Office of the Historian

File No. 839.00/1548.

Agreement between the U. S. Peace Commission and the Provisional President of the Dominican Republic relating to the election of a regular President and Congress.

Santo Domingo, D. R.,
September 8, 1914.

At an interview held today on board the Prairie between the Commission appointed by the President of the United States and Dr. Ramón Báez, Provisional President of the Dominican Republic, it was agreed—

1.
That the election of a regular President and Congress shall be held throughout the Dominican Republic on Sunday and Monday, October 18th and 19th, 1914, and that such an election shall be called forthwith by the Provisional President and proper notice thereof given.
2.
That at said election the office of Vice-President shall not be mentioned or voted for.
3.
That at said election there shall be observers at all the voting places of the primary assemblies, who shall be designated by the U. S. Commission and be allowed free access to all said voting places and full opportunity to observe the casting, counting and return of said vote. Representatives of its own choosing may be used by the United States for this purpose in accordance with the Wilson plan, in such numbers as in the judgment of the United States Commission may be deemed requisite and necessary.
4.
That the Constitution of 1908 shall be observed in all particulars in connection with said election and that the election law now existing, except as the same may be modified by a decree of the Provisional President, is to stand. But no change in the election law is to be made that will be in conflict with the Constitution nor unless approved by the Commission.

  • John Franklin Fort,
    President U. S. Peace Commission.
  • Dr. Báez,
    Presidente de la República Dominicana.

Witnesses:
  • Ch. Cogswell Smith,
    Sec. U. S. Peace Commission.
  • Enrique Jiménez,
    Secretary of Interior.