Arizona republican., 1904-11-21
A WORTHY WORK
The Rehabilitation of the
 University of Virginia
WIDESPREAD MOVEMENT
The Foremost Men of the Country Are
 Actively Engaged in SupplementiDg What ThOs. Jefferson Regarded as One of His PrOudest Achievements.

New York, Nov 2O.-A movement to ! raise an endowment fund for the ! historic University of Virginia has | been organized under the direction of 1 an advisory council of a hundred CT more prominent men representing all ] parts of the United States. This fam | GUS old school was founded by Thomas 7 Jefferson and the fund. which s hOCed ! to eventually amount to S2,O00,O00, will be named 'The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Fund" The University has Trver had an endowment adequate to its needs and since the Civil Va ar Jt has been much hampered by lack of resources. Te advisory counc.; which Las taken the endowment i1 hand is composed of distinguished AG,' ica ns. among the names in it's membership being Chief Justice Fuller -Gr1Ver Cleveland, EIihu Root, Se .-etarv Taft, Admiral Dewey, Robert T. Li1-oIn. St. C!aI McKelway. Cardinal Glbb1-s, Richard OIney, pr. s. We;r Mitchell, and numerous others, while the late Senator HOar was also a member President Roosevelt is Interested in the project and has indOrsed it in the following letter to Thomas Nelson ' citation of the University of Virginia: White House, Washington. June 29, 1904. | My Dear MT. Page:
 l I have received your letter about the I movement to raise a Thomas Jeffer- son memorial fund as an endowment | for the University of Virginia. l most l earnestly wish you success. and l feel that the moment you have chosen is most Cpportune, owing to the reawak- ] ened interest in Jefferson's s great work 1 caused by the centenary of the Louis | jana purchase Your work should commend itself nos only to those who
 are especially interested in the cause l of higher education in the south, but to all who are interested in the cause of higher education throughout our l country. You need a large sum for such a memorial. and I cannot help | feeling that you will get it if the most 1 eminent men Of the country, il-rc@pec- tive of section or party, can nave tLe
 matter laid before them and are s:lt s- fled. as they should be satisfied, as to the. great merit of the moven enJ-
 The University of Virginia occupies
 a unique position among our edJca-
 tional institutions. On the first board of visitors to the institution were Gcf- ferscn. Madison and Monroe. The uni
 versity was one of JeffersOn's cherish
 ed ideas a project which occupied Lis
 whole time and attention during the latter years of his life. IL has never had an endowment requisite 70 it's barest needs. Now in the great e posi-
 ton at St Louis the country is pro
 claiming the centennial of the achieve
 ment in which Jefferson took the lead ing part; the achievement wnicl, in the purchase of the then territory of Louisiana definitely established this country as the greatest nation e tle
 western hemisphere. Surely, this eel
 ebration should not be brought to a
 close without leaving on the ration some other mark than the memory of
 it's grandeur. The movement 10 this end can most properly take the form of a monumentNf forever to IeffersOn's s genius monument far more endur- ing than bronze, and which will fCiy ; realize one of it's greatest ideals.
 It would be good thing if 1he. pee pie of this country, north and south, ! east and west, should come forward and establish Jefferson fund Cor the ! university as a fit continuation for the great celebration of the present year. 5 Jefferson wrote his own epitaph to be
 inscribed on the granite shaft that marks his grave at Monticello. In this epitaph he did not recite the offices he had held. but the three deeds he had done which he esteemed of most worth ( to his fellow men, and the epitaph runs
 as follows:
 Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, ! author of the Declaration of American ! Independence. the statute of Virginia ( for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia"
 The American people can surely be l appealed to with confidence to carry . out Jefferson's work in the way which 5 he would himself have regarded as most gratifying. by endowing. as it < should be endowed, the noble institu-
 tion of learning which he founded.
 earnestly hope for the success Of your
 movement.
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The following circular has been is
 sued by the advisory council:
 Ut bears the stamp of his genius l and will be noble monument to his
 fame. James Madison.
 To All Those Interested in the Higher
 Education:
 In this centennial year Of "The Louisiana Purchase no more fitting l and gracious tribute could be paid to % the vast services rendered the country . by Thomas Jefferson than for the American people to unite in raising a s memorial fund for the permanent en- } dowment of his hcnored foundation. } the University of Virginia.
 ? To the establishment of this great
 institution, which introduced into this l country. early in the last century, Q many of the features of the condnen- Q tai universities of Europe, Nr. Jefcer- son devoted the latter part If his life. ''Our university" he wrote 'is the last of my mortal cares and the last service I can render my country And l when he framed his own epitaph. omit 1 ting all mention of the great offices , he had held, he deemed it worthy to g be ranked beside the authorship of
 the Declaration of Independence and