Hatcher's proposal appealed very strongly to me and I took it up with 

 Mr. Junius Morgan, then on the staff of the University Library, who 

 thought that his uncle, Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, might be so far inter- 

 ested in the project as to finance it. My estimates of cost could be no 

 more than bUnd guesses, for at the outset it was impossible to say how 

 many plates and how many pages of text would be needed, but I 

 thought that, probably, $25,000 would be sufficient. Mr. Morgan gave us 

 an appointment at his house in Madison Avenue, to present our case. 

 Accordingly, at an early hour in the morning, Osborn, Junius Morgan 

 and I went there and waited in trembling anxiety, while Mr. Morgan 

 finished his breakfast. 



When he appeared, I explained our plan and Osborn made what may 

 have been the deciding argument, to the effect that the scheme which 

 we had in mind was the sort of thing that was usually done by govern- 

 ments rather than private individuals. Mr. Morgan listened, as I thought, 

 indifferently, asked a perfunctory question or two and my heart sank, 

 as I said to myself: "He cares nothing about it; he's going to turn us 

 down." Suddenly and without preface, he said: "All right, I'll do it," 

 and, in a tumult of astonishment and joy, I shot up out of my chair, 

 as though propelled by a powerful spring. When he displayed some 

 of his manuscript treasures to us, I was in such a state of exaltation 

 over my glorious good fortune that I could not focus my attention 

 upon them. 



As soon as I had Mr. Morgan's assurance that the money would be 

 forthcoming, I went to Mr. Charles Scribner, to ask whether his firm 

 would publish the reports, but he strongly advised me to be my own 

 pubUsher, as, in that way, I should escape the overhead expenses which 

 any publishing firm would be obliged to charge. I saw the force of 

 this disinterested advice and followed it as best I could, though I am 

 not sure that it would not have been wiser for me to decline that respon- 

 sibility. The first stage in the enterprise, the selection of a body of 

 collaborators, was already almost complete. Paper makers and printers 

 had to be interviewed in order to secure the best quaUty at the lowest 

 possible prices. The size of the contract made it worth the while of 

 even the big printers to go out after it. Professor Bliss Perry, who had 

 left Princeton to become the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, wrote me 

 in behalf of Houghton, Mifflin and Company and Mr. Houghton came 

 to see me for a personal interview. It was evident that he greatly desired 

 to secure the contract, chiefly, I am confident, for the honour and 

 glory of putting out such a piece of work. 



[ 238 ■} 



