The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-27
Man Who Sold Panama Concession to Government and Whom senator Morgan is Anxious to Catechise, Has Interesting History-Gossip of New Yeri.
BY sEwELL HAGGARD.

BY SEWELL HAGGAHD.
 New York, Jan. 26.-(Sp ,ciaL)-- Newspaper readers who have followed Panama Canal affairs and especially the part played in canal history by Senator John T. Morgan of Alabama need no introduction to the name of William Nelson Cromwell. Cromwell is the man who sold the Panama concession to the Unified States for $40. 100000 and Senator Morgan's hostility to him and his methods has never been concealed The Senator has given the lawyer sev- eral bad sessions before the Senate Ca- nal Committee and he intends to give him another in the near future.
 Cromwell is a man with an interest ing history. He bega.. his business ca reer in a, railroad office and then stud ted law. Thirty years ago he was ad- mitted to the bar. The practice of law has been revolution. iZed almost In these thirty years and Cromwell has been re- sponsfble to a large degree for the change. When he began to seek cli- ents lawyers went into court They haggled. filed motion upon motion and the general intent seemed to be to de- lay the business in hand. Cromwell watched these lawyers and came to the conclusion that there was another and a DctLeT way tO SttIlt ulSpuIeS. 30 ne withdrew from court house practice and sat in his ofnce. bringing warning in- terests together and reconciling their differences. How well he has succeed ed is told in a recent sketch of him in a New York newspaper:
 "When great business enterprises are, wrecked, when financieTs quarrel and backbite, when the statesmen of dis sontented South American nations need outside assistance, frequently there comes the salver, the mediator, the financial physician, the negotiating emissary. whatever. you will, in the per- son of William Nelson Cromwell" k This man who has succeeded In ale most every mission he has undertaken, has amassed a great fortune. No one knows exactly how much he is worth but MT. Cron. well himself He admit { ted to the Senate Committee last year that he mad more money than he, knew what to do with.
 His clients are among the largest financial interests of the country. It Is natural that they should turn to such a mana man who burrows like a mole and whose motto is secrecy When they are in trouble they present the facts to him and he presents a plan of adjustment Whel. they want to punish an opponent they go to Cromwell and the physician" pre- scribes the aose. When they are try ing to recover from the blow of an op- ponent the physician" also has a pre- scription handy.
 Cromwell made peace in the EquIta- ble war; he Is now helping the New York Life in its election sduabbles; he represented E. H. Hartman when Stuyvesant Fish was busted from the presidency O. the Illinois Central Rail- r0ad and again he represented Hatri- man when that master financier want ed to keep the hand of Wells. Fargo & Co. stockholders off the surplus in the treasury The lowly stockholders were clarnoring for larger dividends but Mir Harriman and his associates were ,ob- { durate.s Theirfplan of obstruction was to demand a Aeock vote upon every question before the meeting and to Mir. Cromwell Is given the credit of orfei- hating 1T. Of Mir. Hartman the "physi- cian'' said at that time:
 He cannot be replaced. for he moves in q higher world, where the stock holders cannot enter.' ~
 The free translation of this is sup posed to be that the stockholder is wel- come to put his money in Mir. Harri- mans hands but he has no right to en- ter MT. Harriman's world of surplus and dividends.
 As a practising physician" MT. Cromwell has had patients outside of Wall street, notably in South Ameri- ca. It Is said that he is an authority on the odd politics of these restless. un- cerIu.n governments and that he has been carried on the diplomatic list of more than one of them. Some folks have accused him of being very well acquainted with the old style diplomacy of the "other Americans" which, to say the least, is tricky and acrobatic. \ Crsmwells success with the Panama Canal project is worth recalling. When In 1896 he became general counsel for the new Panama Canal Company. &C., cording to his own admission the Isth- milan route had not friend in this country. This fact did not discourage him. He started a quiet campaign to have the United States buy the canal property and dig the great waterway. His methods were peculiar to Cromwell under the surface--and no one knows to this day, except himself how he brought his project to successful is- sue.
 Senator Morgan did all within his power to block the scheme. Tn 1901. | in presenting to the Senate a report | covering the canal question as whole. 1 he quoted a letter from Sullivan and Cromwell. asking the President to ad- wise Congress of the attitude of the i Panama Company. Of this letter Mir. | Morgan said:
 ''The manifest purpose of this com pany to interfere with legislation by | asking the President to inform Con- gress of a state of facts. as alleged of | which Congress is presumably without | Is an insult to the intelli- l gence of Congress. It Is an insolent | invitation to the President to icontrol ] the action of Congress-"
 But this didn't disturb C.romwell. He l kept working until he was In po- sition to offer the United States an | option on tn ecanal property for $40,- 1 000. .00C, knowing that it would be ac- | cepted. Then the Panama revolu- | ton was manufa ctured Nto capture the | canal from the Colomblaps. The sos called revolt was inspired Tn New York | and mat useful person Runau-Varllla | was in Washington to close up the ne- before the special cOmmis- sion from Panama could get there. Tn | fact 1t has been contended all along | that Panama. the newborn, had no voice in the matter.
 It is not surprising that after this continued to he a power In | canal affairs. He Is said to have been for the appointment of