The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-23


 than four years and therefore the leaders in his own party are opposing President Porras. and attempting to wrest from him the control of the national assembly.
 The factional differences date back to the convention of the liberal party at Chitre in January. It was there decided to place the political destinies of the party in the hands of a ..directorio nacional,' or national liberal committee with Dr. Mendoza at it's head. The plan met the approval of President Porras long.
 The time came for selecting candidates Who should make the race for the na- tlonal assembly, which was to be elected III July. The committee prepared list Of candidates and obtained their consent to stand for election. As a matter of courtesy the Mendoza faction makes this quite plain. the list was submitted to President Porras for his approval not be- cause he was considered the leader, but merely as a prominent member of the party.
 onfy portion of the list met with the unqualified approval of President Porras according to Dr. Mendoza, who says the President proceeded to substitute num- Der of what he considered luke warm friends with candidates whom he felt sure 'O'fo ouPPoil iliH III the aSSemDlV. The substitution met with the immediate op- position of the ntional committee which proceeded to make it clear to the presi- dent that 1t, and not he, had been given the sole power to make the selection,
 Reason for Split
 rms all took place a very flaw days before the election on July 5 and re- suited in the submission of two lib- eral party tickets to the voters. There vas no conservative party ticket in the fleld, conservatives who voted making use of the opportunity to strike a CO., vert blow at the administration, so it's supporters declare.
 That is the published reason for the split in the rank and file of the lib- eral party and 1t is the cause that most of the leaders declare to be the only one On the other hand there are those, and Dr. Mendoza is among them who openly say that the real reason for the opposition to President Porras Is his failure to keep the party faith and his forgetfulness of political prom ises once he had attaified the highest office in the republic.
 The split having occurred only a very few days before election day it had not extended much beyond the two large cities, Panama and Colon. Lack of rapid transportation and the fact that the government telegraph and tel ephone lines are in the control of the administration prevented the workers in the provinces from being informed In these outlying districts the liberal party candidates naturally won since they had no opposition.
 It was only in the two cities and their respective provinces that the fight took place. It was in the list of can didates from these two provinces that the changes were made by President Porras. according to Dr. Mendoza The control of these members of the as- sembly Is important because it has hitherto been demonstrated that they Usually control the assemblymen from the provinces with little difficulty, they being usually of higher mental at- tainments and greater political astute- ness.
 In the struggle for the presidency two years hence there are already two candidates in the field Dr. Rodolfo Chiari, former secretary of government and justice In the Porras cabinet is the selection of Dr. Mendoza. while Dr. Ramon M. Valdez. councillor to the department of foreign relations Is declared to have the support of Pres ident Porras and his faction.