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