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.