To the editor of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung:

The readers of your paper are well aware of the fact that the beginning has been made of what promises to be, eventually, one of the best universities, one of the outstanding institutions of learning. Who can tell? Perhaps in fifty years it will equal the most famous universities of Europe. And who deserves the credit for this beginning?....

Are there not some among the German millionaires, who feel prompted to follow the splendid example of M. Field, Cobb, Ryerson, and others? We have among the Chicago citizenry a number of Germans, who are blessed with abundance of earthly possessions. We also know that these men are noble and generous and that they fully understand the requisites for the common good. They are aware of their duties towards intellectual culture and progress in particular. Our wealthy Germans should not deny themselves the privilege of furnishing factual evidence of their being Americanized in the deeper and finer sense of the word, by making generous contributions; inasmuch as this institution is being established for the general welfare of our citizens.

Respectfully