IMAGINATION 427man had very little chance to do any talking; Dr. Harper did all of
the talking, which was as he had planned it. He went into the office
merely to plant the seed, believing that it would germinate and spring
into life in due time.
His belief was not without foundation. He had hardly returned to
his office at the University when the telephone rang. It was the streetcar
man, asking for an appointment with Dr. Harper. The two met in Dr.
Harper's office the next morning, and a check for a million dollars was
in Dr. Harper's hands an hour later.
Despite the fact that Dr. Harper was a small, rather insignificant-
looking man, it was said of him that "he had a way about him that
enabled him to get everything he went after:'
As to this "way" that he was reputed to have had-what was it?
It was nothing more nor less than his understanding of the power of
Imagination. Suppose he had gone to the office of the streetcar head
and asked for an appointment. Sufficient time would have elapsed
between the time he called and the time when he would have actually
seen this man, to have enabled the latter to anticipate the reason for
his call and also to formulate a good, logical excuse for saying no.
Suppose, again, he had opened his interview with the streetcar
man something like this: "The University is badly in need of funds and
I have come to ask your help. You have made lots of money and you
owe something to the community in which you have made it. [Which
perhaps was true.] If you will give us a million dollars, we will place
your name on a new Hall that we wish to build."
What might have been the result?
In the first place, there would have been no motive suggested that
was sufficiently appealing to sway the mind of the streetcar man. While
it may have been true that he owed something to the community from
which he had made his fortune, he probably would not have admitted
it. In the second place, he would have enjoyed the position of being
on the offensive instead of the defensive side of the proposal.