The New York herald., 1922-11-05

/
The volume before is in no sense a
biography. but out of these letters. admir-
ably arranged and knit together by an ap-
propriate word of comment here and there
the main facts OF Lanes life and the main
thoughts of his mind can be easily cleaned
Returning to the Pacific Coast from New
York. he established a newspaper in Ia
coma, which, through no fault of his own,
was not a commercial success. He next
went to San Francisco. opened law office
with his brother. threw himself into the
work Of municipal reform. was elected City
and County Attorney and was the pioneer
leader in that movement of reform which
in six or eight years changed California
from a veritabe sink of political corrup-
tiOn into one of the best governed States
/ in the Union His success in this work
led to his nomination as Democratic can
didate for Governor With that singular
malignity with which William Randolph
Hearst has perverted or tainted every
American political movement that he has
touched be threw the influence of his pa
per, the San Francisco Examiner, covertly
and cunningly against Lanes candidacy,
and was undoubtedly the deciding factor in
the defeat of Lane. who lost the Governor
ship by a narrow margin. Lane describes
the incident thus:
On the morning of election day he
(Hearst) sent special train through
out the whole of Northern California
containing an issue of his paper ap-
growers for my defect. ). Later,
when Hearst budded as a candidate for
President in 1904. he sought an inter-
view with me- and said that he was not
to blame for the policy that had been
pursued. Our interview closed with
this dialogue:
| Mr.. Lane if you ever wish any
thing that can do all you will have
to do will be to send me a telegram
asking and it will be done"
To which l responded. Mr. Hearst.
il you ever get telegram from me
asking you to do anything. you can
put that telegram down as a forgery"
Lanes upright. vigorous and open
course in this election gave him national
prestige. and Hearst who has never yet
succeeded in getting an elective office Cex-
cept that Of Congressman from a district
controlled by an pnsavory political ma
chine), instead OF destroying Lanes politi-
cal fortunes. as he wished to do really ad-
vdnced them. For President Roosevelt at
tracted by Lanes courageous and unequal
fight against a sinister and hypocritical
political antagonist. appointed him to a
place on the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion. There was opposition to his con-
firmation. because Lane was Democrat.
His letters show that he declined to take
any part in wire pulling in the Senate.
which strengthened Roosevelt's confidence
in him. And Roosevelt. who rejoiced in
this kind of a fight overcame the opposi-
tion. as he knew 60 we'll how 10 do.
Lanes record as Commerce Commits
sioner led to his being chosen by President
Wilson as the Secretary of the Interior
in his Cabinet. Lanes letters. like Walter
Pages letters, disclose the moral struggle
which went on in Washington during the
European war between President Wilson.
who thought all the belligerents in Europe
were tarred with the same stick. and the
100 per cent Americans who had the con-
victiOn which my father thus expressed in
1918:
We speak of a war in Europe. In
strictness of speech there is no war in
Europe. There is an international posse
comitdtuS. representing more than
twenty civilized nations. summoned to