1893] Settling the Estate 



still undivided a sum upward of three millions 

 would be shortly turned over in full, Stanford 

 borrowed about two millions at the bank to cover 

 expenses incurred in the building and maintenance 

 of the University. Shortly before the latter' s death, An 

 however, Huntington notified him that the rail- 

 road could not pay the promised sum, it being, in 

 fact, already loaned out! The only explanation of 

 this apparent breach of faith was that "it helps 

 the standing of a railroad company to be known to 

 have money at interest." 



[Huntington, as is well known, maintained a rigid 

 code of ethics of his own framing. It was, how- 

 ever, a code of power, currently described about 

 as follows: "Whatever is not nailed down is mine. 

 Whatever I can pry loose is not nailed down."] 



Stanford now faced a crisis in his relations to the 

 bank, a matter that preyed upon his mind and af- 

 fected his health. Death threw his estate into the 

 jurisdiction of the Probate Court, a necessary pro- 

 cedure protecting the property from attack by in- 

 dividual creditors, but at the same time debarring 

 the University, as such, from participating in the 

 receipts until all indebtedness could be canceled. 

 And while as a "going concern" the liabilities of 

 the Stanford estate (borrowings and legacies 

 about eight millions in all) were not inordinate, as 

 property to be settled with a view to retiring from 

 business, its condition was desperate, as will later 

 appear. And so began a long struggle to protect it, 

 clear it of debt, and make it secure as the university 

 endowment. This effort lasted for six years, mean- 

 while testing the devotion and determination of 

 the surviving founder to an almost incredible ex- 



C 479 3 



