In the wake of Independence Day celebrations across the land, Americans need to unite to save and refurbish a cherished symbol oi freedom, the Statue of Liberty. Even as we look forward to the 100th birthday anniversary of Miss Liberty in 1986, National Park Service engineers warn that the aging lady’s condition has deteriorated to alarming proportions. President Reagan and a federal advisory commission have called on Americans to raise $230 million to restore the symbol of freedom and nearby Ellis Island, once-famous gateway of immigrants which has fallen into disrepair. The 151-foot Miss Liberty figure wasn’t built with govemment money in the first place, and it’s appropriate now that the improvement project by funded by the public. It was the people of France, behind the leadership of citizens banded together as the FrancoAmerican Union, who raised about $400,000 to build the statue as a gift to Americans. Within our shores, U.S. citizens donated money to pay for the pedestal. Eighty percent of the $101,091 collected in that appeal came from Americans in amounts of less than a dollar. The monument was dedicated in 1886. In the near-century since, costs have climbed vastly. Yet there’s magic in what can be accomplished when the public puts its collective shoulder to the wheel in a drive of this kind. For example, in 1925 when Old Ironsides (nickname for the time honored warship USS Constitution) was threatened with retirement because of deterioration, the people donated $712,000 toward the $983,000 needed for the rebuilding project. Even school children brought pennies, riickles and dimes “to save Old Ironsides.” Today the 185-year-old ship is still in commission. It fired its traditional 21-gun salute in Boston Harbor on the Fourth of July and prob ably will be around for its own bicentennial in 1997. For nearly 97 years the Statue of Liberty has held aloft the torch of freedom signalling a welcome to some 17 million immigrants. Time and “the elements” have taken their toll. The superstructure which supports the hand-hammered copper skin has deteriorated and is in need of bolstering; the 200,000-pound copper covering itself has been thinned by pollutants and acid rain; the torch and parts of the right amr may have to be replaced. Grandiose plans are already afoot for the Lady of Liberty’s Celltennial commemoration Oct. 28, 1906 and a special celebration during Independence week of that year. But the lady needs to be restored to her former health and resplendence in the meantime. You can help by sending a contribution to The Statue of LibertyEllis Island Foundation, lnc,, P.O. Box 1986, New York, N.Y., 10018.