CULTURE & CAPITALISM - A LETTER TO WILLIAM BUCKLEY
Pachter, Henry M.
Culture & Capitalism-A letter to William Buckley Dear Mr. Buckley: I am writing to you today because I was delighted to hear that we share an interest in classical music. Unfortunately, that...
...What...
...I hope that publicly supported stations will become the rule rather than the exception...
...I am asking you this question in all candor, asking you as the person you are, as a defender of American individualism and a free-enterprise ideologist who knows however-so I conclude from your public appeal-that even a business community cannot survive long without a minimum of cultural institutions...
...Buckley, are now knocking at a door familiar to many, especially in the community of arts and letters, in whose company you never cared to be found: unashamedly you are asking money from people who think that culture ought to be provided, by public money and foundations...
...It is cutting off the head with which it thinks and feels...
...Instead, you appealedto the public to support your station...
...The donations you solicit will be tax-exempt-that is to say, the U.S...
...Unfortunately, that information came to me in a piece .of bad news: that you are closing down or selling out Station WNCN, the only one in New York City to broadcast good music and intelligent news summaries around the clock...
...In this capitalistic system, which you so valiantly defend in print and word, the interest of culture has to yield every time it clashes with the interest of money...
...I hope so for the veryselfish reason that the free market does not supply the services you and I, as representatives of a weighty minority, miss so dearly...
...It is cutting off the head with which it thinks and feels...
...Buckley: I am writing to you today because I was delighted to hear that we share an interest in classical music...
...The radio stations follow the laws of Adam Smith and Gresham alone...
...In this capitalistic system, which you so valiantly defend in print and word, the interest of culture has to yield every time it clashes with the interest of money...
...HENRYPACHTER0 COMMENTS AND OPINIONS 15...
...Daunted neither by the hogwash of idle ideologists nor by your own sensibilities as a cultured man and a responsible citizen, you have made the decision that is best for the company...
...What...
...Please don’t get me wrong...
...As chairman of the board of the Starr Corporation, which owns the station, you had to make that decision because it does apparently not pay to provide this service...
...I am asking you this question in all candor, asking you as the person you are, as a defender of American individualism and a free-enterprise ideologist who knows however-so I conclude from your public appeal-that even a business community cannot survive long without a minimum of cultural institutions...
...Since they will not provide the cultural services that in other countries are provided by law, you have to pass the hat now among those who feel a public responsibility for the survival of art on the air...
...You propose to establish a new station that would carry good music and no advertising...
...In a moving address to your listeners, you stated that it cut your heart out, that you yourself were the most faithful listener to your cultural broadcasts...
...Buckley, an inconsistency in your appeal...
...You, Mr...
...There are such people, but they are not in our corporations...
...Instead, you appealedto the public to support your station...
...Treasury, Le., the public at large, will pay 30-50 percent of any sums you collect...
...Since they will not provide the cultural services that in other countries are provided by law, you have to pass the hat now among those who feel a public responsibility for the survival of art on the air...
...HENRYPACHTER0 COMMENTS AND OPINIONS 15 & Capitalism-A letter to William Buckley Dear Mr...
...But business is business and the shareholders wish to see a dividend...
...An activity obviously not salable in the free market...
...Buckley: I am writing to you today because I was delighted to hear that we share an interest in classical music...
...With that brutal frankness that also distinguishes you as a political orator, you cut through the cant of the apologists of capitalism who daydream of corporate responsibility, countervailing forces, the power of public relations, and other pressures on management decisions...
...You are giving at least a finger to the Devil of public broadcasting, whom you elsewhere denounce as an enemy of freedom...
...But business is business and the shareholders wish to see a dividend...
...With that brutal frankness that also distinguishes you as a political orator, you cut through the cant of the apologists of capitalism who daydream of corporate responsibility, countervailing forces, the power of public relations, and other pressures on management decisions...
...Buckley, are now knocking at a door familiar to many, especially in the community of arts and letters, in whose company you never cared to be found: unashamedly you are asking money from people who think that culture ought to be provided, by public money and foundations...
...May I point out to you, Mr...
...Your new station will be taxsupported, just like colleges, museums, operahouses, and other cultural institutions...
...You, Mr...
...I hope that publicly supported stations will become the rule rather than the exception...
...You are giving at least a finger to the Devil of public broadcasting, whom you elsewhere denounce as an enemy of freedom...
...Charity...
...Please don’t get me wrong...
...Therefore, with your leave, I have to ask you this question: suppose I and others give you the money to start withhow do you expect to meet the payroll next year...
...Buckley, an inconsistency in your appeal...
...Will the story of WNCN be repeated...
...I wish you full success...
...Therefore, with your leave, I have to ask you this question: suppose I and others give you the money to start withhow do you expect to meet the payroll next year...
...Daunted neither by the hogwash of idle ideologists nor by your own sensibilities as a cultured man and a responsible citizen, you have made the decision that is best for the company...
...Treasury, Le., the public at large, will pay 30-50 percent of any sums you collect...
...Please believe that I do not begrudge you the profits that Starr may earn by giving the advertisers what they think the public wants...
...May I point out to you, Mr...
...You propose to establish a new station that would carry good music and no advertising...
...Like a “welfare bum” you count on the generosity of other people who are honestly making money to support-what...
...Your new station will be taxsupported, just like colleges, museums, operahouses, and other cultural institutions...
...If the business community lacks the intelligence to recognizethis need, if neither its market mechanism nor its generosity or, what amounts to the same, its insight into its long-range interests provides for the existence of a cultural elite-its servants, ideologists, apologists-then that community dooms itself to extinction...
...But unfortunately you dampened my admiration for your courage when you came to the second part of your address to the listeners...
...The market ordains that there shall be trash on the air...
...Unfortunately, that information came to me in a piece .of bad news: that you are closing down or selling out Station WNCN, the only one in New York City to broadcast good music and intelligent news summaries around the clock...
...If the business community lacks the intelligence to recognizethis need, if neither its market mechanism nor its generosity or, what amounts to the same, its insight into its long-range interests provides for the existence of a cultural elite-its servants, ideologists, apologists-then that community dooms itself to extinction...
...Will the story of WNCN be repeated...
...I lift my cap to you: here is a man of principle...
...Charity...
...I lift my cap to you: here is a man of principle...
...Culture & Capitalism-A letter to William Buckley Dear Mr...
...The radio stations follow the laws of Adam Smith and Gresham alone...
...I wish you full success...
...Like a “welfare bum” you count on the generosity of other people who are honestly making money to support-what...
...You did not fire the salesmen who had failed to sell your station’s program to the advertisers...
...But won’t you join me in pleading for an arrangement that would supplement the free market: some public broadcasting for the benefit of those whose needs the market fails to supply...
...The donations you solicit will be tax-exempt-that is to say, the U.S...
...The market ordains that there shall be trash on the air...
...But unfortunately you dampened my admiration for your courage when you came to the second part of your address to the listeners...
...I hope so for the veryselfish reason that the free market does not supply the services you and I, as representatives of a weighty minority, miss so dearly...
...But won’t you join me in pleading for an arrangement that would supplement the free market: some public broadcasting for the benefit of those whose needs the market fails to supply...
...In a moving address to your listeners, you stated that it cut your heart out, that you yourself were the most faithful listener to your cultural broadcasts...
...You did not fire the salesmen who had failed to sell your station’s program to the advertisers...
...As chairman of the board of the Starr Corporation, which owns the station, you had to make that decision because it does apparently not pay to provide this service...
...An activity obviously not salable in the free market...
...There are such people, but they are not in our corporations...
...Please believe that I do not begrudge you the profits that Starr may earn by giving the advertisers what they think the public wants...
Vol. 22 • January 1975 • No. 1
