at would have given a monopoly of the insurance business
to a Cuban company to the detriment of American firms.

After the election of Mario Menocal, the Conservative candidate, to the
presidency in 1912, another occasion for intervention presented itself.
An amnesty bill, originally drafted for the purpose of freeing the
colored insurgents and other offenders, was amended so as to empower
the retiring President to grant pardon before trial to persons whom
his successor wished to prosecute for wholesale corruption in financial
transactions. Before the bill passed, however, notice was sent from
Washington that, since the American Government had the authority to
supervise the finances of the republic, Gomez would better veto the
bill, and this he accordingly did.

A sharp struggle arose when it became known that Menocal would be a
candidate for reelection. The Liberal majority in the Congress passed
a bill requiring that a President who sought to succeed himself should
resign two months before the elections. When Menocal vetoed this
measure, his opponents demanded that the United States supervise the
elections. As the result of the elections was doubtful, Gomez and his
followers resorted in 1917 to the usual insurrection; whereupon the
American Government warned the rebels that it would not recognize their
claims if they won by force. Active aid from that quarter, as well as
the capture of the insurgent leader, caused the movement to collapse
after the electoral college had decided in favor of Menocal.

In the Dominican Republic disturbances were frequent, notwithstanding
the fact that American officials were in charge of the customhouses and
by their presence were expected to exert a quieting influence. Even
the adoption, in 1908, of a new constitution which provided for the
prolongation of the presidential term to six years and for the abolition
of the office of Vice President--two stabilizing devices quite common
in Hispanic countries where personal ambition is prone to be a source of
political trouble--did not help much to restore order. The assassination
of the President and the persistence of age-long quarrels with Haiti
over boundaries made matters worse. Thereupon, in 1913, the United
States served formal notice on the rebellious parties that it would
not only refuse to recognize any Government set up by force but would
withhold any share in the receipts from the customs. As this procedure
did not prevent a revo