Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/70

 44 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO his securing the action of his executive board quoted above, were essential and determining factors in preparing the way for the coming of the University of Chicago. One needs only to ask what the course of events would have been had he decided that no institution was needed in Chicago to realize that everything hinged on his decision. In his appoint- ment as secretary of the Education Society the long work of preparation was accomplished. When he reached his decision as to the first thing to be done, a great forward step was taken in the founding of the University of Chicago.