The Letters of Franklin K. Lane, Personal and Political
his activity in Lane's behalf.
Out of office and back to the practise of the law, Lane soon built
his private practise on a firmer basis than before. His close
identification with the Democratic Party was not impaired, but the
frequent demands for attendance at public conventions and meetings
he could not leave his practise to accept. In declining one of
these invitations he replied:--
TO ORVA G. WILLIAMS IROQUOIS CLUB, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
San Francisco, April 7, 1904
... Permit me to say that we of the West look to you who are
closer to the center of things for leadership. ... This means only
that we must be true to the principles that make us Democrats. ...
The law must not be severe or lenient with any man simply because
he is rich nor because he is poor. It must not become the tool of
class antagonism for either the persecution of the well-to-do or
for the repression of the masses of the people.
... We must resist the base opportunism which would abandon our
strong position of devotion to these fundamental principles of
good government for the sake of gaining temporary strength from
some passing passion of the hour. To identify our party with an
idea which springs from class distrust or class hatred is to gain
temporary stimulation at the expense of permanent weakness. If we
are to heed the voice which bids us cease to be Democrats in order
that we may win, we shall find that we have lost not only the
victory of being true, but also the victory at the polls, which
can be ours only in case we are true.
... Our creed is simple and clear, but it cannot be recited by
those who would make our organization an annex to the Republican
party by catering to that conservatism which seeks only to bring
greater benefit to the already wealthy, nor by those who would
make it an annex to the Socialist party by joining in every
attack, no matter how unjust, upon the wealthy. Sincerely yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
To the Iroquois Club of Los Angeles on the same day he wrote,--"It
becomes us to consider well the meaning of the signs of the times.
Miracles may not be worked with these waves of prosperity. It is
in no man's power to say 'Peace, be still' and quiet the troubled
sea of panic. But we may make sure that men of steady nerve, of
clear head and highest purpose are at the helm. I expect to see
the time when the Democratic party will, by fixed adherence to a
well-defined course, gain and hold the approval and support of the
majority of our people, not for a single election but for a long
series of elections, and if we begin now with this end in view we
certainly will be prepared for whatever may happen--victory or
defeat; and in both alike we will be proud of our party and give a
guarantee for the future."
While campaigning California for Governor, in 1902, Isadore B.
Dockweiler ran on Lane's ticket, for the office of Lieutenant
Governor, and Dockweiler still looked to him for counsel.
TO ISADORE B. DOCKWEILER
San Francisco, April 16, 1904
MY DEAR DOCKWEILER,--You ask in your favor of the 14th whether
California will send a delegation to St. Louis pledged to Mr.
Hearst and if this program has been agreed upon, as is the report
in Los Angeles.
I cannot tell what the Democrats of California will do, but I know
what they should do. A delegation should go from this state that
is free, unowned, unpledged, made up of men whose prime interest
is that of their party and whom the party does not need to bind
with pledges. To pledge the delegation is to make the delegates
mere pawns, puppets, counters, coins to trade with,--so much
political wampum.
The object in holding a national convention is not to please the
vanity nor gratify the ambition of any individual, but to select a
national standard bearer who will proudly lead the party in the
campaign and be a credit to the party and an honor to the nation,
if elected. Surely the Democracy of California can select
candidates who can be depended upon to be guided by these
considerations. To tie the delegates hand and foot, toss them into
a bag, and sling them over the shoulder of one man to barter as he
may please, is not consistent with my notion of the dignity of
their position, nor does it appeal to me as the most certain
manner of making them effective in enlarging and emphasizing the
power of the state. ...
As to your suggestion of a program to deliver this state to one
candidate--if there is such a program--I am not a party to it,
never have been, and never will be. ... The Democrats of
California ... will do much for the sake of harmony so long as
party welfare and public good are not sacrificed; but they must be
permitted to make their own program irrespective of the personal
alliances, affiliations, or ambitions of politicians.
Personally, I am not in active political life. My views upon party
questions I do not attempt to impose upon my party, yet I know of
no reason why I should hesitate to give them expression. I cannot
but believe that if many a man were more indifferent to his
future, he would be more certain to have a future.
There is one reason which to my mind should forbid my active
direction of any organized movement against Mr. Hearst, namely the
attitude of his paper during my recent campaign for the
governorship. I do not wish it to be said or thought that I am
seeking to use our party for purposes of personal retaliation.
Whatever reasons for bitterness I may have because of that
campaign I am persuaded it does not affect my judgment that it is
the part of wisdom to send an unpledged delegation to the national
convention.
The Democrats of California should determine with calmness and
without passion what course will be most likely to prove a matter
of pride to themselves, their state, and the nation, and in that
sober judgment act fearlessly.
Sincerely yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
The Pacific Coast, in 1904, still suffered from transportation
problems of great complexity. The railroads, whose terminals were
here, were few and extraordinarily powerful and had, heretofore,
controlled rail traffic, to a large extent, in their own interest.
They wanted no regulation or interference from the Interstate
Commerce Commission and no Pacific Coast representative on that
Commission. The fruit, wheat, and lumber producers of the Western
Coast, on the other hand, felt the need of a strong representative
to protect their interests against the railroads, and to stabilize
freight rates. Lane's record for independence of sinister control,
his legal training and energy made him the natural choice of the
shippers for this position.
Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California,
was a friend of Lane's and also a friend of President Roosevelt's.
While in the East, in the spring of 1904, Wheeler had a talk with
Roosevelt, about Lane's qualifications for the Interstate Commerce
appointment. He told Roosevelt why the producers in California
needed a man that they could trust to be fair to their interests
on the Commission. Roosevelt heartily concurred, and promised to
name Lane for the next vacancy.
When the vacancy occurred, however, just after an overwhelming
Republican victory, Roosevelt impulsively gave the appointment to
an old friend--Senator Cockrill of Missouri, a Democrat. Wheeler
at once telegraphed the President reminding him of the oversight,
and to this Roosevelt telegraphed this reply:--
"Am exceedingly sorry, had totally forgotten my promise about Lane
and have nothing to say excepting that I had totally forgotten it
when Senator Cockrill was offered the position. I can only say now
that I shall put him in some good position suitable to his great
talents and experience when the chance occurs. Of course when I
made the promise about Lane the idea of getting Cockrill for the
position could not be in any one's head. This does not excuse me
for breaking the promise, which I should never have done, and of
course, if I had remembered it I should not have offered the
position to Cockrill. I am very sorry. But as fortunately I have
another term, I shall make ample amends to Lane later."
In September, 1905, while matters were in this position, Lane went
to Mexico, as legal adviser for a western rubber company. In
October, Roosevelt announced his intention to place Lane on the
Interstate Commerce Commission, to fill the annual vacancy that
occurred in December. The announcement caused much newspaper
comment, especially in the more partisan Republican press, as the
coming vacancy would leave two Republicans and two Democrats on
the Commission.
When Lane reached the United States he wrote:--
TO EDWARD B. WHITNEY
San Francisco, November 13,1905
MY DEAR WHITNEY,--I have just returned from a two months' trip
through Mexico, from the Rio Grande to Guatemala, and from the
Gulf to the Pacific, and know nothing whatever concerning the
Interstate Commerce Commissionership, save what I have seen in the
papers since my return. ... I have not put myself in the position
of soliciting, either directly or indirectly, this appointment; I
have never even stimulated to a slight degree the activity ... of
my friends on my behalf. There is some misgiving in my own mind as
to whether acceptance of the position would be of benefit to me
either politically, or otherwise. I have no doubt the nomination
for Governor can be mine next year without effort, and what the
outcome of an election would be in 1906, even in a Republican
State, is not now to be prophesied, in view of the somersaults in
Ohio and Pennsylvania of a week ago. Of course, ... it is a great
opportunity to prove or disprove the capacity of this government
to control effectively the corporations which seem determined to
be its master.
It does look to me as if the problem of our generation is to be
the discovery of some effective method by which the artificial
persons whom we have created by law can be taught that they are
not the creators, the owners, and the rightful managers of the
government. The real greatness of the President's policy, to my
notion, is that he has determined to prove to the railroads that
they have not the whole works, and the policy that they have
followed is as short-sighted as it can be. It will lead, if
pursued as it has been begun, to the wildest kind of a craze for
government ownership of everything. Just as you people in New York
City were forced, by the delinquency and corruption of the gas
combine, to undertake the organization of a municipal ownership
movement, so it may be that the same qualities in the railroads
will create precisely the same spirit throughout the country.
I appreciate thoroughly your position in New York. ... [Hearst]
knows public sentiment and how to develop it very well, and will
be a danger in the United States, I am afraid, for many years to
come. He has great capacity for disorganization of any movement
that is not his own, and an equal capacity for organization of any
movement that is his personal property. He feels with the people,
but he has no conscience. ... He is willing to do whatever for the
minute the people may want done and give them what they cry for,
unrestrained by sense of justice, or of ultimate effect. He is the
great American Pander.
Reverting again to the Interstate Commerce Commissionership, I
think the railroads here are determined that no Pacific Coast man
shall be appointed. That has been the policy of the Southern
Pacific since the creation of the Commission. ...
One of the amusing reports that has come to me is that the
railroad feels friendly toward me. I think probably the extent of
their friendliness is in acknowledging that I am not a
blackmailer. They know that I would not hold them up, just as well