to rise to positions of eminence in the national legislature.  The usefulness of a Senator is not to be measured by the roundness of his periods, nor even by the soundness of his ideas.  He must pass through a period of impatient waiting before his status is such that he can really have the opportunity to have his ideas considered seriously.  By returning men who have been faithful, the State strengthens itself in Washington and eventually gains greatly in prestige, as in the case of Julius Kahn.  Senator Phelan has now passed through this initial period of gaining status, and his future will be one of an assured and much strengthened position among his colleagues.  Not to return Phelan will mean a loss at Washington that California can ill afford at this critical time, for in the national mind he is identified with her prime concerns.

...  These are to be most momentous times ...  Just where we are going no one knows, but clearly the people here, as elsewhere, are bent upon testing the value of Democracy as a cooperative organization of men and women, and are determined to make of it a fuller expression of human capacities and hopes.  We must feel our way carefully at such a time, but we must act constructively, else there will surely come a dangerous radical reaction.  Sympathy must be checked by wisdom, a wise knowledge of man’s limitations and tendencies, that we do not take on burdens we cannot safely carry.  Yet we must dare, and dare purposefully.  What can this Democracy do for men and women—­that is the super-question which rises like Shasta and follows one throughout the day, dominating every prospect.  And the answer must be wrought out of the sober thought and the proved experience of our statesmen. ...  Cordially yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

In September, 1920, he wrote,—­“Things look dark to me politically.  The little Wilson (as distinguished from the Great Wilson) is now having his day.  Cox is making a manly fight on behalf of the President’s League, but the administration is sullen, is doing nothing.  Cox will be defeated not by those who dislike him but by those who dislike Wilson and his group.  This seems mighty unjust.”

To Hall McAllister

Katonah, September 25 [?], 1920

My dear hall,—­This paper is a concession to my love for color, it is not yellow, but golden, and to make the touch truly Californian I should write with a blue pencil.

I cannot write as gaily or as bravely as you did, for I have been pretty well beaten down to my knees.  My nights are so unforgivably bad—­wakened up two or three times, always with this Monster squeezing my heart in his Mammoth hand—­By God, it is something Dante overlooked ...

Take my advice, dear Hall, and avoid doing any of the things which the 3793 Doctors I have paid tell me cause this thing—­among them are;—­smoking, eating, drinking, swearing, working.