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Caption: Book - History of the University (Powell)
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Struggle for Location 1865-1867 217 coarse of five weeks he thus interviewed nearly forty members out of a total of eighty-five, and secured pledges, slightly if at all qualified, from perhaps fifteen. At the capital he made himself acquainted with Governor Oglesby and Lieutenant-Governor gross, both of whom listened to him with interest. As the next step was vital in the later success of Champaign county it is best to let Mr. Griggs describe it. He said many years later that he "saw the Republican State Chairman, Mr. Babcock, and the Democratic State Chairman and induced them to become paid servants of the Champaign County Committee."8 The money to finance such propositions had already been raised in Champaign county, in part at any rate, therefore, Mr. Griggs was conscious that whenever his persuasive tongue failed to win over those whose influence he needed, he had other means at hand that were even more effective. Other things were done on this trip about the state that give an insight into the shrewd methods employed. In his tour Griggs learned that a greater number of special interests would be before the coming session of the legislature than ever before in Illinois history: Chicago was anxious to secure legislation in regard to Jackson and other parks and the boulevard system, and for the deepening of the Chicago river; southern Illinois wanted a projected new penitentiary; Peoria and Springfield were rivals for the new state house, although it was commonly felt that Peoria had little chance. He noted these ambitions as useful in future bargaining. At Pekin and at Danville he urged that the location of the college at Urbana would assist the prosperity of the railway then planned. Elsewhere he pointed out that Jacksonville already had a number of institutions of a charitable sort, that Bloomington had the normal coL lege, that Chicago would grow fast enough without such a gift, and that none of the cities could offer such agricultural advantages as Urbana-Champaign. No other county made a similar preliminary canvass. Cham* paign county sent delegates to conventions and kept in touch with the agricultural and horticultural societies, and although they "From a memorandum by Clark B. Griggs; manuscript at the University of Illinois, appendix, p. 515.
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