Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/377

 FURTHER EXPANSION 331 through all the generations would enjoy the benefits of such a benefaction. The poor throughout the crowded districts of our city would be more directly benefited in this way than in any other. Men of learning tell us that we are only entering upon the field of medical science. If this is true, what greater boon to humanity than a foundation which shall make possible more rapid progress, more extensive achievement ? .... I do not have in mind an institution of charity, or an institution which shall devote itself merely to the education of a man who shall be an ordinary physician; but rather an institution which shall occupy a place beside the two or three such institutions that already exist in our country, one whose aim it shall be to push forward the boundaries of medical science, one in which honor and distinction will be found for those only who make contributions to the cause of medical science, one from which announcements may be sent from time to time so potent in their meaning as to stir the whole civilized world. There is no other work which will lift our beloved city of Chicago more quickly to a place of honor and esteem among the cities of the world. There is no other deed, the advantage of which would accrue more directly or more abundantly to this city of which we are so justly proud. I plead, men and women of Chicago, for a School of Medi- cine which shall be equal to any that today exists; for an institution which will draw from all parts of the world men and women who shall find incentive and opportunity to do something for the mitigation of human suffering, for the amelioration of human life. This statement is quoted here to indicate how near to Presi- dent Harper's heart was the desire to see a medical institution of the highest order established in connection with the University. It was only one among the many pleas he made for such an institution. But it was perhaps the most extended. It is given thus fully also as a message from him to men and women of wealth in our country. By a strange coincidence this great subject was also, at the time these words were spoken, very much in the thoughts and purposes of Mr. Rockefeller. He was thinking of a great institution for medical research. His plans had not matured and President Har- per had no knowledge of them. The latter was anxious that the University should have some connection with medical education. The receiving of Rush Medical College as the Medical School of the University had been considered in 1894, but decided negatively. When an affiliation was proposed some years later it was received with favor. President Harper wished to make some sort of a beginning in Medicine, and in 1898 the proposed affiliation was