Washington, December 3, 1914
MY DEAR COLONEL,—I have just received your note of November 30th, and I am very much gratified at your reference to my Thanksgiving lines. You may be interested in knowing that the Home Club, before which I read these lines, is an institution that I organized since becoming Secretary, for the officers and employees of my Department. …
You may rest assured that I shall convey your message to Mr. Garrison, and I know that he will be just as pleased to receive it as I am in being able to carry it.
… The work of the Department keeps me pretty closely to my desk, so that I have few opportunities of getting away from Washington. I certainly shall not let a chance of seeing you go by without taking advantage of it.
Cordially yours,
FRANKLIN K. LANE
To Hon. Woodrow Wilson
The White House
Washington, January 9, 1915
MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,—That was a bully speech, a corker! You may have made a better speech in your life but I never have heard of it. Other Presidents may have made better speeches, but I have never heard of them. It was simply great because it was the proper blend of philosophy and practicality. It had punch in every paragraph. The country will respond to it splendidly. It was jubilant, did not contain a single minor note of apology and the country will visualize you at the head of the column. You know this country, and every country, wants a man to lead it of whom it is proud, not because of his talent but because of his personality,—that which is as indefinable as charm in a woman, and I want to see your personality known to the American people, just as well as we know it who sit around the Cabinet table. Your speech glows with it, and that is why it gives me such joy that I can't help writing you as enthusiastically as I do. Sincerely yours,