Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/328

 288 A mSTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO December, 1901, he added another million dollars to the endow- ment, and in December, 1902, still another million, making a total up to that date of more than eight million dollars for endowment alone. Meantime since 1897 Mr. Rockefeller had given the follow- ing sums to provide against current expense deficits: for the three years from 1897 to 1900, two hundred thousand dollars each year; for 190x3-1901, two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars; for 1901-2, two hundred and fifty- three thousand dollars; for 1902-3, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and for 1903-4, two hundred and sixty-one thousand, a total of almost one million, six hundred thousand dollars for current expenses in seven years. The committee of the Trustees on the budget for 1904-5 con- sisted of President Harper, Martin A. Ryerson, president of the Board of Trustees, Jesse A. Baldwin, and Wallace Heckman, business manager. They went to New York in December, 1903, and held a conference with Mr. Rockefeller's representatives, Mr. Gates and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. This conference was deemed so important that a memorandum of it was drawn up embodying the views of all the conferees. After reciting that the proposed budget showed "a deficit of sixty thousand dollars more than last year," the memorandum proceeds as follows: This situation is not alone the result of steps taken by the University dur- ing the last twelve months, but is rather the outcome of forward steps initiated several years ago, the results of which, in added cost of maintenance of both grounds, buildings, and power plant, are now making themselves more fully felt. In all fairness it must be stated, as Mr. Gates has observed, that the New York Trustees [Mr. Gates and J. D. Rockefeller, Jr.] are as much re- sponsible for this situation as the Chicago Trustees, in view of the fact that all the forward steps which have been taken have been approved by them. Three years ago, in a conference similar to this, it was agreed, and was so reported to Mr. Rockefeller, that five million dollars of endowment would prevent an annual deficit. Since that time Mr. Rockefeller has contributed three million dollars toward endowment, with the result that today, instead of only two million dollars more of endowment being required to wipe out the deficit, we find that upward of six million dollars more are required to accomplish this end. It is therefore evident that the tendency, instead of being toward a decreased deficit, as we had all confidently hoped, has been steadily and alarmingly toward an increased deficit. This is true in spite of the fact that the policy toward which all the gentlemen represented in this