The Letters of Franklin K. Lane, Personal and Political
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