Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/97

 THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVEMENT 71 WHEREAS, John D. Rockefeller, of the city of New York, has subscribed six hundred thousand dollars of said sum upon condition, among others, that the whole amount of said one million dollars is subscribed, Now therefore, in consideration of the premises, and each and every sub- scription to said object, we the undersigned agree to pay to the American Baptist Education Society, for the purpose aforesaid, and upon the condition that the full sum of one million dollars is subscribed therefor, the sums set opposite our respective names, on the first day of June, 1890: Provided that each subscriber may pay five (5) per cent of his subscription in cash on the first day of June, 1890, and the balance as follows five (5) per cent of said subscription every ninety days; or ten (10) per cent of said subscription in cash June i, 1890, and the balance as follows: ten (10) per cent every six months; or twenty (20) per cent of said subscription in cash June i, 1890, and the balance as follows: twenty (20) per cent yearly; said deferred payments to be evidenced by promissory notes and to draw interest from June i, 1890, at the rate of six per cent per annum. Names Addresses Amounts Remarks This form of subscription was employed through most of the campaign, though toward the close of the year a somewhat shorter form was used. The committee at the same meeting appointed T. W. Goodspeed corresponding and financial secretary to co-operate with F. T. Gates, corresponding secretary of the Edu- cation Society in raising the required fund. Upon Mr. Gates's proposing that the beginning of the subscription be made at once, E. Nelson Blake led the way with twenty-five thousand dollars, and others followed until fifty thousand had been subscribed, which, with fifty thousand previously pledged, enabled the secre- taries to begin the movement with one-fourth of the total secured. They began their work together on June 15, 1889. Mr. Gates removed his headquarters to Chicago, gave up everything else, and devoted himself for the succeeding year to this one under- taking. The first step taken was the issuing of a preliminary statement and appeal which was distributed in the congregations of churches in Chicago and sent to twelve hundred pastors throughout the West. This being done, the secretaries settled down to the real work of personal solicitation. They went everywhere together. It was Mr. Goodspeed's task, after a day's work of solicitation was over, to prepare a list of twenty or thirty persons to be visited