Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/89

 THE INCEPTION OF THE PLAN 63 other work, not, however, work that was more important. I shall be as disap- pointed as you will be if it has all gone for nothing. Hoping that brighter days may dawn, I remain, etc. There was one more letter before the outcome was known. It will be noted that it is in a very much more cheerful vein. NEW HAVEN May 7, 1889 MY DEAR FRIEND: Last Sunday Mr. Rockefeller came to Poughkeepsie and spent all day with me. The largest part of the day was occupied in conversation on educational matters. Of his own accord he introduced the subject and talked freely. He said at least a dozen times, "The next thing for us to do, and the correct thing for us to do, is to establish a College in Chicago." He expressed himself as satisfied with the report of the Committee in nearly every detail. He has only one or two changes which he expects to make, and that he is going to take hold of the Chicago University is as certain as that there is a God in heaven. I feel greatly encouraged. I think it is altogether safe to suppose that before the Anniversaries are over he will make a definite proposition Yours in great haste, W. R. HARPER The cheerful and hopeful tone of this letter was without doubt due to the change of attitude wrought in Mr. Rockefeller by the report of the Committee of Nine which had been laid before him. That report, in the light of subsequent history, is of extraordinary interest. The Committee planned as largely and liberally as it dared, and the following was the result. It was recommended that immediate steps be taken by the Education Society to found in Chicago "a well-equipped college, leaving any desirable further development to the natural growth of time." This recommendation was followed by thirteen others, the substance of which appears in the pages immediately following. What does not appear is the attempt of the Committee to show how fourteen hundred thousand dollars should be distributed over the period of the four years fixed upon for developing the college. The sum of three hundred and seventy thousand dollars was to be expended in buildings, and one million and forty thousand dollars was to be made an endowment for administration and instruction. Two laboratories with their equipment were to cost twenty-five thousand dollars each, as were also the four dormitories proposed.