UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1936-11-13_Page-049

47 December 28, 1935 - Once again Egypt was in the headlines and we could emphasize in our letters the necessity for sane leadership backed by moral stamina. February 15, 1936 - A News Bulletin was issued containing items of in-terest to our University friends, with a plea from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for an increase in the number of gifts. Is it necessary to add that each approach was accompanied by a tactful appeal for funds? Supplementing this general mail campaign were personal letters written by Dr. Watson from Egypt and similar letters written from Philadelphia, asking for support for specific objects in our budget. The vast amount of correspond-ence carried on by Dr. Watson with friends in America would not have been possible had it not been for the intelligent cooperation of Miss Lister, a member of the staff in our Philadelphia office who acted as Dr. Watson's sec-retary for the college year 1935-36. Dr. David Latshaw, Dr. Cleland and Mr. Badeau assisted in making personal calls. The results of these personal visits were moderately successful. It is important that we use the men from Cairo in this cultivation work because our friends have a chance to hear the story from a new angle and because it does no harm to have the men who are spending the money get an idea of how difficult it is to procure. Dr. Cleland was especially fortunate in securing from Mr. Jeremiah Milbank of New York City the funds for the purchase of a new moving picture projector with sound equipment to replace the antiquated silent equipment now in use in the University auditorium. At the same time Mr. Milbank is generously presenting to the University a sound edition of the famous "King of Kings" film. We cannot give too much credit to the Trustees for their splendid coopera-tion during the year 1935-36. Some who were unable to give as largely as they wished, wrote personal letters and made personal calls on friends and relatives with the result that our University received several hundred dollars from this source alone. A trip through the far West proved most encouraging. Visits were made to Los Angeles and Pasadena, Albuquerque, Wichita, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Chicago. The cordial cooperation of our trustee, Mr. Pardee Erdman, and other friends in California, leads one to believe that this section of the country should be in-cluded in Dr. Watson's itinerary for 1936-37. With a standing invitation from Dr. Robert Freeman for Dr. Uatson to speak in the Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, it would be a mistake not to take advantage of this offer. Last year we "pointed with pride" to the fact that we had been able to re-duce the interest rate on our bank loans from 5% to 3%. At the same time, we "Viewed with alarm" the size of these loans. Dr. tatson has already indicated that during 1935-36 we wiped out all indebtedness on our city property so that it is now absolutely unencumbered. If we figured our land on the basis of !65 per square meter, the price recently paid to us by the City of Cairo and the buildings at their present book value, the city property would be valued at 1,],222,000 instead of the ík591,000 figure carried on our balance sheet