Evening star., 1922-11-13
a.. InstalInent No. II.

To Isadore 3. Dockweiler:
Washington. September %, 1920.
found in Washington the secret
Of the exceeding great authority
which the older states carry in Con-
gress, they return their senators and
congressman. term after term, and
give them opportunity to rise to posi-
tions of eminence in the ; national
legislature. The usefulness Of a
senator il not to be measured by the
roundness OF his periods, nor even
by the soundness of his ideas. He
must pass through a period of i'm
patient waiting before his status Is
such that he can really have the
opportunity to have his ideas con-
sidered seriously. BY returning men
who have been faithful. the state
strengthens itself in Washington and
eventually gains greatly in prestige.
These are to be most momen-
tous times. Just where we are
going no one knows. but clearly the
people here. as elsewhere, are bent
upon testing the value of democracy
as cooperative Organization Of men
and women, and ere determined to
make 1t fuller expression of human
capacities and hopes. We must feel
our way carefully at such q time, but
We must act constructive,y. else there
will surely come a dangerous radical
reaction. Sympathy must be checked
by wisdom, wise knowledge of
mans limitations and tendencies, that
we do not take on burdens we cannot
safely carry. Yet we must dare, and
dare purposefully. What can this
democracy do for men and women
that Is the super-question which rises
like Shasta and follows one through
out the day. dominating every pros
pect. And the answer must be
wrought out OF the sober thought
and the proved experience Of our
statesmen.
In September. 1920. Mr.. Lane wrote:
Things look dark to me politically.
The little Wilson (As distinguished
from the Great WILSON, is now having
his day. Cox is making a manly
fight on behalf Of the Presidents
league. but the administration is sui
len. is doing nothing. Cox will be
defeated not by those who dislike
him. but by those who dislike Wilson
and his group. This seems mighty
unjust"
To Benjamin Ide Wheeler:
Bethel, October IS, 1920
What a hell of condition the
land Is in politically. Cowardice and
hypocrisy are slated to win, and
makeshift and the cheapest politics
are to take possession of national af-
fairs. Better even obstinacy and
ego-mania. Cox. I think. has made
a gallant hght. He is to be beaten
because Wilson is as unpopular as he
once was popular. Oh! II he had been
frank as to his illness. the people
would have forgotten everything. his
going to Paris, his refusal to deal
with the mild observation-disclosures
thing would have been swept away
in q great wave Of sympathy. But
he could not be frank. he who talked
SO high OF faith in the people dis
trusted them. and they will not be
mastered by mystery. So he is so
much less than a hero that he bears
down his party to defeat.
And after election will come revolt
III the republican party, for it is too
many sided for long popularity.
am sorry to be out Of it all, but
the gods so willed.
To Robert Lansing:
Bethel, Me, November 10 $500.
My Dear Lansing: 1t is good to see
that letterhead. but aren't you afraid
to enter into competition with Mfr.
Tumulty, who has now, see. bought
the old Shepard mansion and will
settle in Washington. How do they
do it with the high cost of living
what it is? . The transmuta-
ton of brass into gold is becoming
commonplace.
Tonights paper speaks Of Knox Vas
probable Secretary of State.
Tell me where the opposition is to
come from-who are to lead us?
All possible leaders have been sub
merged. squelched, drowned out. in
the past eight years. I wish the whole
country had gone unanimously Tor
Harding. Then we might have start
ed on a fresh. clean footing to create
two parties that represent liberal and
conservative thought. AS 1t is.
think you will see Hearst and john
son and La Toilette try to capture
+he radicals Of both parties and make
a new party of their own. Inen