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.