F, K. L.
TO DANIEL WITTARD PRESIDENT, BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY
Washington, June 19, 1912
MY DEAR MR. WILLARD,—That was a warm cordial note that you sent me regarding my University of Virginia address, and what you say of my sentiments confirms my own view that property must look to men like yourself for protection in the future—men who are not blind to public sentiment and whose methods are frank. The worst enemy that capital has in the country is the man who thinks that he can "put one over" on the people. An institution cannot remain sacred long which is the creator of injustice, and that is what some of our blind friends at Chicago do not see. Very truly yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
TO JOHN MCNAUGHT NEW YORK WORLD
Washington, March 23, 1912
MY DEAR JOHN,—I am very glad indeed to hear from you and to know that you are in sympathy with my "eloquent" address at the University of Virginia. You give me hope that I am on the right track. As for Harmon and representative government, you won't get either. … Please see Mr. R. W. Emerson's Sphinx, in which occurs this line:
"The Lethe of Nature can't trance him again
Whose soul sees the perfect, which his eye seeks in vain."
Fancy me surrounded by maps of the express systems of the United States, digging through the rates on uncleaned rice from Texas to the Southeast, dribbling off poetry to a man who sits in a tall tower overlooking New York, who once had poetry which has per necessity been smothered! Dear John, read your Bible, and in Second Kings you will find the story of one Rehoboam, that son of Solomon, who was also for Harmon and representative government.