Address by
Henry Schoolcraft Hulbert
From the services of the dedication of
THE TRACY W. MCGREGOR ROOM
In the ALDERMAN LIBRARY of the University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia
By the terms of his last will and testament, he left the following bequest:
“I give and bequeath all of my books not given and bequeathed to my wife in the preceding paragraph, to McGregor Fund to give the same so far as they may be accept- able to such college or university, singular or plural , as said McGregor Fund may in its discretion select. Any books not appropri- ate for such a gift to be disposed of by McGregor Fund as it may determine. The Fund is hereby authorized to impose such Conditions upon any gift as it may in its discretion determine, and may if it so desires provide a modest but suitable endowment for the care of such books and for reasonable additions to any library so founded or added to, making such provision out of the principal or income of residue of my estate. I would be particularly pleased to assist in the founding of a library of American history in a small institution of higher learning, having fine ideals of education and reasonable means and likelihood of achieving those ideals.”
The Trustees of McGregor Fund, in attempting to carry out his wishes as expressed in the preceding paragraph of his will, came to the unalterable conclusion that Mr. McGregor, had his life been spared, would eventually have established that library of American history of the University of Virginia; not alone because of its age, traditions, and the contribution it has made to education, but rather because of the intellectual leadership it has given to the South, which has contributed so much to the early history of our Country, though it is true that none of the great libraries of American history are located in the South. So it was not merely environment, but rather the qualities I have mentioned that appealed to that great freedom of spirit which was one of the outstanding qualities of Mr. McGregor. Therefore, in 1938 the Trustees of the Fund author ized the officers of the University to announce thisgift.
Charlottesville is a long, long way from Detroit, and probably few people in the State of Virginia have any real knowledge of Tracy W. McGregor, his life, his civic strength, and the work which he accomplished; and since we hope his memory is to be kept alive through the medium of this gift to the University, it seems fitting that some understanding of the man himself, his character, and his interests should be made available to you.
Mr. McGregor was a grandson of the Reverend John McGregor, a well known Scotch Presbyterian minister, who came to the United States early in the nineteenth century to be the pastor of a settlement of Scottish immigrants who had settled in northern New York. His father, Thomas was the youngest son. (There were six children) Shortly after their marriage in 1864, Thomas and his wife turned their faces to the West and settled on a farm at Berlin Heights, Ohio, where Mr. Tracy W. McGregor was born. Some years later, we find the family in Toledo, where Thomas McGregor had founded a music business. (Mr. Tracy McGregor himself was a great lover of music and played delightfully.) After some years, the father abandoned the music enterprise to found a small mission for destitute and homeless men, and the venture proved so successful that he planned a chain of missions. In furtherance of this plan, he moved his family to Detroit, where in 1890 he opened his second mission at 69 Larned Street. In 1891 he died, and Tracy, then in his second year at Oberlin College, came home to find a family to care for and a mission that needed a head. It was a difficult job for a young man scarcely 22 years of age; but clothed with a deep loyalty to his father’s convictions, plus his own studious method of attacking a problem, he succeeded so well in his task that before the end of the century, McGregor Mission and become McGregor Institute, housed in its own building especially constructed for the purpose, with a reputation throughout the Middle West for the character of its work. It finally became one of the largest and most intelligently managed instituitions for transient and homeless men in the country. Shortly before it was closed because the Federal Government had undertaken the responsebility for such work, a man who had a flair for determining results made an examination of its records and found that something more then seven hundred thousand different men had fallen directly or indirectly under the McGregor influence.
About thirty years ago, Mr. McGregor wrote a little booklet which he called “Twenty Thousand Men” in which he made this observation, which somewhat shows his creed:
“One should remember that the mystery of human failure will be more clearly disclosed by first-hand knowledge of one individual than by a casual acquaintance with many. By sympathetic searching into the history of the man who does odd jobs for you, or whose instability as a worker in your office frets you, such original and independent insight may be had. Truth, thus directly conveyed by living personality, will impressively influence one’s whole attitude toward mankind. It will enrich the soul; it will relieve class isolation, and beget patience, kindliness, humility, and breadth.”
I cannot close this part of my subject without quoting a paragraph from a memorial resolution written by on of the “Mission men” who had been raised from the depths that human individuals will sometimes sink to, by Mr. McGregor’s friendship and influence:
“ Mr. Tracy McGregor had the heart of a woman, but the sound judgment of a well seasoned man of affairs. He might be termed a practical idealist, to the tens of thousands of destitute and discouraged men came under the influence of his inspiring personality, and many of them now in Detroit or scattered throughout the United States and Canada owe their rehabilitation, present position, and prosperity to his kindly efforts.”
At the tme he wrote this, he had for many years held a high position in the Government of Detroit and had been elected term and term because of the belief of the people in his character and honesty. Mr. McGregor, who had real Scotch humor, liked to tell some of his amusing experiences. I remember one that concerned his early efforts to build his Board of Trustees for the Institute. He had gone to the office of a very prosperous Detroit merchant to try to interest him, and told the story of the missions work. The merchant’s morning had been somewhat disturbed, and turning angrily to Tracy, he said:
“Damn you, McGregor, and your whole Mission. I wish you were both at the bottom of the river,”
Mr. McGregor said, “You know, I was so afraid he might do something he would afterward be sorry for, that I stayed with him for an hour or so, and when I rose to go, he handed a check for a hundred dollars and said, “I’ll send one of those the first of each month’, and then after a moment’s hesitation, ‘If you insist, I suppose I’ll have to go on your Board.”
This man became one of Detroit’s outstanding philanthropists and a civic leader who gave unstintingly of his time and resources.
In 1901, Mr. McGregor married Katherine Whitney, youngest daughter of the late David C.Whitney, a man of large business and financial interests, and during the next several years we find Mr. and Mrs. McGregor busily engaged in an endless number of private charities which they jointly sponsored. Amongst these might be mentioned the care and education of underprivileged children, From this group, more then fifty of these children, long since grown to manhood and womanhood, attended Mr. McGregor’s funeral. Bay Court, on the shores of Lake St. Claire, some 30 miles from Detroit, a rest haven for underprivileged and over worked mothers and their children, which is still doing a splendid work, is another.
About this time, Mr. McGregor had become much interested in finding a way to combat the usurious rates of interest that were being charged by chattel mortgage and small loan companies to needy people. His answer to that problem was typical of his methods. In 1906, in company with a number of his friends, he organized the Provident Loan Society for this purpose. It was not a charity, but a business enterprise, that through thrift and good management cut its costs to where small loans could be made for a reasonable rate of interest. Its competition forced the other companies to meet its rate. The Provident Loan is still doing a thriving business, and in Michigan it controls the interest rates in its field.
Mr. McGregor’s interest and work in charitable and civic fields had finally brought him to certain conclusions concerning things that he felt should be accomplished for the good of the community. So with this thought in mind, in the summer of 1910, he wrote a letter to a few of his friends, proposing a meeting. The purport of this letter is interesting. I quote a paragraph:
“Why not let one’s friendships and close associations develop around a purpose to do good? To this end, let us get together a group of congenial men with serious aims, and without expecting over much at first, or perhaps at any time, let us going for a long pull together. We will put our hearts and brains into it, and when needed, our money, and will work together for any good thing that seems possible and advisable to do.”
As a result of this letter, there gathered about him some twenty Detroit men, who wanted to hear him discuss some of these “good things” and the possibility of solving them. This group was com- posed of lawyers, businessmen, engineers, doctors, public officials, and men interested in civic affairs. They met with Mr. McGregor each week on Thurs- Day noon in the old Pontchartain Hotel which was successor to Detroit’s historic “Russell House”, and began a study of his various projects. Rarely was there an absentee, for to them the Thursday meeting was a first order of business. I want to mention some of the major projects he suggested for con- sideration:
What, he asked, should be done to provide a constructive program for the care of persons affected with epilepsy, who crowd the County jails, the alms- houses, and worst of all, intermingle with the feeble-minded children in the State school at Lapeer?
What can be done to better conditions in the Detroit House of Correction, an institution for mis- demeanants, with its high brick walls and armed guards, located in the central part of out city, which is about to be supplanted by a new, larger, but still old-fashioned prison, for which the plans have been completed and paid for?
What improvement is possible in the adminis- tration of poor relief, in the establishment of better case-work and more prompt investigations and greater economy of administration?
How is justice in the police courts of Detroit being administered? Is any attention paid to first offenders as distinguished from the habitual criminal? Is the past life of each of these men, his family history, his mentality, and his work record being considered before sentence?
Is it possible to interest men of character and ability to accept public office and aid in increased efficiency in local and state government, especially in such positions as the State Legislature, the City Council, the Judiciary, and our School Board of forty-two members?
Why has Michigan never provided any system of probation for adult offenders? Are there consti- tutional of other reasons why this should not be done?
Why has the city never replaced the burned bridge from Detroit to Belle Isle, which is the city’s largest playground, so that the poor and their children can have ready access to it?
What ought to be done about the nine teachers who have been given Sabbatical year and sent abroad to study, at half pay, and who are stranded because the City Controller refuses to acknowledge the action of the Board and pay their expenses of fifty dollars per month?
Can we forestall the trouble that New York and other large Eastern cities are having with their tenements and housing problems by acting now, before tenements and bad housing begin to appear?
These were some of the major questions that he asked. One by one the answer to each was found, a decision made, and quietly, and with- out publicity, the remedy was provided.
An enabling act was drawn and passed by the legislature and given immediate effect on May 2, 1913, providing for a farm colony for the care, education, and treatment of persons afflicted with epilepsy. A commission appointed by the governor acquired a site of 1500 acres in Tuscola County, and by 1915 the first building was opened. By 1917, the Michigan Farm Colony at Wahjamega had provision for the care of a thousand persons, under excellent conditions; and the Michigan Home for the Feeble-minded, the county infirmaries and jails no longer housed the difficult cases.
Mr. McGregor himself conducted a survey of the Detroit House of Correction, to determine the character of its inmates, the work that was being done with them, the type of management, and what was needed for a more constructive program. As a result, the new plans which the City had adopted were destroyed, a farm was bought some twenty-two miles from Detroit, simple buildings were erected, and the old prison abandoned. It may be interesting to state that although the only walls at this institution were ordinary farm fences, the number of escapes in the first year was less then from the old penal institution in the same length of time.
A man skilled in the practical workings of poor relief was brought to Detroit a the expense of the group, and a careful study made of the system of administration of relief then in vogue in Detroit. As a result, a complete reorganization of this depart- ment was had.
A study made of the operations of the police courts resulted in these courts being abolished and the jurisdiction of misdemeanant cases transferred to the Recorders Court, under much improved condi- tions. Provision was made for a psychiatric clinic, and a statute providing for the establishment of a probation system was drawn by Mr. Frank D. Eaman, an eminent lawyer member of the group, presented to the Legislature, passed, and a system established in the Recorders Court. It is perhaps worth a mention that Mr. Edwin Denby, also a member of the group, who afterward became Secretary of the Navy, volunteered and accepted the position of chief probation officer to get this pro- gressive step under way. A great deal of work was done and something accomplished in interesting a more competent type of man to accept public office. The unwieldy forty- two man school board was reduced to seven, a citizens’ committee was formed with Mr. McGregor as chairman, and a campaign started which resulted in the election of an excellent group of business and professional men to make up the first small board. This reform became permanent, and today the members of this board are men of the highest character. Some excellent men were placed in other key posi- tions, but it must be acknowledged that this proved to be the most difficult problem placed before the group, and is yet to be solved, although the Detroit Citizens League, which Mr. McGregor was in- strumental in founding, has accomplished much in providing accurate information for the use of voters.
The problem of a new bridge to Belle Isle was turned over to the engineers in the group. Detroit was in the midst of one of its depressions, but under the leadership of Mr. Francis C. McMath, the builder of the great Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence River, and with the aid of other members of the group, whom he interested in this venture, a bridge was constructed which lasted through many years, until a more prosperous city was able to replace it with the present structure. the manner in which this was accomplished is a most interesting story by itself.
The pressure from the peoples demand for an inexpensive method of taking their families to Belle Isle had become so great that the City Council decided to see what could be done. Accordingly, the Council appropriated one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose. Plans and specifications for a simple but useful temporary bridge were prepared ad bids asked for. To the great disappointment of everyone, the bids ran well over one hundred and fifity thousand dollars. As I have said, the City’s financial situation was grave, and the proposition seemed hopeless, when Mr. McGregor brought the matter before the Thursday group. A long dis- cussion was had, and Mr. McMath volunteered to head a committee to study the plans and decide what could be done.
As a result, the plans were modified without impairing the safety or usefulness of the bridge, and new bids asked for. This time the lowest bid was approximately one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars.
At this point, Mr. McGregor and his group again came into the picture, swore the contractor to secrecy, and offered to hold him harmless. He accordingly put in a new bid of $99,990.00. The bridge was built and many years afterward, when an old member of the Council by accident learned of the story, he introduced a resolution in the Council and the money was refunded.
The teachers’ problem was solved by the group advancing the money to the Board of Education, and the teachers sent notes for these advancements. Some time afterward these notes were redeemed.
The housing problem was solved by Mr. McGregor organizing the Detroit Housing Associa- tion, which began work to improve the building code. The Thursday Group entered this field by engaging Mr. Lawrence Veiller, a nationally known expert in housing problems. He came to Detroit for a week out of each month for a period of ten months, and worked with the City Engineers and others in the revision and enlargement of a com- prehensive building code which was adopted by the City.
All this was accomplished over a series of years, and present with us today are a number of the men who took part in this work with Mr. McGregor. I cannot help but believe their blood tingles a bit as memories of those days are reawakened.
Towards the close of 1916 a study was begun of the efficiency of various private charities of the City. some seventy of which were then in existence, to determine how much overlapping of effort there was, how wasteful was the method universally in use to raise the money necessary to carry on their work , whether some of these organizations could be con- solidated in the interest of economy and good work- manship, and whether there were some that perhaps should be eliminated. But in the midst of this planning the County was plunged into the World War, and the Thursday Group, as it had come to be known, went on its way, each individual doing his humble part in the service of his Country.
In 1919, one by one they began to reappear, tired, older but with the same spirit, to find that their last problem had been made easy for them. Throughout the period of the War Mr. McGregor had been the head of the Patriotic Fund in Detroit and through his leadership, the need for sacrifice and generous giving had been taught to the people as one of the lessons of the War. As a result, the Detroit Community Fund was organized as a central body, to raise each year the money needed for the operations of all of the charities of the City, and to act as a controller of their budgets, Mr. McGregor was for many years its president and coincident with this he formed the “Community Union” the purpose of which was to bring all of the charities of the city into a closely knitted group which would come to a common understanding of each other’s problems, join in the elimination of overlapping effort, have a more economical program of work, and plan for the common good.
Late in 1925, Mr. and Mrs. McGregor created McGregor Fund, which was to serve as the admin- istrator of their charitable and educational giving.
Shortly after this, Mr. McGregor turned his attention to a problem which had been on his mind for a long time --- the possibility of a more construc- tive type of education for the higher grade feeble-minded children. He believed that many of those with intellectual quotients of fifty-five and better, if subjected to a different type of educational process, might be returned to society as useful citizens. To bring this about, he began in company with some members of the group a series of meetings with supervisors and members of the Board of County Auditors to explain to the them the value of taking this type of child out of what was, in the main, merely custodial care. His rare ability as a teacher caused an early adoption of the plan.
Mr. McGregor himself headed as educational committee which held meetings in various parts of the city, and members of the City Council, Super- visors and County Auditors became members of the speakers committee. They addressed church and club meetings and Parent-Teacher Associations.
A bond issue was passed by an overwhelming majority, and in the brief period of three years the Wayne County Training School was a reality, with Mr. McGregor president of its board of control. The success of this enterprise is best gathered from its reports on research and education
Almost before the completion of the Wayne County Training School, Mr. McGregor had inter- ested some of his friends in a study of the conditions in the State hospitals for the insane, especially as it related to the number of available beds and the crowding of inmates, which at that time was so serious a problem. This survey was completed and published in late 1928. It was disclosed that despite a rapidly increasing population, little or nothing had been done since the War to increase bed capacity, with a natural result of the rooms and dormitories being greatly overcrowded and a long waiting list confronting each of the hospitals. Accordingly, im- mediatley after the fall elections of 1928, Mr. McGregor attacked this problem by calling meetings of the newly elected Wayne County Delegation to the State Legislature. These meetings continued from week to week until just prior to the opening of the legislative session on January 1, 1929 . Dur- ing this period, he had quite thoroughly demon- strated to the legislators the very great need for increasing the capacity of the State hospitals. This educational process was very well done, and the delegation had been made to realize that the prob- lem was too big to be completely solved in any one biennium. A great deal of work had also been done on this same problem through articles in State papers of an educational nature.
When the legislature opened, the Wayne County delegation proposed a ten year plan to build up the hospital capacity to a point where it meets the needs of the state. They found support from many other counties of the State. This resulted in the intro- duction of a bill to provide approximately twenty- five millions of dollars over a period of six years, with the realization of course that the appropriation had to be reconfirmed in each succeeding legislature during that period. The bill as finally passed carried appropriations of five million, seven hundred thousand dollars in each of the years 1930 and 1931; five million, nine hundred thousand in 1932; and six million dollars in 1933. The struggle had been a long one and presented many difficulties, but the bill was finally passed by both houses , and upon the occasion of its approval by the Governor, he endorsed the following comment in his report to the legis- lature:
“This bill is the result of a session-long struggle. I must accept it or neglect the protection of society in this State. I re- peat. I have accepted in this bill items that do not entirely meet my approval, in order that we may get a start on one of the greatest pieces of humanitarian work upon which Michigan has ever embarked.”
As a result of this Act, the new State Hospital for the Insane, at Ypsilanti, was constructed in the first biennium, and some relief was given to the School at Lapeer and the Farm Colony at Wahjamega, in 1932
The sudden collapse of business in 1933 caused the then Governor to return all of the balance of the appropriation into the general fund, so that the plan was never completely carried out. However, the educational work done has been of great value in the years that have elapsed since we came out of what we were pleased to call the Great Depression.
Now we come to another phase of Mr. McGregor’s life. His physicians had for some time warned him of the danger to his health arising from the tremendous activity and nervous strain to which he had been subjecting himself. In this opinion Mrs. McGregor joined, and realizing that he could not protect himself if he remained in an environ- ment in which he found so much to do that was worth while, Mr. and Mrs. McGregor took up a temporary residence in Washington, leaving to the Trustees of McGregor fund the task of carrying on as much as possible of his charitable and educational giving.
Though not forsaking his interest in the field of philanthropy, he turned this newly acquired leisure time to his old love – books. He had long been greatly interested in Early American history, and believed that through a wider knowledge of this subject much could be accomplished in reawakening a national pride in American institutions, and of combating much of the false philosophy that has been so prevalent in recent years. Thus he began the accumulation of the library which is the subject of the recent gift to the Univer- city of Virginia. With what energy and rare judg- ment and discrimination he applied himself to this new and interesting task is best disclosed by an intimate knowledge of the library itself.
As one of the means of trying a practical applica- tion of his ideas, in January of 1933 he wrote to Mr. Charles A. Beard then president of the American Historical Association, a letter which contained the following clause:
“Through a friend of history, the Com mittee of American Historical Association has funds available to assist from ten to twenty institutions in purchasing rare source books in American History, commonly called Americana. The Committee has decided to offer $500 per years for this purpose to each of certain colleges, providing the college will itself appropriate an equal amount, thus making $1000 per year for each institution. The plan should be en- tered into with the expectation of contnu- ing for a period of ten years or longer. The Committee understands of course, that unforeseen stress may occur to pre- vent a collage from going through with such a long period; so it will merely expect each college joining in the arrangement to do so in good faith and with the full intention to carry on through a period of several years.”
This idea has since become known as the “McGregor Plan,” and at the time of his death, eleven collages were participating in his plan. It has now been extended to some fifteen colleges. The development of this plan, however, did not deter him from continuing the accumulation of his own library, and he continued his work with feverish energy up to the moment on the morning of May 6 when his tired and over-worked heart could go no further.
I have tried to paint something of a picture of a man most of you never were privileged to know, but whose name has become a tradition in that Detroit in which he lived and worked; a quiet un- assuming Christian gentleman, with high spiritual attributes, a tower of civic strength, and one who felt deeply his responsibilities to the community in which he lived. He gave little thought to self, and his modesty was one of his most lovable qualities. Just after a grateful university had bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate, I remember his saying:
“It would have been such a satisfaction if I could have completed my college work and earned my degree.”
He was too modest to realize that he earned higher degrees then any university could ever bestow upon him. A scholar who had searched for knowl- edge in the writings of men and tempered it with a deep understanding of life, a philosopher who had found for himself happiness and understanding amidst all of the perplexities of modern life and who knew how to help other find it, a friend who deeply loved his fellowmen and did not hesitate to make any personal sacrifice to help them, however lowly their station in life might be, it has been given to few men to attain a place so close to the hearts of the people of a great industrial community as had Tracy McGregor.
A few sentences which he had committed to memory from the language of a Hebrew writer discloses something of his philosophy:
“Wisdom is the principle thing. There- fore, get ye wisdom, and with all thy get- ting, get thee understanding. exalt her and she shall bring thee to honor; she shall bring thy head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory shall she deliver unto thee. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man the getteth under- standing.”
Somewhere here in the library there is a print- ing of a brief paper which he read before one of the meetings of the National Conference of Social Work, which reveals more of the character of Mr. McGregor than I can possibly put in words. It bears this modest title: “Toward a Philosophy of the Inner Life. “ I commend it to your study.
And so the trustees of McGregor Fund, who in carrying out what they believe to be his wishes, gave to the University of Virginia in 1938 Mr. McGregor’s library of Early-American history and contemporary English literature, have sought to provide for it a home with the quiet atmosphere of a gentleman’s library within which it shall forever repose, and are, therefore, on this, the 70th anniver- sary of his birth, dedicating to the use of the Univer- sity of Virginia, its scholars, and those who may hereafter seek for knowledge amidst its walls –
“THE TRACY W McGREGOR ROOM OF THE ALDERMAN LIBRARY”
To you, President Newcomb, and to the Rector and Visitors of the University, and to your successors n office, we pass this trust in the hope and confidence that you will accept and preserve it with the same sacred care that you have preserved the traditions of the University of Virginia.
Transcribed by Tim Wilson February 18 2011
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Tracy W. McGregor