
taking it. I could live some time without taking it. It was a bet
on the high card with a chance to win, and I took it.

I undressed myself with my boy's help, in one of the hospital
rooms, and then arraying myself in my best suit of pajamas and an
antique samurai robe which I use as a dressing gown, submitted
myself to being given a dose of dazing opiate, which was to do its
work in about fifteen minutes. I then mounted a chair and was
wheeled along the corridor to the elevator, stopping meantime to
say "adieu" to my dear ones, who would somehow or other insist
upon saying "good-bye," which is a different word. I was not to be
given the usual anesthetic, because my heart had been cutting up
some didos, so I must take a local anesthetic which Was to be
administered by a very celebrated Frenchman. I need not tell you
that this whole performance was managed with considerable eclat,
and Doctor Will Mayo, probably the first surgeon of the world, was
to use the knife; and in the gallery looking on were Doctor
Finney, of Johns Hopkins, Doctor Billings, of Chicago, Doctor
Vaughan of the Michigan University, and others. On the whole, it
was what the society reporter would call a recherche affair. The
local anesthetic consists of morphine and scopolamin. It is
administered directly by needle to the nerves that lead to those
particular parts which are to be affected by the operation. This I
watched myself with the profoundest interest. It was painful,
somewhat, but it was done with the niceness and precision that
make this new method of anesthesia a real work of art. I should
think that the Japanese, with their very rare power at embroidery,
might come to be past masters in this work. There were some
insertions very superficial and some extremely deep. Over the
operator's head, there were a half dozen heads peering intently at
each move he made, while the patient himself was free to lift his
head and look down and see just what was being done. I did not
test myself, as I should have, to see whether I was paralyzed in
any part.

Just when this performance came to a head, Doctor Mayo came in and
said, "Well, I am going in for something." I said, "That's right,
and I hope you will get it."

His statement did not conclusively prove confidence that he would
find the cause of my trouble by going in. ... I knew there could
be no such definiteness, but I said to myself, "He will get it, if
it's there."

For two days I had had knowledge that this operation was to take
place at this time, and my nerves had not been just as good as
they should have been. Those men who sleep twelve hours perfectly
before being electrocuted have evidently led more tranquil lives
than I have, or have less concern as to the future. Ah, now I was
to know the great secret! For forty years I had been wondering,
wondering. Often I had said to myself that I should summon to my
mind when this moment came, some words that would be somewhat a
synthesis of my philosophy. Socrates said to those who stood by,
after he had drunk the hemlock, "No evil can befall a good man,
whether he be alive or dead." I don't know how far from that we
have gone in these twenty-four hundred years. The apothegm,
however, was not apposite to me, because it involved a declaration
that I was a good man, and I don't know anyone who has the right
so to appreciate himself. And I had come to the conclusion that
perhaps the best statement of my creed could be fitted into the
words, "I accept," which to me meant that if in the law of nature
my individual spirit was to go back into the great Ocean of
Spirits, my one duty was to conform. "Lead Kindly Light" was all
the gospel I had. I accepted. I made pretense to put out my hand
in submission and lay there.

"All through, doctor?"

"Yes, doctor."

"Very well, we will proceed."

And I was gradually pushed through the hall into the operating
room. The process there was lightning-like. I was in torture.

"Lift me up, lift me up."

"What for?"

"I have one of those angina pains and I must ease it by getting up
and taking some nitro."

That had been my practice, but I did not reason that never before
had the pain come on my right side.

"Give him a whiff of ether." The tenderest arms stole around my
head and the softest possible voice--Ulysses must have heard it
long ago--"Now do take a deep breath." I resisted. I had been told
that I would see the performance.

"Please do, breathe very deeply--just one good deep breath." That
pain was burning the side out of me. I tried to get my hand up to
my side. Of course it was tied down. I swore.

"Oh Christ! This is terrible."

"It will stop if you will reach for a big breath,"--and I resigned
myself. Men who are given the third degree have no stronger will
than mine. I knew I was helpless. I must go through. I must
surrender to that Circean voice.

I heard the doctor in a commonplace monotone say, "This is an
unusual case--"--the rest of this sentence I never heard.

There was a long ray of gray light leading from my bed to my door.
I had opened my eyes. "I had not died." I had come through the
Valley.

"I wonder what he got."

In the broad part of the ray was my wife smiling, and stretching
out to that unreachable door were others whom I recognized, all
smiling. Things were dim, but my mind seemed definite.

"What did he get?" I had expected eternal mysteries to be
unraveled. Either I would know, or not know, and I would not know
that I would not know.

"He got a gall-bladder filled with stones and a bad appendix, and
now you are to lie still."

Then to this the drama had come, the drama beyond all dramas--a
handful of brownish secretions and a couple of pieces of morbid
flesh!! Ah me!

I am doing well, cared for well, as happy as can be; have had none
of my angina pains since the operation. And as I lie here, I
contemplate [making] a frieze--a procession of doctors and nurses
and internes, of diagnosticians and technicians and experts and
mechanics and servitors and cooks--all, the great and the small,
in profile. They are to look like those who have made their
pretenses before me during the past year;--the solemn and the
stupid; the kindly, the reckless; the offhand; the erudite, the
practical; the many men with tubes and the many men with
electrical machines. Old Esculapius must begin the procession but
the Man with the Knife, regnant, heroic size, must end it.

What a great thing, what a pride, to have the two men of greatest
constructive imagination and courage in surgery in the world as
Americans, Dr. Charles and Dr. Will Mayo.



To Alexander Vogelsang

Rochester, Minnesota, May 14, [1921]

This is a line by my own hand, dear Aleck, just to show you that I
am still this much master of myself. ...

I am going through much pain. Inside I am a great boil. But Nature
is doing all she can, and I am helping. They think me a right
model sort of patient, for I made a showing of exceptional
recovery. When T.R. shaved the day after, I said, "Hip Hip!" Well,
I done it too! I guess as how I haven't been so very bad a boy all
these fifty-seven years or I couldn't play as good as "par" at
this game, and they say they have no better record than mine on
the books.

The National Geographic Society did a nice thing. Today I got a
resolution of the most sympathetic kind from them. Some gentlemen
still alive, eh?

I dictated a bit of a thing about my experience the other day to
Cotter--something to send off to the chaps who wrote or wired--and
sent you one. I hope it wasn't soft or slobby. Did you think it
was all right to come from a sick bed?

It will be three weeks or more yet of hospital, and then much of
recuperation. But I have no complaint. I feel a faith growing in
me, and I may yet draw my sword in some good fight.
Affectionately,

FRANK



To John W. Hallowell

Rochester, Minnesota, May 14, 1921

DEAR JACK,--I've been down into the Valley since I heard from you,
but I'm up once more and with new light in my eye, new faith in my
heart, more sense of the things that count and those that don't.
And affection, love for the good thing of any kind; loyalty, even
mistaken loyalty, these are the things that the Gods treasure.
They live longest. So I turn to give you my hand, dear boy,

[Illustration with caption: LANE PEAK IN RAINIER NATIONAL PARK]

I was most badly infected, but I really never felt better than
when I stepped out of the auto on to the hospital steps. And it
took some nerve for me to say, "Go to it," under such
circumstances. (I am patting myself on the back a bit now.)

Well, Glory be!--that step is taken and now I must fight to get
fit. They say I am making as good a record as a boy, as to
recovery, so all my Scotch whiskies, and big cigars and late
nights with you politicians have not ruined me.

Say dear things to your Mother for me, Jack, and give greetings to
all your family.

F. K. L.



To Robert Lansing

Rochester, 14 [May, 1921]

MY DEAR LANSING,--I am disturbed because you may be disturbed. As
I lie in bed I read and am read to, and some of the papers do not
treat you decently. The very ones that were loudest in their
declarations against W. W. at every stage, now suggest that you
might have quit his service if you didn't like it. I hope it will
not get under your skin ...

What comfort you would have given the enemy if you had resigned!
Have they thought of that? I came to the brink when the President
blew up my coal agreement to save three or four hundred million
dollars for the people, But I was stopped by the thought, "Give no
comfort to Berlin." ... Good night and good luck.

F.K.L.

Manuscript fragment written May 17, 1921, and found in his room.
Franklin K. Lane died May 18, 1921.

And if I had passed into that other land, whom would I have
sought--and what should I have done?

No doubt, first of all I would have sought the few loved ones
whose common life with me had given us matter for talk, and whom I
had known so well that I had loved dearly. Then perhaps there
might have [been] some gratifying of a cheap curiosity, some
searching and craning after the names that had been sierras along
my skyline. But I know now there would have been little of that.
It would not have been in me to have gone about asking Alexander
and Cromwell little questions. For what would signify the trifle
which made a personal fortune, that put a new name up upon some
pilaster men bowed to as they passed? Were Aristotle there,
holding in his hand the strings and cables that tied together all
the swinging and surging and lagging movements of the whole
earth's life--an informed, pregnant Aristotle,--Ah! there would be
the man to talk with! What satisfaction to see him take, like
reins from between his fingers the long ribbons of man's life and
trace it through the mystifying maze of all the wonderful
adventure of his coming up. The crooked made straight. The
'Daedalian plan' simplified by a look from above--smeared out as
it were by the splotch of some master thumb that made the whole
involuted, boggling thing one beautiful, straight line. And one
could see, as on a map of ocean currents, the swing and movements
of a thousand million years. I think that I would not expect that
he could tell the reason why the way began, nor where it would
end. That's divine business, yet for the free-going of the mind it
would lend such impulse, to see clearly. Thus much for curiosity!
The way up which we've stumbled.

But for my heart's content in that new land, I think I'd rather
loaf with Lincoln along a river bank. I know I could understand
him. I would not have to learn who were his friends and who his
enemies, what theories he was committed to, and what against. We
could just talk and open out our minds, and tell our doubts and
swap the longings of our hearts that others never heard of. He
wouldn't try to master me nor to make me feel how small I was. I'd
dare to ask him things and know that he felt awkward about them,
too. And I would find, I know I would, that he had hit his shin
just on those very stumps that had hit me. We'd talk of men a lot,
the kind they call the great. I would not find him scornful. Yet
boys that he knew in New Salem would somehow appear larger in
their souls, than some of these that I had called the great. His
wise eyes saw qualities that weighed more than smartness. Yes, we
would sit down where the bank sloped gently to the quiet stream
and glance at the picture of our people, the negroes being
lynched, the miners' civil war, labor's hold ups, employers'
ruthlessness, the subordination of humanity to industry,--



THE END




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