The Letters of Franklin K. Lane, Personal and Political
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-