The use of the word "Panama" here refers to the various scandals which arose in French political circles over the original efforts to construct the Panama Canal. If the present form of the Protocols had been written at a later date they might have referred to the "Marconi wireless" scandals in England--though on second thought, they would not have done so because certain men were involved who were not Gentiles. Herzl, the great Jewish Zionist leader, uses the expression in "The Jewish State." Speaking of the management of the business of Palestine he says that the Society of the Jews "will see to it that the enterprise does not become a Panama but a Suez." That the same expression should occur in Herzl and in the Protocols is significant; it has also another significance, which will be described at another time. It must be clear to the reader, however, that no one writing for the general public at this day would refer to a "Panama" in a man's past. The reference would not be understood. It is this practice of holding a man under obligation which makes it needful on the part of the true publicist to tell the truth and the whole truth about aspirants for public office. It is not enough to say of a candidate that he "began as a poor boy" and then became "successful." How did he become successful? How explain the "rise" of his fortunes? Sometimes the clue leads deep into the domestic life of the candidate. It may be told of a man, for example, that he helped another out of a scrape by marrying the woman involved, and received a sum of money for doing so. It may be told of another that he was implicated by his too friendly relations with another's wife, but was relieved of his predicament by the astute diplomacy of powerful friends, to whom thereafter he felt himself in debt of honor. It is strange that, in American affairs at least, the woman-note is predominant. In our higher offices that has more frequently occurred than any other, oftener than the money-note. In European countries, however, where the fact of a man's being entangled illegitimately with a woman does not carry so heavy a stamp of shame with it, the controlled men have been found to have "pasts" of another character.