Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/157

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 121 be permanent is fervently to be hoped. Our under standing with the Netherlands in 1908 was the logical sequel to a convention between our selves and the Dominican Republic of February 25, 1907, ratified in June and proclaimed in July. There had been trouble in the collection and appli cation of the customs revenues of San Domingo; and to obviate foreign interference for the payment of claims, the United States had undertaken in 1905 to administer the troubled finances of the country. Pending action by congress, a temporary arrangement was made in 1906, a special Commis sioner was appointed, and the treaty of 1907 fol lowed his report. Our Monroe Doctrine laid upon us this odd office of collecting and paying the debts of one South American nation, and it is to be hoped our responsibilities of this kind will not increase; in our foreign affairs there is no piece of equilib rium more unstable than the possible consequences of the Monroe Doctrine. Trouble in Cuba had compelled Mr. Taft, Sec retary of War, to go there on September 14, 1906, proclaim himself provisional governor and estab lish military rule. He was succeeded by Charles E. Magoon, an admirable, competent, much slandered and little recognized official. In his message to con gress of December 3, Mr. Roosevelt cautioned Cuba that, "if the elections became a farce, and if the insurrectionary habit becomes confirmed on the