One of the amusing reports that has come to me is that the railroad feels friendly toward me.  I think probably the extent of their friendliness is in acknowledging that I am not a blackmailer.  They know that I would not hold them up, just as well as they know that I could not be held up.  In the various campaigns that I have made, it has never been suggested that the railroads had any more influence with me than they ought to have, or that anybody else had, and in my fight for the Governorship they did not contribute so much as a single postcard, nor did an individual railroad man contribute a dollar to the campaign fund.  I say this because I heard yesterday that word had gone to the President that I was something of a railroad man, which is about the most amusing thing that I have heard for sometime.  The charge never was made in any of my five campaigns, and certainly is made only for foreign consumption, end not for home consumption.

Do not in any way put yourself out regarding this matter.  I am satisfied that the President will do just what he wants to do and just what he thinks right, without much respect to what anybody says to him, and I don’t want to bring pressure to bear upon him; but, of course, I want him to know that I have friends who think well of me.  I am very appreciative of your offer and efforts, and hope that, whether I am given this position or not, I shall before very long have the opportunity of seeing you in New York.  Very sincerely,

FRANKLIN K. LANE

TO HON.  THEODORE ROOSEVELT THE WHITE HOUSE

San Francisco, December 9, [1905]

My dear Mr. President,—­I have not written you before because of my expectation that I would see you soon, but as there now seems some doubt as to immediate confirmation I will not longer delay expressing the deep gratification which the nomination gave me.  You gave the one answer I could have wished to the whispered charge that I was bound by obligation of some sort to the railroads—­a charge never made in any form here, not even in the hottest of my five campaigns.  My honor stood pledged to you—­by the very fact of my willingness to accept the post—­that I was free, independent, self-owned, capable of unbiased action.  And that pledge remains.

As to my confirmation, it has been suggested that it was the customary and expected thing for me to go to Washington and help in the fight.  This I feel I should not do and have so written to Senator Perkins and others.  I do not wish to appear indifferent in the slightest degree to the honor you have done me, or to the office itself, but I feel that you will appreciate without my setting them forth on paper the many reasons which hold me here.  This is no time for an Interstate Commerce Commissioner to be on his knees before a United States Senator or to be thought to be in that position.  Very respectfully yours,