The Washington herald., 1922-11-11
LANE LETTERS ADD
TO u. s. LITERATURE

thou8ntou-Mnttln company
In life FRANKLIN X. Lane was to
most of his fellow countrymen one
Of those large. silent. enismatfc
figures that. for the most part.
form the Cabinet. Now that he Is
dead, he bids fair to live, through
the medium Of his letters, as fiery
Scotch Irish figure, subject to
chronic rebellions and discourage
ments--short-lived affairs that al
ways gave way shortly. to renewed
optimism and the drive Of work.
Lanes published letters date from
1883 to shortly before his death on
May Is. 1921. the last published bit
being q manuscript fragment writ
ten on the day before his death.
As records Of how the Wilson ad-
ministration booked from the '1n-
side." they are valuable. As rec
ords of the mode of thought and
psychology OF dynamicaliy ener-
getic and yet whimsical. fanciful
sort OF human. being. they are en-,
crossing. II there is any part of
the book that is not entirely salts
flying. 1t is the part which Lane
had no share In the making. the
short biographical notes that open
the volume. Here Miss Louise Her
rick Wall gives US a Lane a little
too highly coloreG. roo much OF &
superman for mere humanity. The
complex man OF buoyancy and
black despairs. avid of popularity
driven by ambition and Implanted
necessity for accomplishment, this
contradictions parsonage of the
letters Is far more intere sting than
any polite description of him
The interest OF the letters, not
so great in the earlier specimens.
which are overmuch concerned with
many minor partisan politics. grad
ually Increases throughout the book,
until. toward the end. they have
all the elements OF dramatic sus-
pense possessed by first-class
work OF fiction. Humour a-plenty
there is even in those last black
days when life was one doctors
device after another. We find the
sick man commenting on tho cold
impersonality of the young lady
nurses in the Mayo Hospital. Pain
he could bear. but he could not do
without human smiles and friepdli-
ness. He writes during his last
illness to Hall McAllister:' Gay life
this. my boy! I've been SO wicked
and fast and devilish and hoggish
and gluttonous and always rotten
and riotous that needs must spend
few months in this agony by
way of preliminary atonement be-
fore l may even get a chance at
purgatory." And TO Mrs. George Ehle
at about the same time. Il will
emerge from this spot. if emerge
at all. a regular Apollo. and will
do Russian dances for you on that
lovely lawn under the mulberry
tree"
The Lane picture of Washington
In war time is undoubtedly a valu-
able addition to the abundant lit
erature on the subject. We see the
chief of stafr falling asleep at a
Cabinet meeting, the President. cold
self-contained. asking help of no
man, fulfilling Lanes early proph-
ecy that he would become the most
disliked man in Washington" We
see Hoover and McAdoo "at swords
drawn" the Hoover plan for food
shipments lying ION McAdoo's desk
for a week" We read: For some
weeks we have spent our time at
Cabinet meetings largely in telling
stories" This in October. 1918.
Franklin Lane was one OF those to
whom religious faith was demed.
He regretted but did not smugly
boggle over stating the fact. In
1919 he writes: II am trying hard
to believe something that might be
called the shadow of a religion-a
God that has a good purpose and an
other life in which there is a chance
for further growth. IL not for glory.
But when ! bump up against a
series OF Affections such as you
have been subjected to / fail back
upon Fred's philosophey of a pur-
poseless or else a cruel God"
In summation. there can be no
doubt that the letters of Franklin
X. Lane are a worthy contribution
to permanent literature and history
They reveal also a mana very real
sort OF a man and a great liver of
life.