Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/201

FIRST STEPS IN EXPANSION 171 incurring a great debt, that we should begin with what we have and buy more when we need it, that for the next five years we shall need every dollar we can raise for buildings, library, apparatus, etc. Others feel that we ought now to provide grounds for the greatest university in the world, that we ought to have a greater front on the Plaisance, that the additional block will change the shape of the site immensely for the better, that we shall be blamed if we do not make adequate provision for the future, that five years from now the additional land will cost twice as much as at present, etc. Both sides are right in some respects and what to do is a most difficult question. On March 16, he wrote to his son: This month, so large a number of our Trustees are sick or absent that I can neither get a quorum of the Board, nor can I reach a quorum of any committee, so that everything is blocked. The grippe is here again this winter and thousands are down with it. It was fortunate for the outcome that everything was blocked for several weeks. President Harper meantime accepted the presi- dency and everyone was encouraged. It was known that he wanted a larger campus. The prospect of the designation of half a million or more dollars for a Graduate School of Science, the story of which follows, indicated to the Trustees that they were not planning largely enough. It became known that Mr. Ryerson was strongly in favor of an enlarged site, and the confidence of the Trustees in his judgment was already beginning to be great. Mr. Goodspeed wrote to President Harper April 14: I have just had a long talk with Mr. Ryerson. He has sketched a complete plan for the buildings to cover the entire three blocks and another to cover the four blocks. I can see that he and Mr. Hutchinson feel strongly that we ought to have the four. The matter came up for final disposition at a meeting held April 23. It was considered at length. The committee had reported at a meeting held April 1 1 that it was deemed unwise to attempt to obtain better terms from Mr. Field. Mr. Hutchinson urged the purchase of the fourth block, saying that in all the public institutions of Chicago the mistake had been committed of always making the plans on too small a scale and thus hampering future development, and urged that the site of the University should be made large enough to provide for the growth that was sure to come. When the vote was reached the Finance Committee was