The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-13

Panauaa would have precipitated revoi,,tion if if had not been Tor the etrone hand of the government ss Washington. The United states toIa Panama, in effect, that the anDlelons .s., of politicians and the issues ~ S Syttsa to nndan9er the enormous enterprise whlch the American nation has under takan on the isthmus. The Oniteo Statas told Panama that the elections
 must be fairly conducted, and the fe- suit would be upheld. A IeEolueloh , might not work great injury 70 lns Is nublic of Panama, but 1t eertalniy wn,,Id have been a disaster to the Uni- te0 states and the canal project
 Az q result of the firm athtuoe ta- ken bv the Washington government the Conservative party, now ID power has submitted to the will of the people as expressed in the municipal eiec.lons in June. and the July electicns nave but to confirm the selection ci DoHi.n- ro obaldia. the Liberal candidate for President. A wholesome respect Tor American warships and American ma. rinss will insure a peaceful transfer or the administration from one party 10 the other--a thing that is rarely ac- compl,shed in the smaller Latin-Amer : lean countries without trouble
 The American government ara not LakG R2Il lu tilG C6tAR1A4A " ~~@.~l----- ing the cause of one party or the other. It merely declared that 1t would see to 1t that there was a free ballot and q fair count, let the results De what they might Panama has two pohucai parties, the Conservatives and the Lip- erals. The issues between them are hazy, the principles which diferentiate them are mythical AS ~ mass 1s fact the only practical dinerence is that which always exists bstwesn the .lns,' and the "outs," and they stand for little else than the organiSea ex- nreSston of a. desire to control the treasury. The Liberals. 1t IS true eta1d for the doctrine of absolute oi- vorce of church from state, but tnat IS no longer a living issue. Tnere is n9 live question of foreign CT intsrnsl policy at stake.
 Tns Liberals have been the .'outs.p but their victory this summer VIII soon put them in power. Their leader Ser nor Obaldla, will be President. If he is grateful he will be quite friendly to American interests. While the Amsrl- cans did not espouse his cause, the ad- min1stration of President AInador was taking such violent steps to insure the election of the Conservative candidate, Ricardo Arias. that only an American demand for fair elections could secure the rights of the Liberals at the polls.
 Last winter President Arnador took vacation trip, to Europe and the States. Before he left he gave out statement in which he said that he was going to be neutral in the coming cam paign. His natural course would have been to support Obaldia. But when he came back to the Isthmus he began se- cretly to give aid and encouragement to Arias, Gradually the Liberals learned of his political treaehesy and went to the officials of the United States on the Isthnaus with protest representations of the Liberals were found to be correct. Intimidation, treachery and every sort of political trick possible to prevent the registra- ton of voters of the opposition had been resorted to- The Conservatives were proving themselves politicians at whose feet the worst corrnptionasts ot
 At this juncture J, c. 8. Blackburn, Governor of the Canal Zone went to the Administration leaders headed by President Amador, and told them that every voter must have an opportunity to register. to vote. and to. have his vote counted. He told them that the United States was treaty bound to all the nations of the world to keep the Isthmian transit open. and that the transit could not be kept open unless peace be maintained. This in turn. he told them. could not be had unless there were fair elections.
 The Administration leaders replied that even if 1nany Liberals had been denied the privilege Of registration there was no remedy for it after the fact. They declared that the registration period had closed by now be done to reopen the books law and that nothing could TO this Governor Blackburn answered that if there was bad law on the sfafute books of the Republic it was either their fault or their misfortune.
 He told them plainly that the United States would insist on e. fair cleo ton. and that 1t was certainly Up to them to find some means of seeing that there was fair election. Negotiations were on for several weeks, and finally. when president Amador yielded on few irnmatertal points. Patience ceas- ed to be a virtue with Governor Black burn, and he told the conservative lead CTS that there could be no monkey lbus iness in this matter. that the United states was only asking that fair election be held and that there would be no recision from that demand
 He said dishonest election meant revolution, and that a revolution meant the disorganization of the canal force, and probably the destruction Of mil- Hons of dollars worth of American property, 10 say nothing of the delay In completing the canal. with yellow fever raging in Colon and the bubonic plague running riot in Panama" he told them, "our force would crouch in the interior and walt until the storm blew over. But with shooting going on in Panama, with the opportunities for license and loot that would follow. there would be no keeping them out of 1t. The force would be completely dis organized, and irreparable harm would be done to the whole canal project.
 Governor Beckham added that he could not speak with authority as to what would happen, but that he believ- cd there would be several battieships in the harbors Of the Isthmus about that time, and that the marines sta- tioned at Camp Elliott would be made ready to protect the American interests against any outbreak. Under these somewhat strenuous representations the Panamanians agreed that the Americans could see that the elections were fairly conducted. American agents were sent to the various voting places throughout the Isthmus to inspect conditions and to report to the Canal Zone Government. Steps were taken by the Panama Administration to in- sure fair elections, so far as opportunt- Gy to vote is concerned.
 There are other clements than that in the free expression of the peoples will. For instance, the province of Colon had for it's Governor Porfirio Me- lendez. He issued a statement to the officials under him in which he said that every voter in the province should