Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/326

 286 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO the expenditures of the funds of the institution, within the limits fixed by the budget, and shall, so far as possible, reduce such expenditures below the estimates of the budget. We think that such a committee should arrange to sit daily, or as often as required, and pass upon the requisitions of the departments. This suggestion was carried out and the Committee on Expendi- tures became a permanent force in the University history, making always for economy and efficiency. After these conferences were over Mr. Gates, in sending to the conferees copies of what had been said, appended a statement of such historical value, in what it says of the University's greatest benefactor, that it is reproduced in full. February 15, 1897 In reviewing this stenographic report, I am moved to add a few concluding words: In all that I have urged upon Dr. Harper and the Board at Chicago, from first to last, in the way of avoiding debt and deficit, I have faithfully represented Mr. Rockefeller's views. Nor has the emphasis of my representa- tions been an importation or exaggeration of my own. But, it does not follow from this that Mr. Rockefeller's conceptions of a university are, or ever have been, less broad than those, for instance, of Dr. Harper, or that his ideals of what the University of Chicago may become, are now, or ever have been, less expansive or magnificent. Before he had ever been approached in behalf of an institution at Chicago, he had visited great universities in our own and in foreign lands, and he had intimately contemplated for years the plan of an institution involving far greater expense than any now involved at Chicago. His conservatism is not now, nor has it ever been, due to any narrowness of conception. Nor have his prudence and caution arisen from any reluctance to contribute. The story of his gifts, so numerous, so ready, so vast, always leading and inspiring others, testifies to his willingness to give. Why then these frequent and earnest admonitions to avoid debt and deficit at any cost ? I reply, for one thing, in order that public confidence might be secured and maintained. The University has never put forth a treasurer's report, because, as the treasurer truly says, it has never dared to disclose to the public the facts. The public confidence is maintained only because the public is not informed as to the true situation. [This condition ended finally in the very year in which the above-described conference took place. Since that date the widest publicity has been given to the University's financial operations in annual budgets and annual reports of receipts, expenditures and assets. It has had no liabilities.] Instead of inviting funds [the statement continued], debt and deficit, if known, are the most certain means of destroying confidence