Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-07-27
MAeooN A COMING WAY.
Governor Of Panama Canal Zone
slated for HiEher Honors.

fANNNN - Np"ANN NNFNN
Governor of Panama Canal Zone
slated for Higher HonOrs.
The career Of charles f. Magoon Of Ne
hraska, governor OF the Panama canal
Sone and American minister to Panama.
is regarded by the New York Tribune as
"a remarkable refutation OF the oft-re-
peated assertion that there Is no future
for a man in the government service" The
Tribune intimates that higher honors are
in store for the Nebraskan.
Seven years ago" says the Tribune.
MIR. MaEoon was a lawyer Of Lincoln,
Neb.. with good but modest practice, and
was little known outside Of his own state.
Today he holds the most important place
in the canal zone and has almost outgrown
Il and higher honors will soon fall to his
lot, while ultimately he will. in the esti-
nation Of his superiors, be selected for a
place in the cabinet or a seat In the SUI
preme court. And his rapid promotion has
been won by sheer ability and indomitable
energy. for never has he commanded what
is known in Washington as influence
when Mr.. MaEoon assumed the duties
OF law oficer of the bureau of insular
affairs in March. 1899. he had the good
diate direction Of Elihu Root. then secre-
tary Of war. The secretary was quick to
detect the ability Of the young Nebraskan
who had been selected to interpret the
Jurisprudence of the Philippines, Cuba and
Porto Rico and to reconcile the often con-
ficting legal principles OF Spanish and
American law, and in a short time Judge"
Magoon-he unwittinEly acquired the title
with the ofice-became the trusted legal
adviser of no less a lawyer than the sec
rotary Of war himself too busy With large
enterprises to study the dusty tones. In
this capacity no task proved too arduous,
no investigation too tedious and no problem
too abstruse for the energy and application
Of Judge Magoon, and he won the hearty
admiration and appreciation of Secretary
Root His decisions and legal opinions
were, by direction Of the secretary, pub
lshed in book form under the title, THE
Law of Civil Government Under Military
Occupation" and It has been necessary to
produce two editions since the first was
exhausted. Judge Magoon also acted as
special counsel for the secretary OF war,
cooperating with the attorneys OF the De-
partment of Justice in defending the IA
nous diamond rings" case and several Of
similar character in the United States
supreme court.
when, in 1904, this country had acquired
provisional sovereignty of the Panama ca
nal zone, Secretary Taft found urgent ne
cessity for able jurist to prepare a code
to meet the peculiar conditions existing In
the zone, and everything in Judge Ma
goon's experience seemed peculiarly TO
qualify him for the position. He was APP
pointed In June OF that year. When he
called at the White House to thank the
president the executive said to him:
When a man has won his spurs as you
have there is no need of his thanking any
body to wear them
''Magoon blushed like a girl when he
heard this frank praise from the the big
chief but he replied with his usual quick
wit, and the president asked him II he were
not Of Hlbernian descent The Judge ex-
planned that he was a Minnesotan born, Of
New England ancestry, and the president
told him he was a "a credit to both east
and west
las counsel for the Isthmian Canal COM
mission Judge Magoon not only solved the
numerous knotty problems affecting the
conduct OF the commission, but he also pre-
pared the laws of the zone, which are still
in force and which were the subject Of
high praise from Senator Morgan OF Ala
bama during the recent session Of congress
Judge Magoon is more than an able
jurist. He is a diplomat, He is a big
man, constructed much on the lines of
Secretary Taft. mentally physically and
temperamentally. And what Taft did for
the Filipinos Magoon was calculated to do
for the Panamans. And he has done IT,
When, a little more than a year ago, the
president determined to reorganize the
Isthmian Canal commission he made Judge
Magoon a member, and then designated him
as governor of the Panama canal zone.
Later he was nominated also as minister to
Panama, office he has since filled, al
though without remuneration.
at is as governor Of the Panama canal
zone that Magoon has won the renewed
admiration of the administration, which
is certain to result in his further mate
rial preferment. When he went TO the
isthmus in June. 1906, he found deplorable
conditions The zone and, in fact, the
entire republic of Panama, were stricken
with yellow fever, and the republic was
on the verge OF a revolution, a not I'M
usual condition with a Latin-American re-
public.
1.-THE people OF Panama had been or
dered to clean up by Mr. Magoons pre-
decessor, but they were losth TO take
orders. They had been ordered to keep
the peace but such an order they re-
garded almost as an insult to their man
hood. Governor MAgoon gave no orders,
and vet he accomplished all he set out to
do. He did II by persuasion and appeals
to the pride Of the people. You are an
American republic, and the people of the
United States expect great things Of you,
said the new governor in his Fourth OF
July Grafton last year, and that was his
text throughout the cleaning-up days. His
suavity and diplomacy made It possible
| for Colonel Gorgas, his expert assistant at
the head Of the sanitary division, to eradi-
/ cate all the sources Of yellow fever con-
! tagion The Panamans always urged on
| by his expansive smile and fatherly con-
! sideration, aided and assisted The result
| is that for the first time in the history OF