Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/101

 THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVEMENT 75 they felt no hesitation. They had every right to call upon the Baptists of the country. They were the agents of a national organ- ization which had undertaken, in the name of the entire denomi- nation, to establish the new institution. The University of Chicago when established would offer its advantages to students from all the states. There was every reason why churches and Baptist men of wealth everywhere and particularly throughout the Middle West should co-operate liberally. At the same time there were serious obstacles in the way. The Baptists of Ohio were engaged in raising two hundred thousand dollars for Denison University. In Michigan they were trying to secure one hundred thousand dollars for Kalamazoo College. In Iowa they were seeking one hundred thousand dollars for Des Moines College. In Indiana they felt that they had their hands full in caring for the needs of Franklin College. Similar efforts were being made in other states. The outlook, in appealing to these states, was far from promising. Yet it was the next thing to do. It had to be done. On October i, 1889, therefore, the appeals to the country began. These appeals were made in letters and circulars distributed by the thousand, in visits to other cities and through the columns of the denominational press, particularly through The Standard of Chicago. The columns of The Standard were generously placed at the disposal of the secretaries and through them every corner of the West was reached and kept informed of the progress of the work. As the denomi- national organ at the center of the movement, it was in a position to render effective aid, and the secretaries could hardly have made it more useful in their work, if they had themselves owned the paper. In their first appeal to the country on October 3 they said : We have delayed making any public appeal to pastors and laymen out- side Chicago in the West until now, because we wished first to learn what part the brethren in Chicago would take in this great work. This we now know. The Baptists of Chicago will give two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the four hundred thousand necessary to be pledged. Two hundred thousand they have already given, and they will pledge, we think, fifty thousand more. After more than five hundred personal calls on the brethren of this city, we think no man can know the present financial strength of the Chicago Baptists, individually and collectively, more accurately than we know it. Our four hundred thousand dollars is simply not here. God has not given that sum of