The Days of a Man 



1893 



Defect in 

 enabling 

 act 



I am about to deal; and second, a defect in the 

 enabling act of the state legislature on which the 

 endowment grant rested, a flaw which brought the 

 latter into conflict with the Constitution of Cali- 

 fornia. 



By the provisions of Stanford's will the University 

 was to receive two and one-half million dollars 

 outright, each known relative (about twenty-five 

 in number) one hundred thousand, his favorite 

 brother, Thomas Welton Stanford of Melbourne, 

 Australia, three hundred thousand, and Mrs. Stan- 

 ford the remainder of the estate, it being his desire, 

 as I have said, that she should have the privilege 

 of directing and completing their common memorial 

 gift. The payment of debts, amounting in all to 

 about three millions, having legal precedence, legacies 

 and endowment as well had to wait; and even the 

 relatively small sum bequeathed directly to the Uni- 

 versity was not available for several years. Upon 

 receipt of his portion, however, Welton Stanford 

 immediately turned back half of it to be used in 

 the erection of a library building, the rest being 

 later given for an art gallery and other specific 

 purposes. 



Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Stan- 

 ford remained in close seclusion for two weeks. 

 She had very important decisions to make. The 

 rbe panic worst panic in America foreseen, as I have said, 

 by Mr Stanford was already imminent. All in- 

 comes from business had ceased. Beyond a collec- 

 tion of rare jewels presented to her from time to 

 time by her husband she possessed nothing but 

 the community estate; this she could draw upon 

 for personal maintenance only until all obligations 



C 494 3 



Welton 

 Stanford 



