Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-09-25
PANAMA TO INACCURATE
FIRST GENUINE PRESIDENT
DIR. Harmodio Arias Only Chief Execu-
tive Ever Elected Under Free
Balloting System.

feat. praising the fair play Of ths con-
test and wishing him success.
The story Of Harmodio AriaS, the
next chief executive Of Panama, Is full
OF the human interest Characteristic
OF the story Of any successful seh-made
leader. wherever born.
DR.. Arlas, who does not conceal his
modest origin and the absence OF ma
terial resources with which he started,
had none of the advantages of all of
the handicaps that stand in the way
Of success when he first faced the
battle Of life. Lacking money. infiuen-
tlal relatives or interested pulls, he was
alone IN the world when he came out
of high school with bunch of more
dence had provided better.
But Harmodio Arias had other a,Ssets
Intangible assets. the psychologists
call them-which were going Is car1
him to a position which none OF rs
Schoolmates ever OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
ambition and a superior Md With
these he set out TO make some one" OF
himself He entered competition with
a group Of distinguished students for
government scholarship In Europe. He
won the scholarship, and then he chose
Cambridge, in England, one of the two
most difficult and expensive UNIVERSE
Naturally, what he received from the
Panamanian government was by far in
sufficient to cover his expenses and
studies in Cambridge He had to do
some secretarial work at nights. and
even so, could not conclude his studies
without mourning personal debts. When
the brand new lawyer returned to
Panama with Cambridge diploma
under his arm, he had only creditors
for friends.
Won Prestige In Courts
Then began the hardest chapter OF
his life Unknown, doubted, opposed
by older and weather. competitors, Dr..
Artas set to work. He worked hard.
continuously, undefatigably This pc
Rod Of his life may seem monotonous
in a narrative story but the constant
struggle, the daily efforts Of these years
of routine work were full Of color and
romance in real life. It Is in those
years Of strenuous work that DR.. Arias
made his reputation.
He not only won legal suits In tha
courts, but won for hin1saE wide pre-
tige. both as a lawyer and q man Of
stalwart honesty. Whereve.. he ap-
peared he made friends and admirers,
until soon political groups, business
concerns and sectors of public opinion
his friendship and advice, This Is pre-
ciSely the most unique characteristic In
DR.. Arias' career. He holds the con-
fldence Of all parties and has the sym
pathies of all classes in Panamas He
represented his country before the
League Of Nations. and later on was
elected to the Panamanian Assembly
DR.. Arlas' legal office had as clients
nearly all the American and foreign
CnnCeTnS NJ i01nOrf2nH6 OG1arafin0
In Panama He was legal advisor Of
the largest American compa MES. some
Of which had been charged with ex-
plotting Panama's resources and people.
And yet, he was the man In whom the
Panamanian masses had the utmost
confidence. He was the most popular
man among the natives. and probably
the only one whose political honesty
was unanimously accepted This Is a
case unparalleled In Latin America,
where the legend Of American imperial
ism has done so much harm to public
men favorable to Uncle Sam.
Has Sense OF Righteousness
Dr.. Arias' prestige and Overwhelming
popularity may be explained by two
circumstances besides his personal quail
tiles and his legal record His reluctance
to intervene in the dubious ouarrels of
domestic politics. and an uncomfortable
sense OF righteousness which Is evident
In every act of his public or his private
life. These, and his characteristic
frankneSs to point out right and wrong.
ana to speak aloud the truth, may ac-
count for the confidence that all PAN
amanians have in him.
This confidence made itself felt when
an armed uprising overthrow the cor
rupted regime Of President Arosemena
in January. 1881, and a man Of stain
less public record was needed to take
the helm Of state ReSigning- President
Arosemens himself, cbeying the COM
mand OF public opinion. asked Dr.. Arias
to enter his cabinet so that. according
to the Panananian constitution, he
might be chosen by the other members
OF the cabinet to head the government,
preserve order and lead in the reorgani-
zatton of the country until the Vice
President, absent at the time. could re-
turn and take charge of the chief ex-
ecutive'S chair.
The two weeks that ensued were a
real test of DR.. Arias' executive ability
and capacity to work. At that time he
must have remembered with sympathy
the theories of five-hour or six-hour
days which modern socialists advocate.
He had to work IS hours a day on po-
htical and economic problems vital to
the nation. trying to straighten out the
chaos in which Panama had been con-
verted by the breakdown of the old sys-
tenn, and its long-standing privileges.
As DR.. Arias himself admits today,
only the cooperation and unanimous
support Of the people of Panama made
this tremendous task possible.
That he was successful, both In car
rylng Panama through those trying
days, and then in conducting United
States-Panama relations as Minister to
Washington in the next few months.
and that he lived up to the confidence
placed in him by the Panamanian peo-
pie. was clearly demonstrated last June,
when he was elected to head the desti-
mics of the Panama Republic for the
next four years.