Hamilton Fish, the president of the board of trustees of Columbia College, makes complaint, in a recent interview, that the claims of Columbia to popular notice in the shape of gifts of money have been overlooked. Mr. Fish says: "Columbia College has only had two gifts in the form of money, and one of them is of no avail yet. * * * There has been an occasional scholarship established; but compare this record with that of Harvard and other large colleges. They are constantly receiving large contributions.

"I attribute this lack of interest toward the college partly to its being in this city. It is lost sight of in this centre of business, fashion, and pleasure, surrounded as it is by other institutions of learning, libraries and museums. Why, Harvard is the great thing in Boston, as Yale is in New Haven; and the town of Princeton would be unknown were it not for Nassau Hall. Such a state of affairs does not exist here, and yet Columbia is doing a great work with the means at her command." The accounting for this lack of interest by saying Columbia is lost sight of, "surrounded as it is by other institutions of learning, libraries, and museums" is peculiar, as one would expect Harvard to disappear from public view for similar reasons. Mr. Fish seems to have forgotten Tufts, Boston University, Institute of Technology, and the "Annex."

But a better reason for the indifference toward Columbia is rightly attributed by the Nation to the secrecy which envelopes the management of the financial affairs of that college. Harvard and Yale have recognized this fact and of late have published reports exhibiting the condition of their finances and explaining their wants. A similar move on the part of Columbia would probably result to its advantage.