It was announced on Saturday last at the meeting of
the Committee for the establishment of a Birmingham University that Mr. Andrew Carnegie had very generously promised £50,000, on condition that the money should be used for the endowment of scientific teaching and study connected with the local industries. The gift of so large a sum of money by a patriotic American, to be used in encouraging industries which at many points compete with the industries with which Mr. Carnegie's name is connected, shows great liberality and width of view. Mr. Andrew Carnegie and the colossal business developed by him have of late been much before the public, owing to the fact that he has just sold out his interest in the Homestead Works for £40,000,000. Mr. Carnegie is hardly likely to invest at less than 3 per cent., and therefore his income must be, we suppose, something like 21,200,000 a year. There must be a great deal of spending in an income of that kind, even if one's subscriptions are on the scale of Mr. Carnegie's gift to Birmingham. It is interesting to note that an anonymous Birmingham donor, who first gave £25,000 to the University, has now raised his gift to £37,000. The local patriotism of Birmingham is undoubtedly a thing of which the whole country may be proud.
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