A GUIDE TO EZRA POUND (1885-1920), lan Christie Clark, 1958
Pound’s study of economies, then, was not something separate
from his artistic endeavors, it stemmed directly from his observation
of the effects of economies on art in its social aspect and the
opportunity given the artist to exist and practise his artistry in a
given social order.
The effect of capitalism on art and letters,
apart from all questions of the relations of
either capitalism, art or letters, to the general
public or the mass, have been: (1) the non-
employment of the best artists and writers; (2)
the erection of an enormous and horrible bureau-
cracy of letters, supposed to act as curators, etc.
which bureaucracy has almost uninterruptedly
sabotaged intellectual life, obscuring the memory
of the best work of the past and doing its vill-
ainous utmost to impede the work of contemporary
creators.
(“Murder by Capital,” p. 592)