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 Peabody 
 Perfecting of the Promise
 
 ^'^4^'^'' 
 
 LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 
 1914 TRUSTEES' SERIES NO. 25 
 
 THE PERFECTING OF THE PROMISE 
 
 A SERMON BY 
 REV. FRANCIS G. PEABODY, D. D. 
 
 March 1, 1914, Commemorating the Ninth Anniversary of the Death 
 of Jane Lathrop Stanford 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY 
 HON. WILLIAM W. MORROW, LL. D. 
 
 Founders* Day, March 9, 1914 
 
 STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 1914
 
 LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 
 
 TRUSTEES' SERIES 
 
 Na. Date. 
 
 1. The Leland Stanford Junior University. A 
 
 pamphlet of information (No date) 
 
 2. Address of Jane Lathrop Stanford to the Board 
 
 of Trustees February 1 1, 1897 
 
 3. Address of Jane Lathrop Stanford to the Board 
 
 of Trustees June i, 1897 
 
 4. Address of Jane Lathrop Stanford to the Board 
 
 of Trustees May 31, 1899 
 
 5. Address of Jane Lathrop Stanford to the Board 
 
 of Trustees October 3. 1902 
 
 6. Address on "The Right of Free Speech," by Jane 
 
 La'throp Stanford to the Board of Trustees April 25, 1903 
 
 7. Petition filed in proceedings to establish and con- 
 
 strue University Trusts June 16, 1903 
 
 8. Decree in proceeding to establish and construe 
 
 University Trusts July 3, 1903 
 
 9. Inaugural address of Jane Lathrop Stanford as 
 
 President of the Board of Trustees July 6, 1903 
 
 10. Organization of the Faculty of the University. .. .March 31, 1904 
 
 11. Report of the Organization Committee of the 
 
 Trustees upon the Organization of the Uni- 
 versity Faculty March 31, 1904 
 
 12. First Annual Report of the President December 31, 1905 
 
 13. Second Annual Report of the President April 30, 1906 
 
 14. Third Annual Report of the President December 31, 1906 
 
 15. Fourth Annual Report of the President December 31, 1907 
 
 16. Trustees' Manual November i, 1908 
 
 17. Fifth Annual Report of the President December 31, 1908 
 
 18. Sixth Annual Report of the President December 31, 1909 
 
 19. Seventh Annual Report of the President December 31, 1910 
 
 20. Eighth Annual Report of the President December 31, 1911 
 
 21. Ninth Annual Report of the President December 31, 1912 
 
 22. Addresses of Timothy Hopkins, Emmet Rixford 
 
 and David Starr Jordan at the Dedication of 
 
 the Lane Medical Library Building January i, 1913 
 
 23. Tenth Annual Report of the President July 31, 1913 
 
 24. Addresses at the Installation of John Casper 
 
 Branner, LL.D., as President of the Uni- 
 versity October i, 1913 
 
 25. The Perfecting of the Promise, a sermon by Rev. 
 
 Francis G. Peabody, D. D., March i, 1914, 
 commemorating the ninth anniversary of the 
 death of Jane Lathrop Stanford; The Found- 
 ers of the University, an address by Hon. 
 William W. Morrow, LL. D., Founders' 
 Day, March 9, 1914 July 31, 1914
 
 LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 
 
 1914 TRUSTEES' SERIES NO. 25 
 
 THE PERFECTING OF THE PROMISE 
 
 A SERMON BY 
 REV. FRANCIS G. PEABODY, D. D. 
 
 March I, 1914, Commemorating the Ninth Anniversary of the Death 
 of Jane Lathrop Stanford 
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY 
 HON. WILLIAM W. MORROW, LL D. 
 
 Founders' Day, March 9, 1914 
 
 STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 1914
 
 
 THE PERFECTING OF THE PROMISE 
 
 The anniversary of the death of Jane Lathrop Stanford, on Febru- 
 ary 28, 1905, was observed on Sunday, March i, 1914, by a service in 
 the Memorial Church, at which the Rev. Dr. Francis G. Peabody, special 
 preacher at the university, delivered ihe followinq- sermon ou "The Per- 
 fecting' of the I'romise": 
 
 "These all, having- obtained a good rejiort ihrcnigh faith, received not 
 the promise : God having jirovided some better thing- for us, that they 
 without us should not be made perfect." — Hebrews XT. 39-40. 
 
 This splendid chapter on the heroes of Faith, after describing the 
 great procession of witnesses from the days of Abel and Abraham to 
 the days of David and the Prophets, ends wdth what may be called a 
 Philosophy of History, a Law of Evolution, which links the Present 
 with the Past. There is, acc(n-ding- to this jirofound and original 
 thinker, a relation of reciprocity between successive g-enerations. a 
 mutual dependence, which makes the Present a fidfilhnent of the Past, 
 and the Past an anticipation of the Present. On the one hand, the 
 present looks back to the past, and out of all its achievenients and 
 distinctions recalls as most creative and redemptive the ventures of 
 its faith. By faith Abraham went out, not knowing wdiither he went. 
 By faith Moses forsook Egypt as seeing Him who is invisible. By 
 faith kingdoms were subdued, righteousness was wrought, weakness 
 was made strong and armies were turned to flight, ^^'hat seemed at 
 the time a national migration, or a revolt from Pharaoh, or a war 
 with the Philistines, disclosed itself to the pliilosophic historian as a 
 victory of faith, a ventm-e into the unknown, an invasion of political 
 or economic life by s]iiritual power. That was what gave dignity 
 and significance to the history of Israel. These all had obtained 
 their good report through faith. 
 
 That is one side of the doctrine of reciprocity. But the other is 
 set forth with equal clearness. "These all," the Chapter proceeds, 
 "though they were thus witnesses of faith, received not the promise, 
 God having provided better things for us that they without us should 
 
 661977
 
 4 lA'laiid Stanford Junior l^nivcrsily 
 
 not be made ])crfcct." The perfectini^ of their faith, in other \vr)rds. 
 was to be made in the fideHty of their descendants. The promise of 
 the Past had to be kept by the service of the Present. Good as were 
 the things which the Elders might do, God had provided better things 
 for lis, in the justifying and ampHfying of their faith. Without us 
 their sacrifices and conflicts were but intimations and prophecies of 
 what might be. The past needs the present as much as the present 
 needs the past. It is all one world, where each gallant deed of the 
 past becomes by degrees detached from its immediate circumstances, 
 and recognized as a venture of faith ; and w'here again each honorable 
 service of the present interprets and fulfills the imperfect efforts of the 
 past. This is the spiritual heredity which gives to human victory its 
 moral continuity. The evolution of society unfolds before the stu- 
 dents' mind as an organic and interdependent life. 
 
 Now, nowhere is this reciprocity of the Past and Present more 
 conspicuous or more effective than in a university. The associated 
 life of teachers and students seems on its surface to be the most fluid 
 and shifting of relationships. The classes come and go. The staff of 
 teachers changes from year to year. The stream of academic life 
 flows by one as he watches it and bears with it all that is familiar, 
 so that when he returns to a university after a few years of absence, 
 he walks as a stranger among buildings and methods of instruction, 
 and youthful faces, which did not, in his day, exist. And yet, below 
 this superficial changefulness there is a deeper continuity and unity 
 which makes a university, to one who has lived in it and loved it, 
 always the same. The eddies and ripples on its surface pass, but it 
 is the same stream flowing in the same channel, and one may sit on 
 its bank and dream the same dreams. The family-circle widens as 
 new classes claim their heritage, but it is the same Alma Alater who 
 is the parent of all. In fact, it is one of the most curious experiences 
 in life to discover that the longer one lives the more he loves his uni- 
 versity. Other bonds of intimacy grow weaker as time and distance 
 put their strain on one's affections, but this tie of relationship has the 
 almost unique quality of growing firmer and more compelling with the 
 passing of the years. The older one grows the more romantic and 
 poetic seem those vanished days of youth. The university, with all 
 the external ' changes which make it seem another world, remains to 
 its oldest srraduates the same centre of loval affection.
 
 The Perfectin,^" of tlie Promise 5 
 
 What is the secret of this academic continuity which binds together 
 the passing generations in undiminished attachment? It is to be 
 found in that spiritual reciprocity of which the Apostle to the Hebrews 
 writes. On the one hand is the discovery that the strength of a uni- 
 versity depends, not on its buildings or its endowments, or even its in- 
 struction, but on the perpetuation of a tradition, on the inheritance of 
 a sentiment, on a gradually accumulated and perpetuated ideal of life, 
 which the new-comer may only dimly appreciate or accept, but which 
 creates the atmosphere he breathes, sustains him even while he is un- 
 conscious of its presence, and finally, as it becomes recognized, 
 strengthens and steadies his whole later life. "A university," one of 
 the most honored university administrators, President Gilman of 
 Johns Hopkins, once said, "is a home of idealism. If it were not 
 that, it would be better that its walls should crumble in a night." I 
 happen to be associated with a university which has large resources in 
 its laboratories, libraries, endowments and equipments, and these ma- 
 terial advantages naturally draw to it many students to whom such 
 opportunities seem a sufficient persuasion. But they do not become 
 Harvard men until they enter into quite another region of academic 
 appreciation. They begin to hear of a Puritan youth, dying of con- 
 sumption, far from his English home, and bequeathing a few hundred 
 pounds of his modest estate, and three hundred books, to the little 
 school which had been set up on the edge of the wilderness, between 
 the Indians and the sea. Every pound of John Harvard's money was, 
 so far as we know, soon spent, and every book save one — and that a 
 valueless treatise on antique theology — was soon destroyed by fire. 
 Nothing seemed left but a tradition. The pedigree, the physical ap- 
 pearance, even the signature of John Harvard, have been among the 
 mysteries of antiquarian research. And yet, on that tradition of a 
 modest, devout and dying youth, the University is founded ; and as 
 that tradition fastens on a young man's mind today it lifts him out 
 of the rut of modern life and sets his feet on the high, firm ground of 
 moral idealism and self-forgetting service. By faith, he says, John 
 Harvard went out, not knowing whither he went, seeking a State 
 which had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. So this 
 youth begins to breathe the atmosphere which refreshes and exhila- 
 rates his life. And then there is superadded to that original tradition 
 the long history of other lives which have given dignity and worth
 
 6 Lelancl Stanford Junior University 
 
 to the growing college, and the new student gathers them all together 
 into his Walhalla of Faith. "And what shall I more say," he repeats 
 in the New Testament language, "for the time would fail me to tell 
 of statesmen and orators, of philosophers and poets and ])reachers, of 
 Adams and Sumner, of Emerson and Longfellow, of Channing and 
 Brooks; who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness 
 and turned to flight the armies of evil?" So the new-comer, friendless 
 and lonesome though he may be, finds himself gradually admitted to 
 this ennobling companionship and sustained in his steps by this mo- 
 mentum of an honorable past. 
 
 But that is but one-half of this academic continuity. If the past sup- 
 ports the present, so the present must justify the past. All these achieve- 
 ments and sacrifices which adorn academic history become fruitless unless 
 they issue into a more substantial and serviceable life. The duty of each 
 newly matriculated student carries into it the prophecy and destiny of the 
 whole organic life. These all receive not the promise, God having pro- 
 vided better things for us that they without us should not be made per- 
 fect. A few years ago, when my University was celebrating the two hun- 
 dred and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, a procession of undergrad- 
 uates marched through the streets bearing many flags, and finally came tlu? 
 freshman class, which had been admitted but a month ago, carrying a 
 banner with what seemed a most audacious and amusing inscription : 
 "The University," it read, "has been waiting two hundred and fifty 
 years for us." And yet, in a profound and searching sense, that boy- 
 ish boast was true. This was precisely wdiat the long history of the 
 University had produced. For these the privations of primitive colo- 
 nists in the wilderness were endured, for these the faith and prayers 
 of many generations had been ofifered. Without these happy, jesting, 
 delightful boys the whole great evolution of the University had been 
 in vain. The whole creation, as Paul said of the world, had waited 
 for the manifestations of these last sons of God. 
 
 These general indications of the nature and charm of university 
 life find a most impressive illustration on this Campus ; and I recall 
 them to you today as we meet for this memorial service. Yesterday 
 was the ninth anniversary of the death of Mrs. Stanford, and our 
 service of worship today, in this church, wdiich was the centre of her 
 afifection and her generosity, would be ill-timed indeed if it did not 
 express the permanent gratitude felt, not only by this University, but
 
 The Perfecting of the Promise 7 
 
 by all who care for the higher education of America. I cannot as a 
 stranger presume to speak in detail of this indomitable woman ; but it 
 is possible that the dramatic trials which she encountered and con- 
 (|uered may impress a stranger cjuite as freely and as keenly as thev 
 do those to whom the events are familiar. The career of Mrs. Stan- 
 ford is the most distinguished instance in America of parental affec- 
 tion dedicated to a great cause; a perfect love which cast out fear; a 
 charity which endured all things, hoped all things and never failed. I 
 have spoken of the pathetic figure of young John Harvard dedicating 
 his scanty means to the education of young men like himself. Rut an 
 even more appealing and dramatic figure in the history of education 
 in America is that of a boy of sixteen years, dying in Italy, and giv- 
 ing his name to a great University on the remote shores of the Pacific. 
 The stranger may survey with admiration your surroundings, your 
 landscape, your refinements of architecture, your multiplication of re- 
 sources, but he is finally arrested and quite overwhelmed by the more 
 central fact that all this stately organism has at its heart the life oi 
 a little boy, and the love of two stricken parents. Other institutions 
 have cherished other ideals which have been wrought into their foun- 
 dations, and have stamped themselves upon academic life. The most 
 important university of Europe, for example, that of Berlin, is a mon- 
 ument of Germany's emancipation, just a century ago, from the sway 
 of Napoleon, and the prevailing note of appeal to students from year 
 to year is that of patriotism, the call of the scholar to serve his coun- 
 try, the application of learning to statesmanship. The University of 
 Oxford, again, is the direct descendant of the monastic communities 
 of the Middle Ages, detached from the world in the privilege and lib- 
 erty of the higher learning, with no obligation of citizenship but to 
 pray for the souls of their founders ; and this monastic spirit, with its 
 instincts of a spiritual aristocracy, still prevails among Oxford Dons 
 who are the successors of the monks and who may still be receiving 
 a stipend for their prayers, even though in their philosophy or teach- 
 ing there be not a shred of religion left. One may watch the same 
 survival of idealism in many American institutions. One New Eng- 
 land college was primarily founded to teach the Indians, and the spirit 
 of adventure and courage is still prevalent in the administration and 
 even in the student life of Dartmouth. Another college cherishes as 
 its central shrine the monument which marks the spot of a haystack.
 
 8 Tvcland Stanford Junior University 
 
 near which three students met and consecrated themselves to the 
 work of foreign missions, and in whose work the vast enterprise of 
 the American Board modestly began, and ever since that day the mis- 
 sionary call to self-forgetting" and happ\' sacrifice has met a glad 
 response at Williams Colleg'e. But here you strike an even deeper 
 and more universal note ; the hope of youth and the memories of ag;e ; 
 the full chord which is sounded in the hariuony of a boy's life and a 
 parent's love. Under the family system of Japan it became the high- 
 est privilege of children to reverence the memory of their parents and 
 to offer prayers at their shrine. It was a noble, but a backward - 
 looking religion. Here you are initiated into the opposite type of rev- 
 erence, the offering of parents to the memory of their child — the for- 
 ward-looking, expectant, fulfillment of the tragically short career, the 
 immortality, not of the parents' lives which were so soon to end, but of 
 the son's life which had hardly begun to be. 
 
 And that parental love had its natural fruit in a persistent and in- 
 destructible faith. The time soon came when all that the Uni- 
 versity had to live on was this faith of Mrs. Stanford. The vicissi- 
 tudes in which this University was soon involved, the loss of re- 
 sources which seemed fatal, and the dependence for its very existence 
 on the unremitting sacrifices of one lonely woman, make up a story 
 of faith quite worthy to be enrolled in the list of Israelite heroes. By 
 faith she went on, not knowing wdiither she went. By faith she looked 
 for a University that had foundations. By faith she chose to suft'er 
 afifliction with the people of her choice rather than to enjoy pleas- 
 ures for a season. By faith she obtained promises of help, stopped 
 the mouths of creditors, quenched the violence of enemies, escaped 
 the edge of the courts, and finally turned to flight the armies of litiga- 
 tion. And then she died, in good time, with her faith unshattered by 
 the disaster which might perhaps have broken her heart. It is not 
 surprising that the first object which meets the visitor as he ap- 
 proaches these halls is a statue of Faith, bearing her own cross. There 
 might have been written under it the great words of the Apostle: "This 
 is the victory which overcometh the world, even your faith." 
 
 Such is the inheritance into which each student enters here, and 
 which dignifies his daily work and will enrich his later memories, not 
 with information and acquisition only, but with a sentiment and ideal 
 worthy of an educated life. That is what rescues a great institution
 
 The Perfecting- of the Promise 9 
 
 from the persistent risk of becomin<^ a mechanical and external organ- 
 ization and makes it a body at whose centre is a sonl. Just as at the 
 heart of these alluring; quadrangles with their many doors opening; 
 into special sciences and arts, there stands this Memorial Church as 
 the symbol of a spiritual centre, so at the heart of all these varied and 
 sometimes divisive activities stands this act of love, which, like 
 the heart in the body transmits its blood to every part and marks the 
 beat of vitality and health. Science, however active and wise it may 
 be, is not likely under these conditions to obliterate sentiment. The 
 head and the hand of the University will not forg^et their dependence 
 upon the heart. An efficient university may be recognized not alone 
 by the growth of its plant but by the fulfillment of its ideal. Its 
 greatest asset is a fine tradition. Its finest product is not its experts 
 or technicians but its \italizing' faith in truth and goodness at the 
 heart of the world. 
 
 Such is the significance of this commemoration as it turns toward 
 the past. Rut, finally, there remains the other side of the Apostolic 
 teaching of historic reciprocity. These, though they died in faith, re- 
 ceived not the promise: for they without us could not be made perfect. 
 The perfecting of the founders' promise can be attained only as each 
 successive year justifies their hope and prayer. The broadening of 
 the stream is the only convincing evidence of the fulness of the foun- 
 tain. The life of a little boy who died in Florence is taken up and 
 perpetuated in the life of each young man or woman who humbly 
 accepts the privilege and opportunity here ofifered in his name. To 
 the founders, the university was the reincarnation of their son : 
 and as they had looked to him to perpetuate their name, so in his 
 name they adopted the sons and daughters of California. And so 
 this service of commemoration becomes a service of consecration. It 
 is a day not merely for historical appreciation, but for a personal 
 pledge. What the founders wanted here was not honor, but results. 
 That was what the apostle realized as he recalled the heroism of 
 Israel. "Seeing," he says, "that we are compassed about by this 
 cloud of witnesses, let us run with a greater patience our own race.'' 
 The same message is delivered to you today. The momentum of the 
 faith in which your l^niversity began ought to carry you far on your 
 own way. A comuumity which is the ]M-oduct of a great faith must 
 run with a greater patience its own race. The spirit of the past looks
 
 lo Lclaiid Stanford Junior University 
 
 down upon even the least important student of today and says: "The 
 University, which was founded twenty-three years ago with such sa- 
 cred hopes, and has endured such extreme vicissitudes, and has now 
 entered upon such a career of national service, has been, all the while, 
 and through all these dramatic transitions, waiting, with parental 
 expectancy, for you."
 
 THE FOUNDERS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 At the Founders' Day exercises of 19 14. held on Monday morning, 
 j\Iarch 9. in the Assembly Hall at the university, the following- address, 
 entitled "The Founders of the University."' was delivered by the Honor- 
 able William W. Mc^rrow, LL. D.. for man\" years a friend and 
 associate of Senator and ]\Irs. Stanford : 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 The invitation I had the pleasure of receiving from the Faculty Com- 
 mittee to deliver the Founders" Day address on this occasion came with 
 the suggestion that I should speak from my personal knowledge of the 
 life and public services of Senator Leland Stanford. The suggestion 
 was most acceptable, since it required nothing more serious or exacting 
 than the recalling of events in the general order of a narrative. This 
 effort has been one of unusual personal interest for me, and has brought 
 to my mind many interesting associations connected with public affairs 
 of this state and nation, in which Senator Stanford was a prominent fig- 
 ure, and which T think illustrate in a marked degree his originality, cour- 
 age and strength of character. 
 
 My acquaintance with Feland Stanford covered a ])eriod of more than 
 thirty years, and during part of that time our relations were of such a 
 nature that phases of his character were brought under my observa- 
 tion that made me know him as a most uni(|ue, indciiendent and com- 
 manding personality. 
 
 He was born at Watervliet, New "S'ork, on March 9, 1824 — ninetv 
 years ago today. Watervliet is about eight miles above Albanv, on the 
 Hudson River. His father was of English stock, with Irish blood in his 
 veins. This was a combination from which we might expect an indi- 
 vidual possessed of vigorous rjualities of mind and body, coupled with 
 courage and sound judgment, and balanced with a strain of quaint, hajipy 
 humor. These qualities do in fact appear to have been inherited in full 
 vigor by the son. The father was a farmer, and for a time at least a 
 railroad contractor. These parental occupations and surroundings must
 
 12 [.clriiid ^^taiiford junior I'nivcrsity 
 
 have given the son an early practieal view of the affairs of hfe and a hahit 
 j1 constant self reliance that would be likely to grow into marked inde- 
 pendence of judgment and will. 
 
 We start then with heredity, environment and an early experience fa- 
 vorable to the future efficiency and independence of the son, who had, 
 moreover, the advantage of a good, practical education. He studied law 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1848. In that year he yielded to the sjiirit 
 of that dav and moved west to Port Washington. Wisconsin, where he 
 practiced law. He visited his New York home in 1850 and was there 
 married to Miss Jane Lathrop. and returned with his wife to Port Wash- 
 ington. In 1852 a fire destroyed his law library and household effects. 
 This misfortune caused him to consider the advantage of going still fiu'- 
 ther west, and as a result he came to California. He left his wife with 
 her father in Albany, New York, and reached California in July, 1852. 
 He visited his brothers, who were engaged in a general merchandise 
 business in Sacramento, and soon after he entered into the same business 
 for himself at Cold Springs, in Eldorado county. In 1853 he opened a 
 store at Alichigan Bluffs, in Placer county, a very prosperous mining sec- 
 tion, and he also engaged in mining and was highly successful. In 1855 
 he purchased the business of his brothers in Sacramento and the same; 
 \ear returned east and brought Mrs. Stanford to California and estab- 
 lished his home at Sacramento. 
 
 He was an original Republican, and with a few others organized the 
 Republican party in Sacramento in 1856. All Republicans were pro- 
 gressives in those days, and correspondingly fearless. Senator Cole. '>:i 
 his memoirs, speaking of the Republican party in Sacramento at that 
 tin\e, says : "The party at its inception was extremely hmited in num- 
 bers" ; that besides himself there were "Leland Stanford, C. P. Hunting- 
 ion, Mark Hopkins, Edwin B. and Charles Crocker, and that besides 
 these there were not for some time as many as could be counted on one's 
 fingers." But this small party does not appear to have been ignored by 
 others in the community because of its lack of numbers. Its members 
 were denounced as agitators, disturbers of the peace and traitors to the 
 country. Violence against them was resorted to occasionally, and ef- 
 forts of intimidation often. Senator Cole gives a copy of a public notice, 
 printed in large type and posted about the city of Sacramento on May 13. 
 1856. It was headed, — "To Arms" and called upon "all good citizens 
 to attend a public meeting" at a place named "to devise means to protect
 
 The Founders of the Uni\:ersity 13 
 
 the public welfare by appointing' a committee to Jiang all the leaders and 
 as many of the attaches of said traitors as may be deemed necessary to 
 restore the public quiet and put a stop to such treasonable practices." 
 This notice was understood to be directed against Mr. Stanford, Mr. Cole 
 and their associates. It was probably nothing more than a species of in- 
 timidation ; but whatever its object it could not have been highly pleasant 
 reading for those to whom it referred. The historian fails to give us any 
 further information concerning the meeting. Nobody appears to have been 
 hung ; but we are left to infer that this little band of agitators followed 
 Tranklin's wise advice given to the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. They hung together and thus escaped being hanged separately. 
 
 I do not mention these matters to recall ancient animosities, long since 
 forgiven and forgotten. Mr. Stanford was himself among the first to 
 forgive and forget, save the humor of some of the situations, to which 
 he sometimes referred ; but I mention these incidents to show you the man 
 in action under circumstances and conditions calculated to test the strength 
 of his physical and moral fiber, and his ability to meet the passions and 
 turbulence of a new community fearlessly and with perfect composure. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Stanford was the Republican candidate for state treas- 
 urer; but the party was of such recent origin that its nominations were 
 merely matters of form to maintain the party organization. In 1859 he 
 was the nominee of his party for governor. The Democratic party was 
 divided. One wing, being known as the Lecompton party, nominated a 
 ticket with Mr. Latham as the candidate for governor, and the other 
 wing, or Anti-Lecompton party, nominated a ticket with Judge John 
 Curry for that office. There was a natural tendency for the latter partv 
 to unite with the Republican party, as it subsequently did ; but at this 
 lime there were influences at work in favor of the Republican party with- 
 drawing from the field. Horace Greeley, the editor of the Nczi' York 
 Tribune, a man of distinction and the foremost Republican in the United 
 States, arrived in California in the summer of 1859. He was everywhere 
 received with the greatest enthusiasm and accorded every consideration. 
 He made a number of speeches in the state, and regarding himself as en- 
 titled by his position to advise Republicans as to their duty, he proposed 
 that they should withdraw their ticket and support the Anti-Lecompton 
 party. 
 
 The proposition was submitted to Mr. Stanford. His rc])ly was char- 
 acteristic of the man. He declined to withdraw, maintaining with firm-
 
 14 Leland Stanford Jtmior University 
 
 ness that it was the duty of the Repubhcan party to stand by its princi- 
 ples, whatever tlie result. He preferred to go down to defeat rather than 
 to surrender to an op]wsing- party the standard placed in his hands by his 
 political friends ancl supporters. He was not a mere office seeker. He 
 was charged with the dut}- of preserving- the integrity of a party organi- 
 zation and he would perform that duty. T.ike Mr. Lincoln, he would not 
 be the last to desert. He would not desert at all. He was defeated at 
 the polls, but he demonstrated to the people of the state that he was not a 
 weak nor uncertain leader. 
 
 He was again nominated for governor in 1861. and it was in this cam- 
 paign that I first became acquainted with him. I was then located at 
 Santa Rosa. I was anxious to hear him, although I was not then a voter. 
 I had come to California two years before from the state of Illinois, where 
 political questions occupied the public mind to the exclusion of almost 
 every other subject. I had heard such public speakers as Lincoln, Doug- 
 las, Trumbull, Browning and many others of their type. These were all 
 rugged men of distinguished ability, combined with great force of char- 
 acter. Coming here from such a field of political discussion, my first im- 
 pression of California speakers was a disappointment. They seemed to me 
 to be lacking in force and in an understanding of national questions. I in- 
 quired for the joint debates between candidates, with which I had been 
 familiar, and the keen discussion of such national questions as the Mis- 
 souri Compromise, the Dred Scott decision, and the Lecompton Constitu- 
 tion. In Illinois the discussion of political questions was about the only 
 diversion the people had, and they were accustomed to hear public speak- 
 ers gifted with the force of persuasive eloquence. It seemed to me that 
 the California speakers did not measure up to the standard we had in 
 Illinois ; but I was told to be patient until I heard such speakers as Colonel 
 E. D. Baker, Frederick P. Tracy, Thomas Starr King, Thomas Fitch, 
 Henry Edgerton and other orators of repute. I soon heard these speak- 
 ers, and while they had culture of a high order, they lacked the plain, 
 homely, frontier character of the middle west. But I soon became con- 
 vinced that there were political orators in California as well as in Illi- 
 nois. Incidentally it may be said that Colonel Baker, the greatest orato-- 
 of modern times, was from Illinois and had been an associate of Mr. Lin- 
 coln. He had been trained in the Illinois school of political discussion, 
 and was a master of the art. He was a brave soldier, a brilliant orator 
 and a great statesman, and it was with these men that Mr. Stanford came 
 into prominence in California.
 
 The Founders of the University 15 
 
 While I was in this state of curiosity about the pubHc speakers of the 
 State, Mr. Stanford was advertised to speak in Santa Rosa on the issues 
 of the day. ! He was a leader of the new party, based upon a new and an 
 untried platform of principles. The political sentiment of that place at 
 that time was decidedl\- unfriendly to the new partv and its candidates. 
 Mr. Stanford was received respectfully. I)ut not enthusiasticallw His 
 personal appearance was impressive. He was then thirty-seven years of 
 a^e, large in frame, with a swarthy complexion anrl something of the 
 plain, rugged features of the frontiersman. He was dignified in manner, 
 with a peculiarly attractive composure. His voice was melodious and 
 pleasant ; his language clear and expressive. He was listened to by a 
 large audience with respectful interest. He wasted no time on jmmatc- 
 rial questions, but went directly into the issues of the campaign. The 
 platform of the party had declared in favor of the common school sys- 
 tem, and insisted that it should be sustained in all of its essential features, 
 and its benefits and efficiency extended. The platform also declared in 
 favor of distributing the public lands of the United States to homestead 
 settlers, and pledged the party to aid the immediate construction of a 
 transcontinental railroad. The platform declared further that the Repub- 
 licans of California pledged themselves, and all they had, to sustain the 
 national administration at Washington. Mr. Lincoln had been elected the 
 previous November, and on the fourth of March had been inaugurated 
 president. Mr. Stanford had been a delegate from California to the na- 
 tional Republican convention that had placed Mr. Lincoln in nomination. 
 and had advocated his election. He was the president's friend and ad- 
 viser, and the two men had much that was in common. 
 
 In Mr. Stanford's speech on the occasion to which I refer, he discussed 
 the platform of the party and declared his adherence to its principles. He 
 spoke with the eloquence of an honest conviction. He believed that the 
 public school system was at the very foundation of our form of govern- 
 ment ; that the public domain should be given freely to actual settlers for 
 the building of homes ; that the Pacific railroad should be built at the 
 earliest possible moment that the people of the Pacific Coast might have 
 quick and ample communication with the east. He declared that he was 
 doing and would continue to do what he could to further the project; 
 and in concluding he paid a splendid and feeling tribute to the high char- 
 acter and patriotism of Mr. Lincoln, and his administration, and its pur- 
 pose to maintain the perpetuit\' of the union.
 
 l6 L<2lan(l Stanford Junior I'nivcrsitv 
 
 It is difficult now to understand how any of these questions could have 
 ever been a subject of serious discussion : but they were, and the discus- 
 sions were vigorous, sometimes violent. ^Ir. Stanford oresented them 
 in an able and fearless manner in all of the i)rincipal localities of the 
 state. He gained the confidence of the people by his plain, straightfor- 
 ward speech and manner, and was elected by a large plurality. His term 
 of office was for two years. Having become president of the Central Pa- 
 cific Railroad, then in course of construction, he declined a renomination. 
 During his term of office as governor he gave the state a wise and an 
 efficient administration, and was counted one of the "war governors" of 
 the nation, taking a place in support of the national cause alongside of 
 such governors as Andrews of Massachusetts, Washburn of Maine, [Mor- 
 gan of Kew York, Curtin of Pennsylvania, Morton of Indiana, Yates of 
 Illinois and Kirkwood of Iowa. 
 
 In June, 1861, and ten clays after Mr. Stanford had been nominated 
 for governor, he and a few other citizens of Sacramento organized and 
 mcorporated the Central Pacific Railroad Company, under the laws of the 
 state of California, with Mr. Stanford as the president of the corporation. 
 Congress had not then passed the act to aid in the construction of the rail- 
 road and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. 
 That act was not passed until July i, 1862. It organized the Union Pa- 
 cific Railroad Company with an imposing array of stockholders, to build 
 c\ railroad west from the Missouri River to a connection with the Central 
 Pacific Railroad of California. Mr. Stanford's associates were not so con- 
 spicuous, but they were men of energy, ability and character. Among them 
 were Theodore D. Judah, a distinguished engineer, C. P. Huntington, 
 Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, merchants of Sacramento. There 
 were a few others, but these were the men who afterwards became known 
 in the construction of the road, and in the affairs of the state and nation 
 in connection with this enterprise. 
 
 The object of the corporation which these men formed was to construct 
 a railroad from Sacramento eastward on the line of the proposed trans- 
 continental railroad, and on January 8, 1863, Governor Stanford turned 
 the first spadeful of earth in Sacramento for its construction. At that 
 time the only railroads in the state were a short line from Sacramento to 
 Folsom, a distance of about twenty miles, and a partly constructed railroad 
 of about twenty miles from San Francisco to San Jose. The construction 
 ol these two short lines had been very expensive, and were in fact a warn-
 
 The Founders of the University 17 
 
 ing against the prosecution of another such enterprise at that time. Rail- 
 road iron, locomotives and other rolling stock had to be brought from the 
 east around the Horn in sailing vessels ; and the cost of all kinds of mate- 
 rials was very high, and labor dear and scarce. 
 
 The prospect that the men who had organized the Central Pacific Com- 
 pany would complete any considerable part of the transcontinental road, 
 under the then prevailing conditions, was not very assuring. It was not, in 
 fact, generally expected. They were not men of wealth, nor did they have 
 any of the resources that usually give men the command of wealth. It was 
 stated, and I have no doubt truthfully, that they could not with all of 
 their own means have built twenty miles of the road ; but this fact does not 
 appear to have discouraged them in the least ; nor did the manifest lack of 
 confidence on the part of the public seem to deter them in the prosecution 
 of this great enterprise. 
 
 The engineer, Judah. who had been engaged in exploring a' route over 
 the Sierras for a railroad, recommended three routes as practicable, — 
 one through Eldorado county, by way of Georgetown, one through Placer 
 county by way of Auburn and Dutch Flat, and one through Nevada 
 county by way of Nevada City. The middle route, by way of Auburn 
 and Dutch Flat, was adopted. This action aroused the fierce opposition of 
 those who were interested in the other routes, and was the cause of much 
 ill-feeling and adverse public criticism. Dutch Flat at that time was a 
 prosperous mining camp and was on the line of a wagon road over the 
 mountains into the state of Nevada, called the Dutch Flat wagon road, 
 and this name was afterwards applied, with derision, to the railroad as 
 it was being constructed up the rough mountain slope, and the railroad 
 itself was called the "Dutch Flat Swindle." It was said that the road, al- 
 though it was being constructed under the terms of the act of Congress 
 providing for a transcontinental road, and was being aided by a land grant, 
 and by the loan of the credit of the nation in government bonds, would 
 never be completed above Colfax ; that beyond that point the road was im- 
 practicable for a railroad because of the deep snows of the summit an 1 
 the falling of the dreadful avalanches sweeping everything before them : 
 that the railroad could not l)e operated at all during the winter time, and 
 the roadbed and track would inevitably be swept away by the fearful 
 storms. Snowsheds had not then l)een devised, and the engineers' skill 
 in driving tunnels and in constructing the line under treacherous project- 
 ing cliffs had not been fully realized.
 
 i8 Tx'land Stanforfl Jtmior University 
 
 It was therefore said that tlie difficulties in carrying" the hne of road 
 over the summit were insurmountahle and that it would not he accom- 
 plished ; that the road as a pretended part of a transcontinental line was a 
 palpable swindle; that the pur])Ose of the railroad company was to connect 
 with the Dutch Flat wag-on road over the summit, and together they were 
 to become a part of a scheme for the transjiortation of freight and passen ■ 
 g-ers from California to the Nevada mines during the favoral)le season, but 
 no further. Governor Stanford and his associates ignored all this ad- 
 verse criticism of the project, and proceeded with the work on the line 
 adopted, with every possible energy. They encountered all the difficulties 
 predicted by the opponents of the road, and even more; but with immense 
 labor, great expense, and the engineers' skill, the difficulties were all 
 overcome. Judah was dead, but he had been succeeded by al)le and dar- 
 ing engineers under Montague and Hood. 
 
 While this work was going on T had occasion to go to the front on 
 several occasions. Its novel and stupendous character made it attractive, 
 and those who have been watching the construction of the Panama Canal 
 with continuing interest may understand the intense interest of the people 
 of California in the construction of this railroad as it climbed the steep 
 slopes of the Sierras, and when it had passed the summit at an altitude of 
 more than 7000 feet there was then, as there has been recently with respect 
 to the Panama Canal, a decided feeling of relief that after all the great 
 difficulties in the way had been overcome, and a transcontinental railroad 
 was assured. The descent of the road down the steep eastern slope of 
 the Sierras also required an immense amount of labor and a high degree 
 of engineering skill, but in time that too was accomplished and the con- 
 struction of the road through Nevada was carried forward with great 
 rapidity. 
 
 On May 10, 1869, a connection was made at Promontory Point, in 
 Utah, with the Union Pacific Railroad that was being built west from the 
 Missouri River under the act of Congress, and thereupon the last spike wa.> 
 driven by Governor Stanford and the completion of the first transconti- 
 nental railroad became a part of the history of the nation. 
 
 But Governor Stanford and his associates did not stop with the 
 l)uilding of the Central Pacific Railroad. When that road had reached 
 Colfax in 1865, and the difficulties in the way of constructing the road 
 over the summit were beginning to loom up before them, with won- 
 derful boldness and foresight they incorporated the Southern Pacific
 
 The Founders of the University 19 
 
 Railroad Company to build a railroad over a somewhat indefinite line 
 from the Bay of San Francisco to Los Anj^eles and San Diego : 
 and thence eastward to the eastern boundary of the state, thei;e 
 to connect with a contemplated railroad running to the Mississipjji 
 River. Los Angeles was at that time a modest, unpretentious 
 village of less than 5000 inhabitants. San Diego, with a i)Oj)ulation of 
 about 1500, was a little more important by reason of its harbor, but it 
 had no other advantage over Los Angeles. 
 
 Why any person at that time should want to build a railroad from S:iii 
 Francisco to that part of the state, in competition with vessels by sea, was 
 to the average person a mystery; but to Governor Stanford and his asso- 
 ciates there was no mystery about it. They foresaw the immense possi- 
 bilities of the San Joaquin A'alley and the southern part of the state and 
 they proposed to have a part in developing their wonderful resources. 
 And this is what they did in the face of active and aggressive opposition : 
 
 In 1866 Congress granted lands to aid in the construction of a railroad 
 from Springfield in the state of Missouri, (about 195 miles southwest of 
 St. Louis), through the Indian Territory to Albuquerque in New Mexico, 
 thence through Arizona, along and near the thirty-fifth parallel of lati- 
 tude, to the Colorado River, and thence to the Pacific Ocean. This road 
 was incorporated and constructed as the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. 
 It had for its incorporators some of the most noted bankers and railroad 
 men in the country, and had every prospect of becoming one of the great 
 transcontinental railroads. This road is now a part of the Atchison, To- 
 peka and Santa Fe Railroad. In the granting act to the Atlantic and 
 Pacific, the Southern Pacific, which had only been incorporated a few 
 months before, was authorized to connect with the Atlantic and Pacific 
 Railroad at such point near the boundary line of the state as might be 
 most suitable for a railroad line to San Francisco. This point was subse- 
 quently fixed at the Needles, on the Colorado River. 
 
 In 187 1 Congress also passed an act incorporating the Texas Pacific 
 Railroad Company, with an imposing list of incorporators. The act 
 granted lands to aid in the construction of the railroad from Marshall, near 
 the eastern boundary of the state of Texas, along and near the thirty- 
 second parallel of latitude, to El Paso, Texas, thence through New Mex- 
 ico and Arizona to a point on the Colorado River near the southeastern 
 boundary of the state of California, and thence to San Diego. For the 
 purpose of connecting this road with San Francisco, the Southern Pacific
 
 20 Leland v^tanford Juninr I'niversity 
 
 Railroad Company was authorized l)y the act to construct a road l)y way 
 of the Tehachapi Pass and Los x^ngeles to the Colorado River. This 
 point on the Colorado River was subsequently fixed at Yuma. 
 
 To meet these two roads at the points indicated on the eastern boun- 
 dary of the state of California, Governor Stanford and his associates 
 constructed the Central Pacific Railroad from Lathrop down the San Joa- 
 quin Valley to Goshen, and the Southern Pacific Railroad from that point 
 over and across the Tehachapi ran^e of mountains to Los Angeles. From 
 Mohave, on the Mohave Desert, they built a railroad across the desert 
 eastward to the Needles on the Colorado River, to connect with the Atlan- 
 tic and Pacific Railroad, and from Los Angeles they built a railroad east- 
 ward down into the Colorado Desert 260 feet below the level of the sea, 
 thence rising to and crossing the Colorado River at Yuma to meet the 
 Texas Pacific. 
 
 In this way Governor Stanford and his associates authorized by law met 
 and blocked these two roads coming from the east at the boundary line of 
 the state, the one temporarily and the other permanently. The Atlantic and 
 Pacific subsequently purchased the Southern Pacific line from Mohave to 
 the Needles, and the Santa Fe, its successor, finally reached the Bay of 
 San Francisco by an independent terminal at Point Richmond. The Texas 
 Pacific Railroad never reached the Colorado River, but the Southern 
 Pacific, building eastward from Yuma, pushed on across Arizona an 1 
 New Mexico and met the Texas Pacific at the Rio Grande, near El Paso, 
 in the state of Texas. 
 
 Under another act of Congress, passed in 1866, the Central Pacific 
 Railroad, under the name of the California and Oregon Railroad, was 
 authorized to build northward toward the Oregon line to connect with 
 another railroad coming south from Portland, Oregon. This fine was 
 built and a road opened to Portland. 
 
 Governor Stanford and his associates also acquired control of short lines 
 by which they reached the Bay of San Francisco from the Sacramento 
 and San Joaquin Valleys. They also built a line down the coast ; and with 
 all these lines, connections and terminals they secured substantial control of 
 the transportation facilities of the state, and in 1885 they merged all of 
 these railroads under the control of the Southern Pacific Company. 
 
 I mention these matters to show with what determination, force and 
 ability these men pushed forward against formidable opposition, and in 
 the face of difficulties obtained the substantial control of the transporta-
 
 The Founders of the University 21 
 
 tion facihties of the stale. It has l:)een said that others could have done 
 the same thintj with the same assistance in national bonds, land grants 
 and other contributions. The fact remains that others, with like oppor- 
 tunities, did not make the effort, and that others failed, with the same 
 opportunities to carry to successful completion corresponding enterprises. 
 Every transcontinental railroad coming westward toward the coast, and 
 with wdiich the Central Pacific Railroad or the Southern Pacific Railroad 
 was authorized to connect, failed at one time or another to meet its 
 financial obligations, and was placed by the courts in the hands of re- 
 ceivers. Further comparisons are tempting, but will not be pursued on 
 this occasion. 
 
 It is a fair question, however, to ask : What have been the financial oper- 
 citions of the corporations involved in the Southern Pacific System? Have 
 any of these failed to meet their obligations? Have any of them been in 
 the hands of receivers? We find no such records. They appear to have 
 paid their debts at maturity, including the bonded debt and interest due 
 to the United States by the Central Pacific. Perhaps some credit may be 
 due to Governor Stanford and his associates for so having managed these 
 properties that all the corporations under their control have maintained 
 their financial integrity from the first spadeful of earth turned on the 8th 
 day of January, 1863, down to the present time. 
 
 During all this time of construction Governor Stanford continued at 
 the head of the corporations incorporated into this one controlling sys- 
 tem. The people and press of the state protested against the system, and 
 charged that a grasping monopol}- had been formed to appropriate the 
 transportation facilities of the state. It was insisted that competitive 
 transcontinental lines should be admitted into the state and competition in 
 freight and passenger rates secured. 
 
 -f' Governor Stanford and his associates proceeded upon the theory that 
 whatever monopoly there was in the Southern Pacific system was for the 
 best interests of the state ; that what the state needed was the develop- 
 ment of its extensive and valuable resources, and that to do this it was 
 imperative that railroad transportation be extended to all points of the 
 state where business would justify it, either presently or prospectively ; 
 that one corporation or one system, with its connecting lines and termi- 
 nals, could do this better and cheaper than several : that additional trans- 
 continental lines would not be competitive, and would not confer the bene- 
 fits that were expected by the public.
 
 22 T/elniul Stanford Junior I''^niversity 
 
 Durinjj; the time that Governor Stanford and his associates continued 
 in control of the Southern Pacific System they never swerved in their 
 adherence to this poHcy. Neither did the ])ress nor the puhHc, until very 
 recently, abandon their opposition to that policy. The Santa Fe came 
 into the state as a competing- road for business, but not with respect to 
 rates for freight and fares, which now became matters for the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission and the State Railroad Commission. 
 
 This question of railroad competition now comes up in a legal aspect. 
 The federal government has submitted to the courts the question whether 
 the merging of the Central Pacific and its terminals into the Southern 
 Pacific svstem is a monopoly in restraint of trade and commerce in viola- 
 tion of the Sherman anti-trust law. This action on the part of the gov- 
 ernment is now being vigorously resisted by substantially the entire busi- 
 ness interests of the state, upon the ground that the merging of these 
 connecting hues and terminal facilities twenty-nine years ago was for the 
 best interests of the people of this state, and is so now. The farseeing 
 policy that constructed this system is now approved by the public, and 
 the policy of Governor Stanford and his associates in extending and de- 
 veloping the Southern Pacific System from 1865 to 1885 is now the 
 declared policy of the people of the state of California in dealing with this 
 transcontinental transportation question. Upon this legal question, for ob- 
 vious reasons, I express no opinion, but upon the question of policy I have 
 the opinion of a citizen that the present situation should not be disturbed. 
 
 I now come to a period of a very different character, when my rela- 
 tions with Governor Stanford became official, personal and in some re- 
 spects quite intimate. In January, 1885, Governor Stanford was elected 
 bv the legislature of the state to the United States senate for the term of 
 six years commencing on March 4, 1885. I had been elected in Novem- 
 ber, 1884, to the House of Representatives from the San Francisco dis- 
 trict, for the term of two years commencing also on March 4, 1885. By 
 re-election I served six years in the Plouse of Representatives, from 1885 
 to 1891. 
 
 Senator Stanford's colleagues in the Senate from California during his 
 term of service were in succession, General John F. Miller, George Hearst, 
 A. P. Williams, Charles N. Felton and Stephen M. \\'hite. In the House 
 of Representatives during that time there were from California, among 
 olhers, Charles N. Felton, afterwards United States Senator, and Joseph 
 McKenna, afterwards United States Circuit Judge, Attorney General of
 
 The Founders of the University 23 
 
 the United States, and now a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. 
 
 In the transaction of public business relating to California it was cus- 
 tomary for Senator Stanford to have frequent conferences at his house 
 with the California members of the House of Representatives who were 
 his party associates concerning California matters. These conferences 
 were nearly always interesting, and sometimes amusing, — interesting be- 
 cause they either related to some matter of legislation before Congress, 
 or something pending before one or more of the departments in which 
 important interests of the state were concerned, — amusing because of the 
 extraordinary demands made upon the senators and members of Congress 
 Ijy their constituents, — from turnip seed, popcorn and offices to patents for 
 nutmeg graters and flying machines. We speak of public officials as public 
 servants, but we never use that term with so much accuracy and feeling 
 as when we apply it to senators or representatives in Congress. They 
 are public servants, practical! v as well as theoretically, with only one 
 substantial privilege at their service, — and that is to make speeches in 
 the Congressional Record and send them free through the mail to their 
 constituents. Senator Stanford, however, never availed himself of this 
 privilege. His speeches were all actually delivered. He was an efficient, 
 conscientious public servant, ]:)erforming all his duties faithfully and cheer- 
 fully. He never complained of the burden of small and often trifling 
 demands. 
 
 One of the first subjects of national importance to engage his atten- 
 tion was that of education, in v/liich he was deeply interested. A bill 
 had been introduced in Congress by Senator Blair of New Hampshire to 
 aid in the establishment and temporary support of the common schools. 
 The bill provided for the distribution of seventy-seven millions of dollars 
 among the several states and territories in proportion to the illiteracy 
 in each state or territory. The distribution was to be in installments 
 covering a period of eight years. The bill was fully discussed by the lead- 
 mg senators and representatives. In the course of the debate in the 
 Senate, on February 25, 1890, Senator Stanford delivered a speech in 
 support of the bill in which he said some pertinent things about education. 
 
 "In my opinion," said he, "our government can have no higher object 
 than to secure to the people a high degree of intelligence, thereby assist- 
 ing them to the attainment of the possibilities of humanity. These pos- 
 sibilities and the beneficence of the Creator to man on earth are one and
 
 24 l/cland Stanford Jiininr Univcrsil\- 
 
 the same, for it is obvious tliat tlicrc couUl l)c no beneficence in the un- 
 attainable. Had we been p^iven reasonal)le wants without the means of 
 gratifying- them, the Creator's beneficence would be a failure. 
 
 "Rut when we look around at the sources of supply for our want^. 
 whether spiritual or intellectual, we find them inexhaustibly su])])lied in 
 the soil, waters, forests, mines and quarries. The raw material is every- 
 where within our reach, requiring only the intelligent application of labor 
 and the control of the forces of nature. How this labor is to be supp'' d, 
 and this control obtained, is what education will teach." 
 j He believed in education of the masses, and he particularly favored the 
 bill then under consideration, because it provided for the education of both 
 sexes alike for their respective callings. He believed in the early educa- 
 tion of the child for the moral influence it would have in forming his char- 
 acter and in laying the fotmdation for his future efficiency. He believed 
 in educating all classes for the active duties of life, and for the deeper 
 insight it gave into nature, and the greater knowledge of her wonderful 
 forces, which, being understood, developed and brought under control, 
 would enable humanity to realize the glorious destiny marked out for it 
 by the Creator. 
 
 The bill which he was then supporting was defeated, mainly, as I recall, 
 on constitutional grounds. But he supported other educational bills which 
 became laws, notably bills in aid of state agricultural colleges, providing 
 lor experimental stations, and a more thorough training in agricultural 
 pursuits. He was himself an agriculturist on a large scale, and with his 
 extensive land holdings he naturally took a practical interest in the indus- 
 trv. But his interest was much more than personal. He viewed the 
 production of the soil from the standpoint of the nation's welfare, and 
 believed that the nation might increase its wealth enormously by the intro- 
 duction of intelligent, economical methods. 
 
 He accordingly proposed a scheme of government loans on real estate, 
 which should have the double purpose of furnishing the country with an 
 elastic currency of sufficient volume to meet its requirements, and at the 
 same time supply the farmer with money at a low rate of interest to meet 
 tiic necessities of his calling and make agriculture profitable and attractive. 
 The scheme was a bold one, but it was one in which Senator Stanford had 
 the utmost confidence, and he was astonished that it did not receive gen- 
 eral approval. I think the greatest disappointment he suffered during his 
 senatorial career was his failure to secure any general support for this
 
 The Founders of the University 25 
 
 bill. The scheme was discussed very generally in this country and in 
 Europe, but, I think, adversely. 
 
 In view of recent legislation, it would seem that his failure was due 
 mainly to the fact that he was at least twenty years in advance of the 
 times. 
 
 Senator Stanford was essentially a progressive, and he was generally 
 a pioneer in whatever he undertook, whether it was the formation of a po- 
 litical party, building a railroad, developing some new industry, or found- 
 ing a university. He could see well into the future, and he usuallv saw 
 his efiforts successful ; but in this instance he did not see his scheme 
 adopted. Now, I am not going to discuss this financial question in any 
 great detail. Mr. Gladstone is reported to have said in a debate in the 
 British House of Commons concerning some financial measure before it, 
 that there were two roads distinctly marked leading directly to the mad- 
 house, — one was the study of a railroad timetable, and the other was the 
 study of the principles of banking and currency. For your sakes as well 
 as for my own, I shall touch but lightly upon this financial question. 
 
 But a few words of explanation are necessary to understand the full 
 scope and purpose of Senator Stanford's scheme. 
 
 The United States loans its credit to national banks in national bank 
 notes issued upon the security of United States bonds deposited with the 
 treasurer of the United States. Senator Stanford proposed that the 
 United States should also loan its credit to farmers in treasury notes on 
 the security of real estate. The United States loans its credit to national 
 banks in national bank notes in amounts equal to the par value of the 
 bonds deposited. Senator Stanford proposed that the United States should 
 loan its credit to farmers in treasury notes on the security of real estate to 
 an extent not to exceed fifty per cent of its assessed valuation. The 
 United States loans its credit to national banks in national bank notes, 
 without interest. Senator Stanford proposed that the United States should 
 loan its credit to farmers in treasury notes at two per cent per annum. So 
 iar the farmer would seem to have the better claim to the loan of treasury 
 notes ; but financiers tell us that we now encounter difficulties. The 
 amount of United States bonds available as security for national bank 
 notes is limited, and could not become the basis of an inflated currencv, 
 whereas the amount of mortgages that would be tendered the United 
 States for loans of treasury notes at two per cent per annum would be
 
 26 Iceland Stanford junior LTniversity 
 
 practically unlimited and would become the foundation for an enormously 
 inflated currency. 
 
 We know from experience that a currency in excess of the actual ne- 
 cessities of the people causes a rise in prices and frequently wild specu- 
 lation, followed by disaster and ruin. We also know on the other hand 
 that a currency that is not sufficien.t to enable the people to carry on their 
 business operations freely and without stringency depreciates values, 
 causes panics and Hkewise results in disaster and ruin. Both of these 
 extremes should, therefore, be avoided, so that the business of the coun- 
 try may be conducted freely and as near as may be upon a continuous uni- 
 form unit of value. 
 
 In 1890 the situation was one of violent controversy. There was evi- 
 dence that the volume of currency was not keeping pace with the growth 
 of the country, and by reason of that fact, and general distrust of finan- 
 cial conditions, contraction of the currency was then in actual progress. 
 Gold was the unit of value, but to prevent further contraction and pro- 
 vide a more elastic medium of exchange there were a large number of 
 people who advocated the free coinage of silver as the solution of the 
 ]jroblem. This of itself was deemed by the business interests to be an 
 overshadowing menace to the sound financial condition of the country, 
 and by reason of legislation tending rapidly in that direction, the danger 
 appeared to be imminent and financial storm signals were then being set 
 lorecasting the panic of 1893, which swept over the country with such 
 terrific fury. 
 
 While this financial storm was brewing Senator Stanford in perfect 
 good faith to meet the situation brought forward his land loan scheme. 
 He first introduced a resolution in the senate on March 10, 1890, instruct- 
 mg the finance committee of that body to report what relief might be 
 provided by the United States government for the stringency in the money 
 market, and particularly whether loans might be made by the government 
 upon mortgages. This resolution failed to receive any consideration. 
 On May 20, 1890, he introduced a bill entitled, "A bill to provide the 
 government with sufificient means to supply_ the national gov- 
 ernment with a sound circulating medium." ' This bill provided that 
 the treasurer of the United States should cause to be printed notes of the 
 united States to the amount of one hundred millions of dollars, and such 
 additional amounts from time to time as should be necessary to meet 
 tiie requirements of the act. These notes were to be a legal tender
 
 The Founders of the University 27 
 
 for all private and certain puhlic debts, and were to be loaned on unin- 
 cumbered agricultural land upon interest at the rate of two per cent per 
 annum. A loan was not to exceed one-half of the assessed value of the 
 land and for a term of not to exceed twenty years. No loan was to be 
 for a sum less than $250. The bill provided for a Inireau in the treasury 
 department to administer the provisions of the act. 
 
 A few days after the introduction of this bill Senator Stanford made 
 a speech in its support in which he explained its provisions, and contended 
 that the plan of loaning money upon land at two per cent, with the privi- 
 lege to the borrower of returning it when he had no use for it, would create 
 a money system that would meet financial expansions and contractions as 
 they might occur. He did not claim, however, that his bill had been per- 
 fected in detail. What he did claim was that the principle of loaning the 
 credit of the nation upon sufficient security, to those who needed it, should 
 be extended to the farmers on the security of real estate as had already 
 been done to the national banks on the security of United States bonds, 
 and that the financial condition of the country urgently required immediate 
 legislation to that end. The bill was referred to the senate committee on 
 finance. That committee, composed, it must be said, of able and experi- 
 enced statesmen, reported on the bill adversely, classifying the proposed 
 scheme with a number of others in this country and elsewhere that had op- 
 erated disastrously. The committee held the bill to be bad in substance 
 and unconstitutional. Upon this report the bill w:)s indefinitely post- 
 poned. 
 
 In January, 1891, Senator Stanford was re-elected to the senate for a 
 second term of six years and he again introduced his land loan bill with 
 another bill placing the scheme squarely upon a gold basis. In January, 
 
 1892, he made another and more elaborate speech in its support, at the 
 same time replying to the adverse report of the finance committee made 
 in the previous Congress. He was now thoroughly aroused and defended 
 his scheme with great force. A Kansas senator came to his support, and 
 it looked as though the bill was about to be considered on its merits, and 
 amended so as to provide against the possibility of an inflated currency. 
 The bill was pending in the senate at the time of Senator Stanford's death 
 on June 21, 1893. 
 
 At the memorial exercises in the United States Senate on September 16, 
 
 1893, and in the House of Representatives on February 12, 1894, the 
 members of both houses paid feeling tributes to the life and character of
 
 28 Lcland Stanford Junior Tniversily 
 
 Senator Stanford. The address of Senator Daniel of Virginia, in jiartic- 
 iilar, was very impressive by reason of the eloquent and feeling person- 
 ality of his remarks. He referred to the land loan bill in terms that cor- 
 lesponded so nearly with my own experience that I venture to repeat 
 them here : 
 
 "He" (Senator Stanford) "had some ideas which he was never able to 
 impress upon his associates as being practicable, among them his idea of 
 lending vast amounts of money upon land. I have talked with him for 
 hours and hours upon repeated occasions on that theme, and he often 
 urged me to adopt his views and advocate them. I could never see that 
 they were practicable, and with all my respect for him and desire to meet 
 his wishes I could not, of course, comply with his request. Yet let me 
 say that beneath the difficulties which present themselves to such an idea 
 as he had formed, there are in it germs of truth and wisdom such as 
 are found in the first evolutions of invention, which, in a later and riper 
 day of the world's history, may be developed into much that is attain- 
 able and good. ''' * * * As the world's population shall increase, 
 and as financial refinements and facilities shall be developed, there will 
 be found in this idea much to build upon, and in the end probably some 
 ripe consummation." 
 
 How gracious and candid this was on the part of that distinguished 
 Senator. That was twenty years ago. We have experienced some 
 squally financial times since then. The period commenced with the panic 
 of 1893 ^"d included the panic of 1907; but the country has made sub- 
 stantial progress in its financial system during this time, and what is most 
 Interesting for us here today, in the direction of Senator Stanford's scheme. 
 This progress will be found in the receni act of December 23, 1913, pro- 
 viding for reserve banks and an elastic currency, with gold as the stand- 
 ard of values. Mr. Horace White, the well known editor and financial 
 expert, writing of this act in the North American Review, says : 
 
 "Twenty years was required to prepare public opinion, including that 
 of bankers and congressmen, for the adoption of asset currency in the 
 place of bond currency." 
 
 "Asset currency," as here used, means a currency based upon the secur- 
 ity of the constantly maturing obligations of the banks' customers, as dis- 
 tinguished from a currency based upon the security of United States 
 bonds. 
 
 This act has had the effect of opening avenues of credit in national
 
 The Founders of the University 29 
 
 banks to classes of borrowers who have never had access to it before, 
 and one such class is that of the farmer. When Senator Stanford was 
 urging- his bill before Congress, national banks were prohibited from loan- 
 ing monev on real estate. The farmer might have a very valuable tract 
 of improved land, but he could not pledge it to the national banks as se- 
 curity for any sum of money or for any length of time. If he had per- 
 sonal credit with the bank he might obtain what is called a commercial 
 loan for sixty or ninety days, but not for a longer period, or upon any 
 other security than that of personal credit. Under the recent act of Con- 
 gress national banks are authorized to make loans on farm lands for a 
 period not to exceed five years, to the extent of fifty per cent of the valu- 
 ition of such lands. The act also provides that national banks may dis- 
 count notes, drafts and bills of exchange secured by agricultural products, 
 with the maturity of the paper extended to six months. 
 
 This legislation is all new, and is based substantially upon the basic 
 principle of Senator Stanford's land loan bill, but differing in detail. For 
 example, under the act the loan reaches the borrower through a national 
 bank; under Senator Stanford's plan the loan would reach the borrower 
 directly from the government. The act also provides the security of 
 reserves against an inflated currency. This was lacking in Senator Stan- 
 ford's plan. But this is not all. There are pending before Congress a 
 number of bills providing for a national system of banking based upon 
 iural credits exclusively; that is to say, loans to farmers on mortgages 
 for long terms at a low rate of interest. There is every prospect that 
 some measure of that character will become a law during the present 
 Congress. If it does, the fundamental idea of Senator Stanford's land 
 ioan bill will have been fully realized, and Senator Daniel's prediction of 
 a ripe consummation will prove to be something more than a mere figure 
 of speech. 
 
 We come now to the last and most impressive and im])ortant act of 
 Senator Stanford's remarkable career, — the founding of this great univer- 
 sity, when he said, "The children of California shall be my children." Tn 
 this act we associate the name of that true and faithful com]-)anion and 
 devoted wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford. The founding of this university 
 was the blending of the pride and glory of both of their lives, in a vision of 
 higher needs and deeper realities. For thirty-five years they had been 
 co-workers in all of the aflfairs of life, reaching out to noble works and 
 generous deeds. But now, in memory of their idolized son, thev lov-
 
 30 Leland Stanford Junior I'^niversity 
 
 ingly united in foundin.c: this institution as a perpetual memorial to his 
 youthful amiiition to l)etter the world hy edueation. 
 
 In January, 1885, Senator Stanford sulnnitted to the let,dslature of this 
 state an act to advance learninp:. the arts and sciences, by providing: for 
 the foundation and endowment within the state of universities and other 
 institutions of learning. This act passed both houses of the legislature 
 and was approved by the governor on March 9. 1885, — twenty-nine years 
 ago today. This act was general in its terms and in accordance with the 
 constitutional requirement, but was intended to be and was in fact the 
 foundation of this university. It is a happy coincidence that we com- 
 memorate the birth of the founder, Lelantl Stanford, and the foundation 
 act, on the same day. 
 
 The selection of the tirst i)resident for this university was a matter of 
 verv serious concern with Senator and Mrs. Stanford. Their ideal of 
 s president was as exceptional and as exalted as their ideal of the institu- 
 tion they were founding; and accordingly the whole field of eligible per- 
 sons was thoroughly canvassed, and the qualifications of each carefully 
 weighed with respect to the immediate work of organization, as well as 
 abilitv to project the lines of future development. It was from such a 
 process of weighing and sifting that the selection fell upon that distin- 
 guished scientist and able executive, David Starr Jordan. 
 
 Senator and Mrs. Stanford were very earnest and very laborious in the 
 effort to frame the outline of an institution whose teachings would be of 
 the highest character. They believed in the value of present knowl- 
 edge, but thev also believed in the value of work expended in the discover v 
 of new truths. They believed in teaching the student how to thread his 
 way through the known regions of knowledge, but they also believed in 
 extending the boundaries of knowledge into the unexplored that human- 
 ity might know and possess its inheritance. An institution to correspond 
 to such a plan must necessarily be a growth, the result of the slow process 
 of evolution. 
 
 "Every true man," says Emerson, "is a cause, a country and an age: 
 requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his 
 design.'' 
 
 We look upon this university in that light, and behold it in the process 
 of development reflecting the spirit and purpose of its founders. We see 
 now the university taking its place as a force in the march of progress, 
 advancing the standards of skill and efficiency, and equipping explorers
 
 The Founders of the University 31 
 
 for new fields of knowledge in the search for truth. We see it working 
 cut its destiny in promoting "the public welfare by exercising an influence 
 in behalf of humanity and civilization, teaching the blessings of liberty 
 regulated by law, inculcating love and reverence for the great principles 
 of government as derived from the inalienable rights of man to life, lib- 
 erty and the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 We assemble here today to recall these works, revive the prophetic 
 vision of the founders, and pay our tribute of respect to the genius of the 
 builders who, building as they knew, built for all lime.
 
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