The Letters of Franklin K. Lane, Personal and Political
bully. I did not believe for one moment that our friends, the
Germans, were so unable to see any other standpoint than their
own.
I saw ex-secretary Nagel here the other day. We were at the same
table for lunch at the Cosmos Club. One of the men at the table
said, "I think Lane ought to have been appointed Secretary of
State." Nagel's usual diplomacy deserted him, and with a face
evidencing a heated mind replied, "Oh, my God, that would never
do, never do; born in Canada." So you see I am cut out from all
these great honors. Is this visiting the sins of the fathers upon
the children?
I wish you joy in your work and I wish I could lay some of my
troubles on your shoulders. Mrs. Lane and I are going up to see
you just as soon as we get the chance. I had to decline to address
the American Bar Association because I did not want to be away
from here for a week. This is Sunday, and I am trying to catch up
some of my personal mail which has been neglected for six weeks.
Thus you may know that I am in the Government Service.
I send you by this mail a copy of my speech in San Francisco,
which has been gotten up to suit the artistic taste of my private
secretary. As always,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
TO FREDERIC J. LANE
Washington, July 21, 1915
MY DEAR FRITZ,--I wish I could think of something I could do for
you dear people back there. I haven't heard from George for a long
while, but I hope he is getting something in mind that makes him
think life worth living. It is strange that every lawyer I know
would like to be situated just as George is, with a little farm in
a quiet dell. Last night I talked with Senator Sutherland. It is
his hope sometime to reach this ideal. And the other night I
talked with Justice Lamar, and told him of George's life, and he
said that he had dreamt of such an existence for fifty years but
has never been able to see his way to its realization.
There is no chance of our getting out to the Coast this year. The
President expects us to be within call, and I am very much
interested in the Mexican question, as to which I have presented a
program to him which so far he has accepted. These are times of
terrible strain upon him. I saw him last night for a couple of
hours, and the responsibility of the situation weighs terribly
upon him. How to keep us out of war and at the same time maintain
our dignity--this is a task certainly large enough for the largest
of men.
Conditions politically are very unsettled, and much will turn I
suppose on what Congress does. More and more I am getting to
believe that it would be a good thing to have universal military
service. To have a boy of eighteen given a couple of months for
two or three years in the open would be a good thing for him and
would develop a very strong national sense, which we much lack.
The country believes that a man must be paid for doing anything
for his country. We even propose to pay men for the time they put
in drilling, so as to protect their own liberties and property.
This is absurd! We must all learn that sacrifices are necessary if
we are to have a country. The theory of the American people,
apparently, is that the country is to give, give, give, and buy
everything that it gets.
Hope things are going well with you. Drop me a line when you can.
Affectionately,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS
ROME, ITALY
Washington, July 30, 1915
MY DEAR JOHN,--Things have come to such a tension here that I
doubt the wisdom of my discussing international politics with you;
nevertheless, I want you not to be weary in well-doing, but
continue to give me the views of the Tory Squire. I hope that your
admiration for Balfour will prove justified. Of course, our press,
which can not be said to sympathize strongly with the conservative
side, makes it appear that Lloyd George is now bearing a great
part in the work of securing ammunition. This is the inevitable
result of allowing the people to vote. The man who has the
people's confidence proves to be the most useful in a time of
emergency. However, it may be that Balfour is himself directing
all that Lloyd George does.
This morning's papers contain an official statement from Petrograd
suggesting that the English get to work upon the west line. This
seems to me extremely unkind, inasmuch as the English have already
lost over 300,000 and have furnished a large amount of money to
Russia, I understand.
Pfeiffer sent me an article the other day from a German professor,
in which he said that the three million men that Kitchener talked
about was all a bluff. Pfeiffer keeps sending me long protests
against England's attitude regarding our trade, which seem to me
to be fair statements of international law.
The word that I get rather leads me to believe that the war will
last for at least another year and a half, which is quite in line
with Kitchener's prophecy, but where will all these countries be
from a financial standpoint at the end of that time? I fancy some
of them will have to go into bankruptcy and actually repudiate
their debt, and what will become by that time of the high-spirited
French, who are holding three hundred and fifty miles of line
against eleven held by the British and thirty by the Belgians?
Yesterday I received a request from a German Independence League
for my resignation, as I was born under the British flag and was
supposed to be influential with the President, who has recently
sent a very direct and business-like letter to Germany. My answer
was that they had mistaken my nationality. My real name was Lange
and my father had stricken out the G.! Affectionately yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
TO EUGENE A. AVERY
Washington, August 2, 1915
MY DEAR AVERY,--I am very glad to hear from you and to get your
verse. I had a glorious time at Berkeley. I could have received no
honor that would have given me greater satisfaction, but oh! as I
look over that old list of professors and associate professors! I
don't know a tenth of them, and I never heard of half of them. How
far I am removed from the scholastic life, and how far we both are
from those old days when you used to sit with your pipe in your
mouth, in front of your cabin, and discourse to me upon God and
men!
Well, we don't any of us know any more about God, but we know
something more about man. But after all is said and done, I guess
I like him about as much, as I did in the enthusiastic days when
we used to quiz old Moses. The streak of ideality that I had then
I still retain. The reason that I have remained a Democrat is
because I felt that we gave prime concern to the interests of men,
as such, and had more faith that we could help on a revolution.
These are times of trial. The well we look into is very deep. The
stars are not very bright. It is hard to find our way, but the
pilot has a good nerve. I know the trouble that Ulysses had with
Scylla and Charybdis.
Thank you, old man, very heartily for your word of cheer.
Cordially yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
TO JOHN F. DAVIS
Washington, August 2, 1915
MY DEAR JOHN,--I am very glad to get your letter of July 28,
telling me your views regarding the last note. I believe the
paragraph to which you refer was absolutely essential to make
Germany understand that we meant business; that she could not have
taken our opposition seriously is evidenced by her previous note,
and which, I think, was as insulting as any note ever addressed by
one power to another. Think of the absurd proposition, that we
should be allowed a certain number of ships to be prescribed by
Germany upon which our people could sail! Of course, if we
accepted her conditions, we would have to accept the conditions
that any other belligerent, or neutral, for that matter, might
impose. What becomes of a neutral's rights under these conditions?
The Leenalaw case shows that Germany can do exactly what we have
been asking her to do; namely, give people a chance to get off the
ship before they blow her up. This is good sense and good morals;
and the whole neutral world is behind us. If, in response to our
note, Germany had said, "We regret the destruction of American
lives, and are willing to make reparation, and have directed our
submarines that they shall not torpedo any ships until the ship
has been given an opportunity to halt," there would have been no
trouble; but Germany evidently did not take us seriously. Our
English was a bit too diplomatic.
I am writing you thus frankly, and in confidence, of course,
because I respect your opinion greatly. Cordially yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
In the middle of August, Lane joined his family at Essex-on-
Champlain, New York, for a few days. While there he went with Mr.
and Mrs. James S. Harlan to Westport, some miles further south on
the lake, to see the summer boat races and water sports. Mr.
Harlan's motor-boat, the Gladwater, which had been built on his
dock by Dick Mead, won the race, and that evening on their return
Lane gave the following letter to the successful builder:--
August 21, 1915
To "Dick" Mead on winning the race at Westport in the Gladwater.
We wonder sometimes why man was made, so full is life of things
that terrorize, that sadden and embitter. This life is a sea;
tranquil sometimes but so often fierce and cruel. And you and I
are conscript sailors. Whether we will or no we must sail the sea
of life, and in a ship that each must build for himself. To each
is given iron and unhewn timber, to some more and to some less,
with which to fashion his craft. Then the race really starts.
Some of us build ships that are no more than rafts, formless, lazy
things that float. Fair weather things for moonlight nights. But
others, high-hearted men of vision, will not be satisfied to drift
with the current or accept the easy way. They know that they can
do better than drift, and they must! The timber and the iron
become plastic under their touch. The dreams of the long night
they test in the too-short day. They make and they unmake; they
drop their tools perhaps for a time and drift; they despair and
curse their impatient and unsatisfied souls. But rising, they set
to work again, and one day comes the reward, the planks fit
together, and feeling the purpose of the builder, clasp each other
in firm and beautiful lines; the unwilling metal at last melts
into form and place and becomes the harmonious heart of the whole
--and so a ship is born that masters the cruel sea, that cuts the
fierce waves with a knife of courage.
To dream and model, to join and file, to melt and carve, to
balance and adjust, to test and to toil--these are the making of
the ship. And to a few like yourself comes the vision of the true
line and the glory of the victory. Sincerely yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
TO JOHN CRAWFORD BURNS
ROME, ITALY
Washington, August 31, 1915
MY DEAR JOHN,-- ... I met three friends of yours in New York the
other day, Lamb, Fletcher, and Pfeiffer, to whom I told in my
dismal way, the correspondence that we have been carrying on, and
all sympathized with me very sincerely.
Things look brighter now. The President seems to have been able to
make Germany hear him at last. I am very much surprised that you
think we ought to enter the war. Now that you have secured Italy
to intervene, what is the necessity? What have you to offer by way
of a bribe? I see that you are distributing territory generously.
Or do you think that we should go in because we were threatened as
England was--although she says it was Belgium that brought her in?
Fletcher is very much for fighting; Lamb says that the Allies will
win in the next two weeks. Pfeiffer thinks that nobody will win. I
can't tell you what I think. If I were only nearer I would have
more fun with you. Affectionately yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE