Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/235

 STUDENTS AND FACULTY 205 should such men move? They had positions for life, into which they had grown, where they had every possible tie to hold them homes, libraries, laboratories, friends. Their salaries were ample. They were, for the most part, in old, great, famous institutions, in whose distinction they participated. At the end of their period of service they were perhaps assured of retiring allowances that would provide for old age. Why should they change? Particu- larly, why should eminent teachers, thus situated, enter on a "hazard of new fortunes" by going to a new institution, organized on a new educational plan, or as Dr. A. H. Strong phrased it, "launched upon uncharted seas and with new methods of naviga- tion," an institution whose financial basis was wholly out of propor- tion to the vastness of the educational scheme, and whose future, therefore, was uncertain? It seems strange that many of the best men in the country, notwithstanding the fact that all these things were true, were moved by President Harper's approaches. There was a strong power of appeal in the plan and in the young President himself. But no sooner did it become known that pro- fessors had been approached and were thinking of Chicago than every influence was brought to bear to hold them in their places and set them against the new institution. Chicago was declared to be a "bubble." Its funds were ridiculed as totally inadequate. It was prophesied that salaries would not be paid. In the report of Mr. Gates, made to Mr. Rockefeller February i, 1892, he says of the institutions from which head professors were being sought: They are ridiculing our modest beginnings and using every influence against us in private and in public. It is a miracle that Harper has been able, in the face of all, to touch some of their best men. The amount of downright perse- cution some of our men are enduring in their homes, as shown by their letters, fills me with wrath. Besides the nobler motives, I confess to the ignoble one of compelling these railers to meditate in silence on this thing. Under all these circumstances it was not to be wondered at that President Harper encountered very serious difficulties in securing head professors. Men who at first seemed ready to consider his proposals, later, under all the adverse pressure to which they were subjected, hesitated, and, in some cases, drew back. As the beginning of 1892, the year set for the opening, approached with