Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/173

Rh are looking so much better, do you not think that I might afford to bring back my housekeeper?" Her servants then were her secretary, her Chinese cook, and an old man, a servant of other days, who served as butler, without salary.

It was in these days, too, that Mrs. Stanford, going to Washington to settle up the household affairs of the mansion occupied while Mr. Stanford was senator, took four hundred dollars with her, lived in the private car owned by the Governor, attended to the packing of her goods, and the rental of her house to a senator from New York, and brought back $340 of the amount, which she turned over to me, to be used for the university. I have given this and other details private and personal, but full of meaning as showing her devotion to the university, and her utter unselfishness in carrying out the plans made by herself and her husband for the welfare of the men and women of the coming generations of California and of the world. While matters inside the faculty and the details of instruction were left to those supposed to be experts in these lines, for this was her husband's wish, she had always before her his purposes. "What would Mr. Stanford do under these conditions?" was always her first question; and in almost every instance this question led to a wise decision.

To outside suggestions as to this or that, she used to reply: "I will never concern myself with the religion, the politics or the love affairs of any professor in Stanford University." And this resolution she religiously kept.

With the passing of the government suit, conditions looked brighter. The payment of the eight millions went on very slowly, because the railway holdings could not be broken and must be sold as a whole if at all. The taxes on properties yielding no income became an intolerable burden. Besides, it was apparent that the original enabling act under which the Board of Trustees was organized contained grave defects, which might invalidate the actions of this Board. For this reason, mainly, the Board of Trustees existed in name only, Mrs. Stanford being in fact the sole trustee.

In 1899 the railroad holdings were sold, to good advantage, thanks to the good offices of a well-known German banker whose name I am glad to speak, James Speyer, and the estate at once passed out of debt. Finally, piece by piece, it passed into Mrs. Stanford's hands, and each piece was at once deeded to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees was legalized by a change in the State Constitution. The university was by the same means relieved of part of the burden of its taxes. At the earliest possible moment, Mrs. Stanford again and in full transferred the whole estate to the board, reserving for herself a relatively small sum "to play with" as she said, but in fact to give her occupation and means to carry out in her own way other plans of strengthening the university and of helping mankind. The Board of