File No. 839.00/1914
[Untitled]
Santo Domingo, August 25, 1916, 6 p.m.
Dominican Government contemplating sending commission to Washington. Strongly recommend Department to discourage this and I request that you instruct me to give out here that commissions will serve no useful purpose and that all negotiations must be carried out here. The President sent the Archbishop to me the other day and I prepared memorandum for the President to submit to you about as follows:
A decree reciting status quo encountered on assumption of office; that is, collection and disbursement of all the revenues by the Receivership; armed forces of the United States in military occupation of the principal places exercising military control; in view of preceding, recognizes as a modus vivendi the existing financial control and the practical uselessness of maintaining the regular army and Republican Guard, which are hereby disbanded and stricken from pay roll (verbal understanding being that funds thus accumulating may on his own responsibility be expended by the General Receiver of Customs on a rural constabulary to be organized along lines suggested by the United States); decree also to provide that negotiations defining treaty or amendments to convention covering these and all other matters submitted to be initiated within a month. The proposal is in that respect that on our part upon promulgation of decree we are merely to extend immediate recognition.