From
that time on the Dominican Republic was in fact a protectorate of the
United States, though neither American nor Dominican statesmen would
have admitted it. The modus vivendi of 1905 and the fiscal convention
of 1907 gave expression, in part, to relations actually existing.
A peculiar feature of the matter is that, except for a few very brief
intervals, neither the United States nor the Dominican Republic has
desired closer political relations and each country has done
everything in its power to avoid them. The 1907 convention was
approved in the United States Senate with only one vote to spare, and
many of its supporters favored it principally because it was expected
to obviate the necessity of further American intervention in Dominican
affairs. It was believed that with the custom-houses removed from the
political game the receipts and prosperity of the country would grow,
revolutionists would no longer be able to finance uprisings, and civil
wars would cease. The convention did indeed augment the country's
revenues and prosperity, but it could not prevent uprisings entirely
nor remove their causes.
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