Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/141

THE FIRST PRESIDENT 113 cated to Messrs. Gates, Northrup, and Smith, covering eleven points. Only those relating to the Yale matter are here quoted: I have just returned from a three-hour interview with Mr. R He agreed that, everything considered, I would better stay at New Haven for a period not exceeding five years, if I could so arrange it. He would like the arrangement to be for only three years at most. He thought that from there, as a member of a committee, or otherwise, I could do as much as if I were to go to Chicago for these first five years. He is settled in the conviction that I must drop enough other work to make it possible to do the Chicago work. He was never before so kind, nor so interested, nor so anxious to do just the right thing. Interesting questions are suggested by this interview. Did Dr. Harper by that compelling charm, well known to his friends, so warp the judgment of a man of great sanity of mind and extraor- dinary practical wisdom as to make the worse appear the better reason ? Or, not having fully decided as yet what he would do for Chicago, did Mr. Rockefeller wish to hold his option retain his liberty of wholly untrammeled action? Perhaps both questions may be answered with a qualified affirmative. The result of the interview, at all events, was a happy one for Chicago. The Yale propositions were accepted, but in such a way that Dr. Harper did not feel bound to remain indefinitely with that institution. It was understood by him that in the meantime he was to give a good deal of service to Chicago. He was thus, in a measure, committed to Chicago. On the other hand it was understood that the Chicago matter was going through, and it could not go through without Mr. Rockefeller. On the whole it may be said that this interview sensibly advanced the Chicago enterprise, assuring it somewhat more positively of both the patron and the president it wanted. From this date, January, 1889, the question of the presidency was wholly in abeyance for many months. The question was, should there be any institution at all. But no sooner was the money raised for the foundation of the new University than that question came again, at once, to the front. It was now a live ques- tion. On June n, 1890, Mr. Goodspeed again brought the matter before Dr. Harper. If you come to preside over the University you will have boundless scope. You do not need to be told that it is my dearest wish that you should do this.