An effort is being made through the columns of the press to celebrate the coming birthday of Washington, by the donation of a fund to be raised by voluntary subscriptions to the Washington and Lee University. A few years ago a number of representative men, who were interested in higher education, formed a "Centennial Organization for the Better Endowment of Washington and Lee University." The object of this organization was to raise a fund of a million dollars to endow this leading university of the South. Of this sum, about $400,000 has been raised, one half being received from citizens of the North. The university is located at Lexington, Va., in the center of large coal fields and in the neighborhood of extensive iron ore mines, where every facility will be afforded students to put into practice the scientific knowledge acquired in the class room. To aid in the establishment of a thorough school of mines, some $200,000 is needed, and as Washington took so much interest in this particular university, it seems peculiarly fitting that his birthday should be made the occasion of such a gift as the one in contemplation. "It was when Washington was in Philadelphia, in 1796, as president," says Progress, "that he made the munificent gift of $50,000 to Liberty Hall Academy, now Washington and Lee University; and it was upon Pennsylvania's soil, and in the Sacred Hall of Independence, that the Centennial Organization, for adding to its usefulness, was perfected in 1876. And the fact that Washington never received pecuniary compensation for his services in the army, leaves a debt to be paid to his memory by the American people; and as he had a well-defined plan in regard to the establishment of a university in a central part of the United States, for the benefit of the youth of all parts of the country, and as Washington and Lee University is the only seat of learning in existence which received his personal aid and encouragement, and is being developed so as to realize to the country all the practical benefits of Washington's plan, it seems eminently appropriate that the people everywhere should contribute, on the anniversary of his birth, to make the university a monument worthy of his name."