No other country in the world calls in another nation to superintend its elections. When the first presidential election was held the United States took the initiative and demanded the right to supervise the balloting. Before the second election was held the President became ambitious to succeed himself, although the constitution provided that he could not do so. He thereupon decided to resign for a period of six months, in favor of one of his partisans, thinking that this would allow him to live up to the letter of the constitution even though he were violating its spirit in becoming a candidate for reelection. This situation was brought to the attention of the United States, and the President was politely but firmly informed that the subterfuge would not be permitted. When the election approached each side thought that the other was trying to win by fraud, and the United States was asked to referee the political battle. The City of Panama is famous for its wickedness. Men who have seen the seamy side of life in all of the big cities of the world declare that Panama is as bad as the worst of them. Until a few years ago bull-fighting was permitted, but the bulls were so poor and the fighters were such butchers that the Government finally outlawed this form of entertainment. Cock-fighting persists, and numerous cock pits are popular resorts every Sunday. Nowhere else can one witness a greater frenzy in betting than at one of these cocking mains. The backers of the rival birds nod their heads and place their bets so rapidly that it is more bewildering to the onlooker than the bidding at an auctioneer's junk sale. The prize ring has succeeded the bull ring in gratifying the Spaniard's thirst for gore, and scarcely a Sunday passes that there is not a prize fight in Panama. Few Americans who attend them come away without a feeling of disgust over the poor fighting, the brutality, and the trickery resorted to. While the Americans have done so much for public cleanliness in Panama and Colon, the masses seem to know little more about sanitary living today than before the Americans came. The stenches which greet the visitor in the native quarters are no less odorous than those encountered in other cities of tropical America. The bathtub is an unknown quantity among the masses. Most of the natives who live in the cities are engaged in some line of small trade. It may be that a shop has only a platter of sweetmeats and a few bottles of soda on ice, and that another has only a bushel of different kinds of tropical fruits, but out of the small sales large families manage in some way to exist. The markets open early in the morning. There is no spirit of rivalry among the market men, and they act usually as if they were conferring a favor upon the buyer. At the markets many Indians are encountered who bring their wares from the interior and offer them for sale. These usually consist of pottery, net bags, charcoal and the like.