Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/110

 84 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO two hundred thousand dollars in buildings and improvements within five years (and probably more than this); that these improvements would be begun within one year from June i, 1890; that they would be of a very high order; that a deed of the land would not be asked until these conditions, or such as he might impose were fulfilled; that every effort would be made to increase the endowments and equipments every year and to make a really great institution; and that he should suggest three or four men in whom he had confidence as members of the board of trustees. The secretaries next called on Mr. Field on January 15, 1890. The details of the interview are preserved in a letter written four days later to the writer's sons at college. The first thing Mr. Field said was this: "I have not yet made up my mind about giving you that ten acres. But I have decided one thing. If I give it to you, I shall wish you to make up the four hundred thousand dollars independ- ently of this donation." The secretaries assured him that this they could and would do. He then had his maps brought and indicated the tract he had in mind to give, lying on the southeast corner of Ellis Avenue and Fifty-sixth Street. The secretaries thought they saw that Mr. Field had really decided in his own mind to make the donation and therefore felt that they might safely urge him to do so. They asked if Mr. Gates might not telegraph Mr. Rockefeller that he had decided to give the site. He repeated that he was not quite ready to go so far as this. The secretaries then said: "Mr. Field, our work is really waiting for your decision. We are anxious to push it rapidly; indeed, we must do so; and if we can say that you have given us the site, it will help us immensely with every man we approach." After a moment's reflection, Mr. Field answered : "Well, I suppose I might as well decide it now as at any time. If the conditions are satisfactory, you may say that I will give this ten acres as the site." He pronounced the points made in the letter sent to him satis- factory and the secretaries accepted the condition named by him, viz., that they should go on and secure the full four hundred