Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/543

 APPENDIX 475 formed a contract on the part of the Society with the subscriber. The Society announced in its official report that on the basis of these resolu- tions it would seek subscriptions. The resolutions were published for this purpose in the secular and religious press of Chicago; they were embodied in circulars and scattered in the pews of the churches, or sent broadcast by mail over the land. The gentlemen charged with raising the fund have made the resolutions the basis of their public and private appeals, and everywhere in the name of the Society have guaranteed the full discharge of the obligations and duties which they impose. The resolutions, therefore, are a contract, not only with Mr. Rockefeller, but with every one of the twelve or thirteen hundred subscribers to the fund. All the acts of the Education Society in relation to the institution have been in pursuance of these resolutions. The first resolution reads as follows: 1. Resolved, That this Society take immediate steps toward the founding of a well-equipped college in the city of Chicago. It need only be remarked here that it has never been the purpose of the Society to seek to limit the institution to the work of a college. It has been hoped and believed that a good college located in this city would naturally and inevitably develop into a great unviersity. Legal provision for such development is made in your articles of incorporation. But from the first it has been believed that the enlargement would be effected naturally by the inherent life of the institution and would by no means require the fostering care of the Society. The Society undertook only so much as seemed indispensable for it to do; that was, to found a college on a solid basis. It is for a college pure and simple, therefore, that the funds have been subscribed. Mr. Rockefeller made his pledge "toward an endowment fund for a college to be established in Chicago." The other subscriptions are limited likewise. They can properly be used only for a college. For this purpose alone the appeal has been made throughout the canvass. We have announced that other depart- ments of instruction, if founded, would be supported by other funds. In considering the question of founding preparatory departments or acade- mies in Chicago, it will be necessary to decide whether current usage in the West recognizes these as integral parts of a college. The second resolution is: 2. Resolved, That the institution be located in the city of Chicago, and not in a suburban village. In accordance with this resolution the Executive Board has secured a site within the corporate limits of the city.