The claim of the San Domingo Improvement Company was secured by a protocol between the American and Dominican governments. When the San Domingo Improvement Company was ousted from the custom-houses in 1901, it immediately appealed to the State Department in Washington. The State Department counselled a private settlement and negotiations with the Dominican government dragged on for almost two years. The Improvement Company claimed no less than $11,000,000 for the bonds it held or controlled, for its interest in the railroad from Puerto Plata to Santiago, for its shares of the extinct National Bank of Santo Domingo which it had purchased at the government's request, and for the settlement of a long list of minor claims. Arbitration was suggested by the Company, but the Dominican government finally offered a round sum of $4,500,000 and the offer was accepted. It is probable that the Republic fared better under this compromise than if the case had been submitted to arbitration, for though the Improvement Company's demands were greatly exaggerated, its position toward the government was that of a careful creditor who has kept minute account of all transactions as against a spendthrift debtor who has squandered his property with little or no record of his expenditures. By a protocol signed January 31, 1903, the Dominican government formally agreed to pay the sum of $4,500,000, leaving details to be settled by a board of arbitrators to be designated by the American and Dominican governments. The board met in Washington and rendered its award under date of July 14, 1904. It fixed the interest on the debt at four per cent per annum and designated the custom-houses of Puerto Plata, Sanchez, Samana and Monte Cristi as security for the debt. In the event of failure by the Dominican government to pay any of the monthly instalments specified, a financial agent, appointed by the United States, was authorized to enter into possession of the Puerto Plata custom-house, and if its revenues proved insufficient to take possession also of the other custom-houses designated. The Dominican government never made any payments and the financial agent took possession of the Puerto Plata custom-house in October, 1904. Most of the other claims comprised in the liquidated debt had their origin in advances made to the government--often bearing interest at two or three per cent a month, or even more--and in indemnity claims for revolutionary damages. In making the liquidations, musty credits and a generous amount of compound interest were generally included and it was usually provided that the sums so agreed upon were themselves to bear interest. The greater portion of these claims was held by foreigners, Italian, German, Spanish and American holdings predominating. Payments, more or less feeble, were made in many cases on account of principal or interest up to 1903, but in that year, when the government was reduced to desperate straits in combatting