Kresge's Gifts

There were two questions. This was the first: Did Sebastian Spering Kresge, multi-millionaire proprietor of 5 & 10 cent stores, famed philanthropist and supporter of the Anti-Saloon League, devout Methodist Episcopalian churchman, commit a breach of conduct with Miss Gladys Ardelle Fish, with whom he arranged a rendezvous at the door of a fashionable Manhattan Church, and with whom detectives later discovered him to be consorting in a nearby apartment? The answer to this question, determined last week by the judicial decision upon Mrs. Kresge's uncontested suit for divorce, was yes. The second question, raised by the answer to the first, was as follows: Should the Anti-Saloon League keep the $500,000 which Sebastian Spering Kresge had given it? The answer to this question, determined last week by General Superintendent Francis Scott McBride, was also yes.

The answer to the second question produced an inquisitive uproar. Doubtless, the Anti-Saloon League needed the money, doubtless Mr. Kresge's conduct in giving the Anti-Saloon League half a million dollars was highly to be praised. Yet, would $500,000 spent in anti-saloon propaganda ("educational purposes") be sufficient to counteract the unfortunate effect produced upon those persons who would instantly suppose that if a man commits adultery with, as it were, his left hand while he commits philanthropy with his right, the man is a hypocrite, and the organization which accepts his bounty is a partner in his hypocrisy? A religious issue was immediately raised. Said the Northwestern Christian Advocate: "Can it [the Anti-Saloon League] take the money without compromising, in the public mind, the individual and collective moral sincerity of the churches which compose it? Frankly, we do not see how it can."

Others did see how it could. Thomas Nicholson, Detroit Bishop, president of the Anti-Saloon League of America, explained that the Kresge's private morals had nothing to do with the case. Said Bishop Nicholson:

"Kresge did not give the $500,000 to the Anti-Saloon League as a philanthropic gesture. It was purely a business proposition with him. He saw that prohibition increased his own income, that it brought more nickels and dimes into his stores, and so he devoted $500.000 in aiding this cause which so directly affects him."

The Rev. James Thomas, Detroit Methodist Episcopal minister, had a very pithy statement ready: "In this case I should say, the thought to be applied is, that the Lord gave it, though the devil brought it, so the league should keep it."

If Sebastian Kresge resented being indirectly referred to by a Methodist Episcopal clergyman as the devil, if he felt that ingratitude should forfeit charity, he did not allow his actions to express his feelings. Instead, he presented $725,000 to the Detroit Methodist Children's Home Society, with which to build an orphanage for small children. It was to be a new and charming orphanage, with small cottages instead of wards and corridors, with married couples, when possible, to act as father and mother to children who have none of their own. This gift was accepted like the other, with avidity, but the Children's Home Society expressed its gratitude with fewer insulting epithets.

It was reported that girls who work in Kresge Stores took a frank and unwholesome delight in the misfortunes of their "boss;" that it pleased them to know that the man whose name was painted with spotless gold upon a thousand red facades, whose fame for righteousness and reformation was as large as his fame for wealth, was after all no better than themselves; mayhap, not even as good. A year and a half ago, Kresge wrote to Senator James Couzens, asking him for a $1,000 contribution to a girl's home. With a larger check, the senator sent Kresge some advice. This was the advice: "I do not know whether you have daughters,* but I do know that if you had any, you would not want to see them working for $7.52 a week [the average wage for girls in Kresge stores, according to a report scrutinized by Senator Couzens].... I think you could do a lot more for girls by paying them better wages than you can by subscribing money to rescue them after they get into trouble. . . ."

*There are three Kresge daughters: Catherine, Ruth, Anne. Howard and Stanley are Kresge sons.