Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/452

 398 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO city on this continent, in no other city in the round world could there have been accomplished what you have accomplished. I remember in the begin- ning, in conversation with your President, I was to have the relation of a silent partner. The gentlemen who are accustomed to business terms know that in business we have two partnerships, the one a general copartnership and the other a special partnership. In this firm, which has now assumed such great importance, I was to be the silent partner. I have it to say with pleasure that the covenant which was made with me has been kept five, six, seven years, more or less. I have nothing against the President. He got me here, but I assure you that nothing could give me greater pleasure than to look into your faces and contemplate what you have done. I want to thank your Board of Trustees, your President, and all who have shared in this most wonderful beginning. It is but a beginning, and you are going on; you have the privilege to complete it, you and your sons and daughters. I believe in the work. It is the best investment I ever made in my life. Why shouldn't people give to the University of Chicago money, time, their best efforts ? Why not ? It is the grandest opportunity ever presented. Where were gathered, ever, a better Board of Trustees, a better faculty? I am profoundly, profoundly thankful that I had anything to do with this affair. The good Lord gave me the money, and how could I withhold it from Chicago ? When Mr. Rockefeller, referring to what had already been done, said "It is but a beginning," the audience broke out into great applause. Quick to see the inference they were drawing, the instant the applause subsided he continued, "and you are going on; you have the privilege to complete it." For a moment the people felt the entire burden of the future of the University had been rolled from the Founder's shoulders upon theirs. The concluding sentences indeed reassured them. But they had learned that Mr. Rockefeller was too wise to commit himself by any implied promises. The incident was entirely characteristic. When Mr. Rockefeller gave he gave liberally and definitely, but he did not commit him- self, by implication or otherwise, to anything more. He did not mortgage the future. For nearly nine years after the opening of the University a religious service was held every Sunday, the addresses being given by speakers secured from time to time as opportunity offered. As time went on it was more and more strongly felt that, as the President said at the Summer Convocation in 1901, "the public services were not securing the attendance of students and faculty, nor ministering to their religious needs in an adequate way." In