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Franklin Knight Lane

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"FRANKLIN KNIGHT LANE (1864-1921), American public official, was born near Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada, July 15 1864. He was taken to California in childhood and graduated from the university of California in 1886. He began his career as a newspaper reporter, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1889. He practised in San Francisco, drafted a charter for that city, and soon afterwards, in 1897, was elected city attorney, to which office he was twice reelected. In 1902 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor of California and the following year received the Democratic vote of the state legislature for the U.S. Senate, but failed of election. In 1905 he was appointed by President Roosevelt a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission and was retained by President Taft, serving for eight years, part of the time as chairman. The decisions which he wrote, many of which were regarded as radical at the time, were all upheld by the courts. In 1913 he entered the Cabinet of President Wilson as Secretary of the Interior. During his term of office the wealth of Alaska was made more accessible by the construction of a Government railway. Dams were built in several western states for conserving the water-supply in dry regions. To the Indians he gave special attention, maintaining that perpetual tutelage was wrong. Long before, authority had been granted the Secretary of the Interior to deal with individual cases, and by a generous interpretation of his powers many Indians were made free citizens. In connexion with national resources he advocated development without waste as being reasonable conservation. He was an earnest advocate of reclamation of land, and suggested that farms for soldiers returned from the World War could be provided by extensive drainage and irrigation. He favoured a policy of Americanization for the foreign population and the education of illiterates. In 1916 he was a member of the American-Mexican Joint High Commission, and the following year became a member of the Council of National Defense. In 1920 he resigned his post as Secretary of the Interior. He was treasurer of the European Relief Council. He died at Rochester, Minn., May 18 1921. He was the author of The American Spirit 41918, addresses delivered in war time).