the Union Oil Company so vitally affected the work of the Institute, the school's board decided to form the Bible Institute Building Com pany in July 1913 to sell bonds to finance the further construction of the school. Of these bonds Stewart wrote to his brother: "The Bible Institute had a meeting of directors yesterday, and we decided to issue 10-year, 6% bonds, for a half mil lion dollars, with which to com plete the building. Some of these we hope to use in the form of an annuity. Maybe you would like to use some of these bonds." The financial situation was still extremely critical in the summer of 1914. Stewart wrote to a friend: "We still have some $375,000 to dig up to complete these build ings. The question that is troubling us is, where are we going to find it? We have made no general can vass, in fact, we have made no canvass for funds, as most of our friends have been claiming that they have more calls than they can meet, so we* have waited for a more opportune time." Stewart was greatly disappointed because his business and Chris tian friends had not rallied to the support of the Institute in the way that he felt they should have done. In a letter to Torrey on September 18,1914 Stewart said, "One source of disappointment has been the apathy and indifference of our di rectors and other friends of the Institute. Very few have brought their tithes into the fund of the Institute, and nearly everybody seems to feel very comfortable about the work, as though it were all provided for. Now it will be necessary, apparently, to pay some of our people in bonds, or have Page 23
funds that are lying dormant, you would not like to have them go into the work of construction so as to have the classrooms available for the opening of the school in September. If we could get the work pushed to this point we could work then more leisurely, and complete the buildings as money becomes available for the purpose." Construction on the Institute buildings came to a complete standstill in 1913 due to financial reverses which necessitated the suspension of July dividends of the stocks held by the Stewarts and other large stockholders in the Union Oil Company. Because of the dependence upon Union Oil dividends, both Stewart and others of the Company who were helping to finance the construction pro gram of the Bible Institute were unable to carry through on their intentions. At that time Stewart said: "We have been going through some thing of a panic, and the Union Oil stock has sold down to 50% of the highest point that it has reached, about three years ago. This, right in the face of the most prosperous period in the history of our business, has been a good deal like a thunderclap out of a clear sky, and with adverse forces working against us it has been deemed wise to change the time of payment of dividends from dividends from monthly to semi monthly, and to make certain re trenchments which cut off our personal revenue for a few months. Our resources are not only tem porarily cut off, but our securities are practically unmarketable." Since these financial reverses of
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