Letters

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BUSINESS GENIUSES

"The TIME 100 list of Builders and Titans is a strong reminder that successful businesses don't just happen, they are made." DON SANCTON Beaconsfield, Que.

I read with interest your amazing issue on successful business leaders [TIME 100, Dec. 7]. It was certainly one of the most informative reports I've ever read. Yet I was frustrated at not seeing an adequate representation of black achievers. In fact, your list might lead people to believe that blacks have made virtually no contribution to shaping our business world. We all know better. JULIUS I. KEY New York City

As a college senior and science major who knows little about business, I think it is important for the members of Generation X to learn who helped push this great nation forward. My favorite is air conditioning's "King of Cool," Willis Carrier. He is responsible for the refreshing air we live, work and play in--and take for granted. JASON ASHBURN Blacksburg, Va.

You glorified people who have become grotesquely wealthy and downplayed their negative impact on society. In many cases the detrimental effects have far outweighed any benefits incurred. Sam Walton created a company that has destroyed thousands of small businesses. Ray Kroc and McDonald's have given us unhealthy, tasteless food and a lot of low-paying jobs. Worst of all was your choice of builder William Levitt and Levittown's clone houses. Similar suburban developments have resulted in the paving over of thousands of acres of farmland and forest. These people were not visionaries; they were opportunists who diminished the American quality of life while enhancing their own personal wealth. MATTHEW D. MORAN Conway, Ark.

I enjoyed the profile of the "Lion of Hollywood," Louis B. Mayer, who helped found Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. For those of us growing up in the mid-1930s in the New York metropolitan area, Hollywood films were not only cheap entertainment but lessons as well. We safely watched suitable family entertainment, and on Saturday afternoons had a four-hour treat. For 25[cents] we could watch two great movies plus a cartoon and an exciting weekly chapter of a serial. What a great escape! JOAN S. MARKOWITZ Larchmont, N.Y.

In his piece about my father Walt Disney, Richard Schickel let his personal animus toward him overpower any objectivity. What is supposed to be biography is diatribe. Schickel put a sinister spin on every aspect of my father's life. It would have been impossible for the kind of man that Schickel portrays to create and produce the body of work that bears my father's name and imprint. No darkly driven, Scrooge-like character could have conceived those films, TV shows and amusement parks. Schickel should lighten up and undertake some serious research on this man, or he should leave him alone. DIANE DISNEY MILLER San Francisco

Having Richard Schickel write about Walt Disney is the equivalent of having the wicked stepmother critique Cinderella. What were you expecting from a noted anti-Disney author like Schickel? Disney, a man who made us laugh, who was called "Uncle" by generations of American children, who built an empire with his brother and revolutionized corporate America (Where would the 1990s be without synergy or branding?), deserved better. JOSH P. EDWARDS Naples, Maine

Predominant on your list were people who successfully and shamelessly exploited the ideas of others for their own profit. These leaders followed a disturbing pattern of capitalism and of the American Century, in which ruthlessness, selfishness, corporate raiding and Darwinian business practices were rewarded. Sadly, if this trend continues, we may find ourselves at a loss for the true visionaries who make the progress of civilization possible. EROL GULAY, AGE 15 Locust Valley, N.Y.

I question the inclusion of "Lucky" Luciano, a felon and criminal, on TIME's list of Builders and Titans. A leader of organized crime is not representative of builders or contributors to progress. SUSAN DAVNIERO North Lindenhurst, N.Y.

Congratulations on your superb report on the giants who laid the foundation for America's spectacular growth. But there was a major oversight: Henry J. Kaiser, road builder; steel, aluminum and magnesium producer; creator of jobs running into the millions; and finally, but not least, founder of Kaiser Permanente, America's largest and most successful health-care program. ALBERT P. HEINER Walnut Creek, Calif.

Am I the only one who noticed the irony in TIME's praising America's top capitalists so soon after publication of the series on corporate welfare? It is often these industrialists who take billions in taxpayer money and constantly lay off employees. The corporate-welfare series called for drastic changes, but until TIME and the rest of the media stop glorifying the companies and individuals who created and contribute to the problems we now have, no real change can occur. DANIEL RICHARDS Evanston, Ill.

I think you were misguided not to include TIME's co-founder Henry Luce in your selection. TIME first entered my life more than 60 years ago. It had a new approach, a dramatic, lively way of telling the news. Happily, Luce's inspiration continues to dominate TIME's reportage. There's no question: Luce was a titan of industry and far more influential than a Bill Gates or a Sam Walton! WILLIAM DIXON San Jose, Calif.

Those leaders you've named so far in your TIME 100 list of achievers in business, government and the arts probably wouldn't give your list a second look. They broke through the rigid barriers everyone else said existed and wouldn't accept the idea that you can name the Top 100 of anything. But go ahead, make your selections. I guarantee that those who make the TIME list in 2100 won't be thinking along your lines. DAVID ROSEN Buffalo, N.Y.

WORLDLY VIEWS ON THE LIST

I am soooooooo fed up with the umpteenth TIME 100 issue. I want to inform myself about world politics, the arts, the economy, science and so forth. I don't want to read this boring stuff. KERSTIN BEHNKE-GAPP Roemerberg, Germany

In your report on the economic movers and shakers of the 20th century, one motif kept reappearing. Despite all of America's racism, violence, poverty, religious intolerance and ruthless capitalism, the U.S. was and is the only place where a poor immigrant armed with nothing more than vision and unrelenting drive can become a millionaire in a short period of time. YUVAL COHEN Paris

Your feature on Builders and Titans was about as international as the World Series (baseball, for you non-Americans). That narrow viewpoint was surprising in a magazine that normally provides a global outlook from an American perspective. If TIME aspires to be a truly international publication, it must look beyond the shores of the U.S. GRAHAM ROBERTS Singapore

You should have given more than just a mention to engineer Stephen Bechtel's monumental achievement in creating the entire municipality of Jubail, Saudi Arabia. It cannot have been easy to construct on the edge of the desert out of thin air. KHURRAM AHMED TAJI Islamabad, Pakistan

Pete Rozelle a world titan? Billions have been hooked on football for decades without Pete and the National Football League having anything to do with it. And by "football," I don't mean that strange, local game popular among inhabitants of North America! I'm talking about true world football--what you call soccer. How on earth did you manage to overlook FIFA, the governing body of world football? PAUL ERIK NORTON Oslo

For Howard Hughes to fail to make the Builders and Titans list is like Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls losing out to the Harlem Globetrotters. The Bulls are the best in the world at what they do, as was Hughes, and the Globetrotters are the best at playing crazy, as was Hughes. CURTIS J. PHILLIPS Fort McMurray, Alta.

THE CITY MOST FAIR

At the end of your story on Peter Ackroyd's biography of Thomas More [HISTORY, Dec. 7], you mentioned his next book, a biography of the City of London. Ackroyd referred to London as an "ugly, vandalized city." But every true Londoner thinks his city "more fair," with a "mighty heart," as did the poet Wordsworth when he crossed Westminster Bridge one morning in the 19th century. Seeing "ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples, all bright and glittering in the smokeless air," he thought it "a sight touching in its majesty." Londoners are so friendly, with a great sense of humor. They didn't get that way by living in an ugly and vandalized city. London has always been fascinating, colorful, worldly, broad-minded and throbbing with life. DEE WHITE Georgetown, Ont.

THE POWER OF NOT TALKING?

I read with amazement Roger Rosenblatt's commentary "The Silent Friendships of Men" [ESSAY, Dec. 7], in which he praised men's habit of saying little to their pals. It conjured up an image of cavemen at a time when language was little more than a series of grunts. How dull the friendship Rosenblatt described must have been if he "cannot recollect a single idea exchanged." What emerges from his description is a sort of emotional paralysis. A relationship between two people, men or women, is only as good as the communication between them. MICHAEL SOUTHON Aragua, Venezuela

Rosenblatt wrote, "Contrary to the claptrap of the men's movement, men gain power through not talking." But the movement has done wonders to open up communication within a gender too long trapped in isolation and silence. I have attended retreats with men. At one, a participant cried with happiness, saying this was the first time he had had a meaningful conversation with another man. At another, a man said his wife had driven him to the retreat to make sure he would go, so he could open up and share his feelings with other men. He said he was having the time of his life. For a guy who writes so well, Rosenblatt sure missed the boat on this topic. STEVE C. FARAHER-AMIDON White Rock, B.C.

JOURNALISM WITH A CAPITAL J

Your articles about companies "on the dole" are more than much-needed investigative reporting [SPECIAL REPORT: CORPORATE WELFARE, Nov. 9-Nov. 30]. They are journalism with a capital J and restore the hope of this reader and others that your reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele will continue their work. May the politicians' preoccupation with promising tax cuts turn into a serious campaign to have very profitable corporations pay their taxes and wean them from the welfare rolls. ROBERT L. LAM Springville, Iowa

I was extremely disappointed in the portrayal of our company in your article "Paying a Price for Polluters" [Nov. 23]. While you highlighted the $15 million in tax exemptions we have received over the past 10 years, you neglected to note the more than $100 million in taxes we have paid. On the environmental front, the three releases [of hazardous chemicals in Louisiana] were accidental, quickly controlled and promptly reported to the appropriate authorities. JOSEPH M. SAGGESE Chairman, President and CEO Borden Chemicals & Plastics Columbus, Ohio

In "Paying a Price for Polluters," you prominently featured Louisiana's incentive program. Readers should be aware of the following facts. The $24.9 billion worth of manufacturing projects that currently qualify for property-tax exemption created 49,621 new permanent jobs. Over the 10-year life of the exemption, these projects will generate about $20 billion in new wages, vs. a total of $3.36 billion in taxes waived. KEVIN P. REILLY SR. Secretary of Economic Development State of Louisiana Baton Rouge, La.

Your article "The Empire of the Pigs," in your series on corporate welfare [Nov. 30], was filled with inaccuracies and lacked balance and objectivity. A case in point is Guymon, Okla. [which put together an economic-incentive package to attract Seaboard Farms]. Businesses in the community and region have grown to provide support services for our plant and employees. Since the arrival of corporate hog farming in the county where Guymon is located, actual employment has increased by more than 5,000 jobs, and Seaboard Farms' plant in Guymon has directly created 3,650 jobs. It is also important to note that Seaboard Farms purchases its grain and feedstuff locally, again providing benefit to area farmers and businesses. The investment in Guymon is an excellent example of government and business forging a partnership providing a high return on investment for the citizens. H.H. BRESKY, PRESIDENT Seaboard Corp. Shawnee Mission, Kans.

It was revolting to read about Seaboard and the people in and near Guymon, who have been abused and exploited. Their quality of life has been permanently changed, and it was done with their money! True justice would be served if Seaboard president Harry Bresky had to live in the home of Julia Howell, who has been forced to seal the windows and seldom ventures outdoors without a face mask because of the ever present stench from her "neighbors"--Seaboard's 40,000 hogs. PAT RITACCO Nutley, N.J.

It would be erroneous to conclude that the public gets nothing more for its subsidies and tax breaks than a handful of new dead-end jobs. Corporate welfare saves existing jobs from immigrating to Mexico. Also, the system inflates corporate bottom lines, as required for the steady elevation of share prices. It would be a serious mistake to curtail corporate welfare before we cure the ills that spawned it--free trade and years of sluggish economic growth. Until that is achieved, the system will continue to protect taxpayers from Washington's more egregious mistakes. JIM CASE Baltimore, Md.

KEVORKIAN'S ONE-MAN COURT

For administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill patient [NATION, Dec. 7], Dr. Jack Kevorkian should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In his stubborn, egocentric wisdom, Kevorkian has become judge, jury and executioner. After I had open-heart surgery 10 years ago, I could hardly breathe and struggled desperately. A medical technician repeatedly came by to see me, and at one point, in fierce pain, I scribbled in pencil, "Kill me!" At long last I recovered my health. Before that incident my instinct for self-preservation had never wavered, nor has it since. All aspects of a patient should be evaluated and decided upon not by a single medical expert but by several, and by close family members. KEITH SABOCOR Seal Beach, Calif.

WITCH-HUNT FOR SMOKERS

I'm as antismoking as they come, but what they're doing in Florida--arresting teens for smoking--is ludicrous [NATION, Dec. 7]. Being close to the age of some of the young offenders, I can say the new law wouldn't stop me either. It is ridiculous to think that just for being caught smoking three times, kids under 18 can have their license revoked. There are drunk drivers on the road who have been caught more times than that and still continue to drive. The witch-hunt for smokers has gone too far. MIRIELLE PETITJEAN Columbia, Md.

After losing my voice to throat cancer from smoking cigarettes, I learned to speak again, with much work. When I retired from teaching, I began to visit schools and speak to kids about not smoking. My message was, "Nobody told me, but I'm telling you: Look what tobacco did to me." Then I'd whip open my shirt and show the hole in my neck. That's when I know I'm getting through to them. The shock of what cancer can do is the real thing. BILL MOSS Miami