Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/325

 THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS BENEFACTORS 285 Much more was urged along this line and Mr. Gates said in response: You have made, in brief compass, a forcible plea in justification of the general policy of expansion which the University has pursued. Of course, Mr. Rockefeller is familiar with this clear and forcible line of presentation. I believe I have faithfully represented your views and the views of Dr. Harper, and of the Board generally, to him, along these lines. Moreover he has visited the University, and the magnitude of the institution and the vast sums of money that have come to it from citizens of Chicago are well known to him. This policy of expansion .... involved, of necessity, in order to save the large funds already contributed by him, and to save the institution from ruin, three or four millions from himself, and not only was he not consulted on the policy which rendered these immense gifts from him compulsory, but every injunction he gave, in advance, was on distinctly the opposite lines of pro- cedure. I am giving you now Mr. Rockefeller's own view of the situation as I understand it. He made these contributions. He made them cheerfully, not- withstanding what I have said before. I am speaking now of the contributions up to and including the last contribution of three millions. He had, or thought he had, every reason to believe that the policy of the University in the way of expansion would not go beyond that point. After fifteen or eighteen months, he is confronted again with a situation showing a larger deficit than was shown before, notwithstanding his contributions to decrease the same. There has been in the past no way of meeting these deficits except by appeal to Mr. Rockefeller. The present appeal indicates that there is no way of meeting the deficit except by appeal to him. The institution has proceeded on the plan of enlargement apparently trusting to Mr. Rockefeller to make up deficits, not only without consulting Mr. Rockefeller in advance as to whether he would meet the enlargements, but in the face of his understanding that all hands were to bend toward reducing the deficit rather than increasing the same One of the misfortunes of the present situation is that in every instance, within recent years, in which the University of Chicago has appealed to Mr. Rockefeller for funds, the appeal has not been for new enterprises about to be undertaken, in which he might exercise his judgment as to whether they should or should not be undertaken, but the appeal has been, in every instance, to make up deficits already created, to meet exigencies in which the University is committed, and from which, if it be not extricated, it will suffer irreparable damage In the course of the discussion, continued through many hours Mr. Rust made a suggestion in the interest of controlling and limiting expenditures: The President, the secretary, and the comptroller should be constituted a committee to be called the Committee on Expenditures, which shall supervise