K.  Lane's life as it unfolded itself in service to his country
which was his passion.  A few technical letters have been included,
because they represent some incomplete and original phases of the
work he attempted,--work, to which he brought an intensity of
interest and devotion that usually is given only to private
enterprise. 

In editing his letters we have omitted much, but we have in no way
changed anything that he wrote.  Even where, in his haste, there
has been an obvious slip of the pen, we have left it.  Owing to his
dictating to many stenographers, with their varying methods of
punctuation and paragraphing, and because the letters that he
wrote himself were often dashed off on the train, in bed, or in a
hurried five minutes before some engagement, we found in them no
uniformity of punctuation.  In writing hastily he used only a
frequent dash and periods; these letters we have made agree with
those which were more formally written. 

With the oncoming of war his correspondence enormously increased--
the more demanded of him, the more he seemed able to accomplish.