Evening star., 1922-11-13
Letters of Franklin X. Lane
Revelations of the War Cabinet and Intimate
Views Of National and World Figures by the For
mer Secretary of the Interior.
Of the Interior.
Copyright. lse9. BY Anne ". Laas.)

been fighting since boyhood--the Wall
Street rascals-as against the other
group. But maybe the Lord cares a
bit for us after all.
I mend very slowly, but / delight
in your recovery and wonder at it.
do beg you will give me
all the gossip Of Washington that
you can, for I am here In a wilder
ness, beautiful. but not exciting. As
6I3unoo sqL Ivsm sq1 OF Houns
always, z. K. L.
To George W. wicksrsham:
Bethel. Me-. IS November. 1s2o)
I am for harmony reconci1er.
like Harding. e
Root. as you say. would give a good
would 1t once say Harding knows
how to set q good table. But, tell
ne-will he be Taft? a Mckinley?
a Hayes? or a Grant? Pshaw! Why
should I ask such q question? Who
knows what man will turn out to
be! Events may make him greater
than any, or less. A war, a bullet,
timely word Of warning to a for
eign power, fierce fight with some
rnliked home group. the right sort
Of Il deal on postal rates with news
papers and magazines-any one OF
these might lift him into a national
hero: while a sneaking act revealed,
little too much caution, q period Of
business depression, would send him
tumbling out Of the skies.
These be indeed no days for proph-
esying-Wilson gone. Clemenceau
gono. Venizelos gone-Lloyd George
alone left! The wise boy had his
election at the right moment didn't
he? Surely statesmanship is four
fifths politics. Farding's danger, as
l see it, will lie in his timidity He
fears: and fear IS the poison gas
which comes from the DEVILS factory.
Courage is oxygen and fear is carbon
monoxide. One comes from heaven
80 you find, Wells says-and the
other would turn the universe back
into primeval chaos. Wilson. be it
said to his eternal glory, did not
fear. They send word to me from
the inside that he believed in Cox's
election up to the last minute, AL
though the whole cabinet told him
defeat was sure. He was right. and
right would prevair'-surely such
faith. even in ones self, is almost
genius.
I am glad you put Lincoln first in
your list Of great Americans. I de-
cided that question for myself when I
came to hang some pictures in my Ii
brary. Washington or Lincoln on top?
And Lincoln got it. ] have recently
read all his speeches and papers, and
the man is true from the first day to
the last. The same philosophy and
the same reasoning were good in 1861
as in 1si1. He was large enough for
great day-could any more be said of
any onec
Lincoln made Seward and Chase and
Stanton and Blair his mates. He did
not fear them. He wished to walk
with the greatest. not with truckers
and fawners. court satellites and pan.
derers His great soul was not warm
enough to fuse them--they were re-
bellious ofe-but his simplicities were
rot to be mastered by their elaborate
cegencies. !
Mckinley was simple in his nature.
at bottom dear boy of kind heart.
who put his hand into the big fist OF
Mark Hanna and was led TO glory.
Is Harding great and masterful in
his simplicity. or trustful and yield
ing. and II the latter where Is the
Hanna? We'll. don't want to die in
these next few months. anyway. till
some questions are answered. This
would be part of my cabinet IL I
were Harding: Root. state: Hoover.
Treasury: Warren of Michigan. Attor.
aey General; Wood. War: willard tof
Baltimore and Ohio). Postmaster Gem
eral: Hays. Labor; Lowden, Interior;
Weeks. Navy.
I would put you and Taft on the
supreme bench and scour the country
for strong men for the commissions
which have mostly third-tate men on
them.
You speak of great Americans. and
have named all four from political
life 1 cohcr- in your selection Now
what writer's would you say were
most distinctly American in thought
and most influential upon our thought,
men who a hundred years hence will
be regarded not great as literary men
but as American, social. spiritual and
economic philosophers? 1t occurs to
me that this singular trio might be
selected-Emerson. Henry George and
William James, What say you?