Letters, Mar. 6, 1950

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Ego & the Economy

Sir:

Please accept sincere thanks . . . for your article on Texas' Glenn McCarthy [TIME, Feb. 13].

Old Glenn kicks up more dust than 17 Texas sandstorms, and is sure a lot of fun to watch . . .

This nation, if ever it completely stifles the initiative of Glenn McCarthy and of men like him, will have killed its last major, claim to being a free, competitive economy . . .

ALLEN R. ROBERTSON

Weslaco, Texas

Sir:

. . . Where else in the world can a wildcatter, stuck with a wife whom he married with $1.50 in his pocket, venture with somebody else's money to take a chance on oil and succeed to such a wealthy and respected stature? . . . RICHARD L. BROWN Delaware, Ohio

Sir: After reading your story about Glenn McCarthy, I'm happier than ever that I'm not a Texan . . .

SARAH P. HESS Oreland, Pa.

Sir: Your excellent appraisal of Texas prosperity and industrial expansion does not lay enough emphasis upon the basic reason: the tax-free nature of 27½% of a great share of Texas income . . .

President Truman's economic advisers would do well to ponder the effect of a national income tax cut of 27½ % upon our entire economy—some $9 billion of new capital and purchasing power. Is the contracting, stagnant economy envisioned by the disciples of Lord Keynes and Leon Keyserling preferable to the ever-expanding economy of Jesse Jones and Glenn McCarthy? . . .

JOHN C. LOBB Madison, Wis.

Sir: More power to McCarthy . . . If it's ego that accomplishes what McCarthy has, let all men have more of it. DOROTHY WALTERS Dallas, Texas

Circles Suh: TIME marches on but editorial cartooning runs around in circles:

Richmond, Va. ¶ For a clear, curt comment on the cartoon cliche (TIME, Feb. 20), TIME'S thanks to Cartoonist Fred Seibel of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.—ED.

As You Like It Sir: How refreshing to see a real picture—and a beautiful one—on the Art page: Frederick Waugh's March—North Atlantic [TiME, Feb. 13].

I suppose the linoleum pattern in the lower right-hand corner of the same page is a foil to that—but why the title, Bottle of Bordeaux, I have no idea.

JAMES L. HYDE Albany, Ohio

Sir:

After reading TIME for about 20 years, I find that my artistic education has been appreciably improved. I am now occasionally able to figure out what the artists meant to convey in their "cubistic" and other cuckoo-type paintings.

[But] it seems to me that Gris's Bottle of Bordeaux (see cut) is misnamed, and should be Man in Toilet . . .

HERMAN W. HAWKER Teague, Texas

Sir:

Why is it that in the field of painting alone, success seems to depend on press-agentry, buffoonery and hokum? The explanations in TIME [Feb. 20] given by the Manhattan abstractionists for their work (one gave as his aim, "to make the unknowable manifest") have all the appearance either of inane gibberish or of deliberate delusion. Of course art is a form of exhibitionism, but ... all other cultural efforts stand on their esthetic appeal and can be so judged for their intrinsic worth .. .

ARTHUR A. GILBERT Winnetka, Ill