The Slow Shelf · Library · Authors · Subjects · About

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

Section 2

VIII. AMERICAN AND MEXICAN AFFAIRS.

On Writing English--Visit to Monticello--Citizenship for Indians--On Religion--American-Mexican Joint Commission

LETTERS: To William M. Bole. To Mrs. Adolph C. Miller. To Edward F. Adams. To Carl Snyder. To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane. To Will Irwin. To--. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To Frederic J. Lane. To Frank L Cobb. To George W. Wickersham. To H. B. Brougham. To Frederic J. Lane. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane. To Mrs. Adolph C. Miller. To Mrs. Franklin K. Lane. To William R. Wheeler. To James S. Harlan. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To Alexander Vogelsang. To Frederic J. Lane. To Frank I. Cobb. To R. M. Fitzgerald. To James K. Moffitt. To Benjamin Ide Wheeler. To Roland Cotton Smith. To James H. Barry.

IX. CABINET TALK AND WAR PLANS. 1917

Cabinet Meetings--National Council of Defense--Bernstorff--War--Plan for Railroad Consolidation--U-Boat Sinkings Revealed--Alaska

LETTERS: To George W. Lane. To George W. Lane. To George W. Lane. To Frank I. Cobb. To George W. Lane. To George W. Lane. To Edward J. Wheeler. To George W. Lane. To Frank I. Cobb. To George W. Lane. To George W. Lane. To Frank I. Cobb. To Will Irwin. To Robert Lansing. To Henry Lane Eno. To George B. Dorr. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To John O'H. Cosgrave.

X. CABINET NOTES IN WAR-TIME. 1918

Notes on Cabinet Meetings--School Gardens--A Democracy Lacks Foresight--Use of National Resources--Washington in War-time--The Sacrifice of War--Farms for Soldiers

LETTERS: To Franklin K. Lane, Jr. To George W. Lane. To Albert Shaw. To Walter H. Page. To John Lyon. To Frank Lyon. To Miss Genevieve King. To John McNaught. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To Allan Pollok. To E. S. Pillsbury. To William Marion Reedy. Notes on Cabinet Meetings. To Daniel Willard. To James H. Hawley. To Samuel G. Blythe. To George W. Lane. To Edgar C. Bradley.

XI. AFTER-WAR PROBLEMS--LEAVING WASHINGTON. 1919

After-war Problems--Roosevelt Memorials--Americanization--Religion --Responsibility of Press--Resignation

LETTERS: To E. C. Bradley. To George W. Lane. To George W. Lane. To William Boyce Thompson. To Benjamin Ide Wheeler. To E. S. Martin. To George W. Lane. To Van H. Manning. To E. C. Bradley. To Mrs. Louise Herrick Wall. To--. To M. A. Mathew. To Herbert C. Pell, Jr. To Henry P. Davison. To George W. Lane. To C. S. Jackson. To John Crawford Burns. To Frank I. Cobb. To Mrs. Louise Herrick Wall. To Mrs. M. A. Andersen. To George W. Lane. To Daniel J. O'Neill. To Hamlin Garland. To Hugo K. Asher. To Admiral Gary Grayson. To Herbert C. Pell, Jr. To Hon. Woodrow Wilson. To Frank W. Mondell. To Robert W. De Forest.

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

LETTERS: To William Phelps Eno. To Roland Cotton Smith. To James M. Cox. To Timothy Spellacy. To Edward L. Doheny. To Franklin D. Roosevelt. To Mrs. George Ehle. To Isadore B. Dockweiler. To Hall McAllister. To Mrs. George Ehle. To Benjamin Ide Wheeler. To John W. Hallowell. To John W. Hallowell. To Robert Lansing. To Carl Snyder. To William R. Wheeler. To George Otis Smith. To George W. Wickersham. Lincoln's Eyes. To Benjamin Ide Wheeler. To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. To Lathrop Brown. To Timothy Spellacy. To Frank I. Cobb. To John G. Gehring. To John W. Hallowell. To John G. Gehring.

XIII. LETTERS TO ELIZABETH. 1919-1920

LETTERS: To Mrs. Ralph Ellis.

XIV. FRIENDS AND THE GREAT HOPE. 1921

Need for Democratic Program--Religious Faith--Men who have Influenced Thought--A Sounder Industrial Life --A Super-University for Ideas --"I Accept"--Fragment

LETTERS: To Mrs. Philip C. Kauffmann. To Benjamin Ide Wheeler. To Lathrop Brown. To Mrs. George Ehle. To Mrs. William Phillips. To James H. Barry. To Michael A. Spellacy. To William R. Wheeler. To V. C. Scott O'Connor. Letter sent to several friends. To John G. Gehring. To Lathrop Brown. To Lathrop Brown. To Adolph C. Miller. To John G. Gehring. To John W. Hallowell. To Curt G. Pfeiffer. To John G. Gehring. To D. M. Reynolds. To Mrs. Cordenio Severance. To Alexander Vogelsang. To James S. Harlan. To Adolph C. Miller. To Lathrop Brown. To John G. Gehring. To John H. Wigmore. To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. To John W. Hallowell. To John G. Gehring. To Hall McAllister. To Mrs. Frederic Peterson. To Roland Cotton Smith. To John G. Gehring. To Adolph C. Miller. To Robert Lansing. To James D. Phelan. To Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hertle. To Alexander Vogelsang. To John Finley. To James H. Barry. To Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. To friends who had telegraphed and written for news.--"I accept." To Alexander Vogelsang. To John W. Hallowell. To Robert Lansing. Fragment.

ILLUSTRATIONS

FRANKLIN K. LANE

FRANKLIN K. LANE With his younger brothers, George and Frederic.

FRANKLIN K. LANE At eighteen.

FRANKLIN K. LANE As City and County Attorney.

FRANKLIN K. LANE, MRS. LANE, MRS. MILLER, AND ADOLPH C. MILLER

FRANKLIN K. LANE WITH Ethan Allen, Superintendent of Rainier National Park, Washington

FRANKLIN K. LANE AND George B. Dorr In Lafayette National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine.

FRANKLIN K. LANE IN 1917 Taken in Lafayette National Park.

"LANE PEAK," Tatoosh Range, Rainier National Park

DATES

1864. July 15. Born near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. 1871-76. Taken to California. Went to Grammar School at Napa, California. 1876. Went to Oakland, California. Oakland High School. 1884-86. University of California, Berkeley, California. Special student. 1885. Reporting on Alta California in San Francisco for John P. Irish. 1887. Studied Hastings Law School. 1888. Admitted to the Bar. 1889. Special Newspaper Correspondent in New York for San Francisco Chronicle. 1891. Bought interest in Tacoma News and edited that paper. 1892. Campaigned in New York for Cleveland. 1893. Married. 1895. Returned to California. Practiced law. 1897-98. On Committee of One Hundred to draft new Charter for San Francisco. 1898. Elected City and County Attorney to interpret new Charter. 1899. Reelected City and County Attorney. 1901. Reelected City and County Attorney. 1902. Nominated for Governor of California on Democratic and Non-Partisan Tickets. 1903. Democratic vote in Legislature for United States Senator. 1903. Nominated for Mayor of San Francisco. 1905. December. Nominated by President Roosevelt as Interstate Commerce Commissioner. 1906. June 29. Confirmed by Senate as Interstate Commerce Commissioner. 1909. Reappointed by President Taft as Interstate Commerce Commissioner. 1913. Appointed Secretary of the Interior under President Wilson. 1916. Chairman American-Mexican Joint Commission. 1918. Chairman Railroad Wage Commission. 1919. Chairman Industrial Conference. 1920. March 1. Resigned from the Cabinet. 1920. Vice-President of Pan-American Petroleum Company. 1921. May 18. Died at Rochester, Minnesota.

FAMILY NAMES

Franklin K. Lane was the eldest of four children. Father: Christopher S. Lane. Mother: Caroline Burns. Brothers: George W. Lane. Frederic J. Lane. Sister: Maude (Mrs. M. A. Andersen). He was married to Anne Wintermute, and had two children: Franklin K. Lane, Jr. ("Ned"). Nancy Lane (Mrs. Philip C. Kauffmann).

THE LETTERS OF FRANKLIN K. LANE

I

INTRODUCTION

Youth--Education--Characteristics

Although Franklin Knight Lane was only fifty-seven years old when he died, May 18, 1921, he had outlived, by many years, the men and women who had most influenced the shaping of his early life. Of his mother he wrote, in trying to comfort a friend, "The mystery and the ordering of this world grows altogether inexplicable. ... It requires far more religion or philosophy than I have, to say a real word that might console one who has lost those who are dear to him. Ten years ago my mother died, and I have never been reconciled to her loss." Again he wrote of her, to his sister, when their brother Frederic--the joyous, outdoor comrade of his youth--was in his last illness, "Dear Fritz, dear, dear boy, how I wish I could be there with him, though I could do no good. ... Each night I pray for him, and I am so much of a Catholic, that I pray to the only Saint I know, or ever knew, and ask her to help. If she lives, her mind can reach the minds of the doctors. ... I don't need her to intercede with God, but I would like her to intercede with men. Why, Oh! why, do we not know whether she is or not? Then all the Universe would be explained to me."

From those who knew him best from childhood, no word of him is left, and none from the two men whose strength and ideality colored his morning at the University of California--Dr. George H. Howison, the "darling Howison" of the William James' Letters, and Dr. Joseph H. Le Conte, the wise and gentle geologist. "Names that were Sierras along my skyline," Lane said of such men. To Dr. Howison he wrote in 1913, when entering President Wilson's Cabinet, "No letter that I have ever received has given me more real pleasure than yours, and no man has been more of an inspiration than you."

Elsewhere on the shelf