Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/213

FIRST STEPS IN EXPANSION 183 came over and told me. An extraordinary impression has been made There have been, I suppose, more than a hundred references to the University in the papers of yesterday and today. The Post had an editorial Friday evening, "Chicago's Turn Next," to the effect that Chicago must now erect the University buildings. This was precisely the feeling the Trustees desired to see in Chicago. For a year past they had been looking for the right time and the right way to begin a movement to raise a considerable sum for buildings and other necessities. As early as April, 1891, they voted that plans should be inaugurated to secure five hundred thousand dollars for buildings. Tentative efforts were made in various directions. Half a dozen leads, that seemed full of promise, some of them of almost fabulous promise, were discovered and eagerly followed, but in the end led nowhere. Meantime on November 16, 1891, the trustees having found that the sum of half a milllion dollars was inadequate, voted that an immediate effort be made to raise one million dollars for grounds, buildings, and equipment. It was not, however, until February, 1892, that a real beginning was made by the offer of a chemical laboratory by Sidney A. Kent. On April 7 Marshall Field agreed to give a hundred thousand dollars on condition that a million was secured in sixty days. The condition was felt to be an impossible one, and two days later Mr. Field extended the time to ninety days. The following from Mr. Goodspeed to Mr. Gates shows what took place on the day the subscription was signed. The original pro- posal of Mr. Field had been made to President Harper. I send you the original of the letter which Mr. Field has signed. I thought I would copy it and then concluded it would interest you more to see what I originally prepared and the changes Mr. F. required. I tried to get till the 2oth of July, one hundred days, but he would consent to only ninety. I feel that a great deal has been gained by getting ninety instead of sixty. As a matter of fact everything had been won by securing this extension. The situation was desperate enough with ninety days. With only sixty it would have been hopeless. As it turned out, at the end of ninety days the impossible was actually accomplished. The incredible had come to pass. A million dollars was raised for education in ninety days. And Chicago did it. Fifty-three