Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/315

THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS BENEFACTORS 275 million dollars were contributed by other givers in addition to the nearly thirty-five million given by Mr. Rockefeller. The larger part of this came from Chicago. The Trustees of the University contributed among them nearly one million, four hundred thousand dollars. Not content with giving an extraordinary amount of time and attention to the exacting duties connected with the organization, expansion, and management of the University, they contributed to it this great sum of money. The story of the earlier benefactions of Mr. Rockefeller has already been told. These gifts, however, were only the beginning. As they continued year after year, the wonder of them grew. They were so much a part of the history of the University that the record of them cannot be omitted. In telling the story many things will be recorded which will be entirely new to all the readers of this book except the very few who took part in the events. The record of these events is given because it is essential to a full history of Mr. Rockefeller's benefactions and a full understanding of his extraordi- nary magnanimity. The summer of 1893 was the most trying, financially, in the history of the University. Nothing had been added to the Ryerson Fund. This will not be wondered at in the light of what the President said in the Convocation statement of October, at the opening of the second Autumn Quarter: During the three months which have elapsed since our separation, our country has passed through a financial crisis, the real character of which is only appreciated by those who have been under the necessity of carrying large financial responsibility. A prediction made six months ago, that a time was near at hand when the strongest banks in the country would refuse to pay in currency the legitimate demands made upon them, would have been regarded as absurd. Men who have had long financial experience, and who have been in a position to understand the situation, tell us that the country has not known anything so serious in its financial history. State universities with large sums of money in the bank were compelled to postpone payments because of their inability to secure the money which had been appropriated and set aside for them. Great railway corporations found themselves in distress because of inability to secure the currency with which to provide for their payrolls However strong the institution, whatever the character of its securities, a thing impossible to obtain was currency; not even government bonds would procure it. It is a source of gratification to those who have had in charge the financial