Here was a property of three hundred and fifty acres, gradually
accumulated, partly by the demands of the Institution's growth, partly
from the necessity of controlling its surroundings. Debts had been
incurred by enlargement of the grounds, a sewer system, a water supply,
electric lighting, new buildings, new roads, and a hundred items of
improvement. The overhead expenses of Chautauqua, in the form of
interest that must be paid, were more than thirty thousand dollars every
year. How much might be accomplished if every debt could be cleared away
and the saving in interest be applied to the improvement of the property
and the enlargement of opportunities? Mr. John D. Rockefeller made an
offer of giving one-fifth of all that should be raised, up to the
desired half-million dollars. The trustees assigned to themselves
another hundred thousand of the amount, and a committee of the cottage
owners pledged $150,000 from those having property on the ground. The
plans were carefully laid, and during the season of 1919 every visitor
at Chautauqua was called upon to make his contribution.

Of all the forty-six years of Chautauqua up to 1919, this was the most
successful in its history. The attendance shown by the receipts at the
two gates--one at the Pier where the steamboats landed their thousands,
the other at the new station on the public highway where the trolley
brought the tens of thousands--were far beyond that of any former year.
The registration at the schools was sixty-two per cent. in advance of
1918, and eighteen per cent. beyond that of 1914, the best previous
year. Every hotel and boarding house inside the fence was full, and
pleas were made to cottagers to open their doors to incoming guests.
Many who could not find lodging places on the grounds found homes in the
hotels and hamlets around the Lake and came daily to the Assembly by
trolley or by boat.

During the opening week, Mr. W. W. Ellsworth gave two illustrated
lectures, one on "Theodore Roosevelt," the other "The Rise and Fall of
Prussianism," and Prof. Thomas F. Moran of Purdue University gave an
appreciation of "Mark Twain, Humorist, Reformer, and Philosopher." Miss
Maud Miner gave a popular recitation of "Comedy Scenes from
Shakespeare." It was noticed that in the very opening the Amphitheater
was filled;--what would it become at the height of the season, the first
two weeks in August?

The Devotional Hour from July 6th to 12th was held by Dr. Charles