Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Offices of the General Customs Receivership,
Santo Domingo, 1907
Courtesy National Archives
police powers necessary in the region to ensure that creditors
would be adequately repaid. United States military forces had
intervened several times between 1900 and 1903, primarily to
prevent the employment of warships by European governments
seeking immediate repayment of debt. In June 1904, the
Roosevelt administration negotiated an agreement whereby
the Dominican government bought out the holdings of the San
Domingo Improvement Company. Then, following an intermediate
agreement, the Morales government ultimately signed a
financial accord with the United States in February 1905.
Under this accord, the United States government assumed
responsibility for all Dominican debt as well as for the collection
of customs duties and the allocation of those revenues to
the Dominican government and to the repayment of its domestic
and foreign debt. Although parts of this agreement were
rejected by the United States Senate, it formed the basis for the
establishment in April 1905 of the General Customs Receivership,
the office through which the United States government
administered the finances of the Dominican Republic.
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