My dear Mr. Martin,—­ ...  It does not seem to me that this country will rise to a class war.  We have too many farmers and small householders and women—­put the accent on the women.  They are the conservatives.  Until a woman is starving, she does not grow Red, unless she is without a husband or babies and has a lot of money that she did not earn. ...  Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO GEORGE W. LANE

Washington, September 11, 1919

Dear George,—­You do not know how much of sympathy I send out to you and how many words of prayer I send up for you.  You need them all, I expect. ...  What a long siege you have had!

I suppose you will not be able to hear the President speak when he is there.  You will miss much.  He is not impassioned nor a great orator, such as Chatham or Fox, or Webster or Dolliver, or even Bryan—­but he has a keen, quick, cutting mind, the mind of a really great critic, and his manner is that of the gentleman scholar.  He is first among all men to-day, which is much for America.

My Nancy has been having a splendid time, even if she only saw your ranch for a week—­but she is the gayest thing alive—­God grant she may continue so always. ...

For the first time in twenty-five years we are living in an apartment, large and in a nice place, but somehow my sense of the fitness of things will not let me call the place “home”—­altho’ it is the most comfortable habitation I have ever lived in, elevator, whole floor to ourselves. ... and they let me keep my dog.  I wouldn’t have come if they hadn’t.  We turned down a fine place with a more expansive view because Jack was not wanted.  But surely in these days of doubt and disloyalty one must have some rock to cling to, why not a trusting-eyed dog? ...  But all this does not recompense me for the absence of a “home”—­which is a house, anywhere.  Yet we may have to do our own work. ...  The cooks are all too proud to work—­I wish you would tell me just how this economic problem should be settled.  How much do you believe in socialism or socialization? ...  Do you think there can be a partnership in business?  I am inclined to think this can be worked out, along lines of cooperative ownership, but not until an enterprise is well standardized.

I expect bad times soon with labor.  We are only postponing the evil day.  The President seems less radical than he was.  He is sobered by conditions, I suspect.  The negro is a danger that you do not have.  Turn him loose and he is a wild man.  Every Southerner fears him.