Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/229

 STUDENTS AND FACULTY 199 to secure him. But more surprising still was his failure to close with the man who gave him these assurances: If you care to put that department into my hands, I will guarantee to make it the best on this continent, or anywhere else for that matter, both in teaching and publications. Now this was just what the President wanted all his departments to be, and yet, strangely enough, he allowed this educational wonder also to slip through his fingers. These specimens of the applications received are not quoted as fairly representing the mass of those submitted. They do not. They are only caricatures. There is every reason for saying that the great majority of those who applied for positions were scholars who felt that the new University opened a larger field than their own schools furnished for advancement and usefulness. They approached the President without any sacrifice of self-respect. Their letters gave every indication that they were scholars. Their recommendations gave every assurance of their ability to teach. Five hundred and seventy-six of these applications have been examined by the writer. In addition to these letters very large numbers of personal interviews were sought and applications made of which no written account remains. There can be no doubt that more than a thousand persons, men and women, applied for positions on the faculty. The requests for other positions, positions of every sort and description, were multitudinous. Applicants thronged the University offices in the spring of 1892, so that atten- tion to ordinary business became impossible. The motto of the Secretary ceased to be "the man who wants to see me is the man I want to see." In March, 1892, just before the great campaign for the million dollars in ninety days began, Mr. Gates visited the office in Chicago and protested vigorously against the way in which the tune of President Harper and the Secretary was being wasted by the constant stream of applicants. On his return to New York he wrote a long letter to the Secretary on the subject, some quota- tions from which will illustrate the situation: I do not think that either yourself or Dr. Harper should be "at home" in that office at all The Board should pass a rule that all applicants for positions, either for themselves or friends, .... must present their