Art: The Egyptian Cat Case

Since an Egyptian bronze cat was installed at the St. Louis City Art Museum last month, attendance has increased rapidly. Last week the museum announced that the August total of visitors, 51,323, was the greatest since May 1914. The announcement was edged with ruehowever, because what the cat really dragged in for the St. Louis museum was trouble. Fortnight ago St. Louisans of such varied stripes as the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the American Artists’ Congress were swelling with indignation at the purchase of a $14,400 piece of ancient sculpture while St. Louis had no money for relief (TIME, Aug. 22). Last week their outcry had produced a serious threat to the museum.

Established in 1907 in a handsome neoclassic building, the St. Louis City Art Museum was not detached from political control until 1911, when an independent Board of Control was set up and a special property tax of 2¢ on every $100 of assessed value was levied for museum maintenance. A recurrent impulse of St. Louis city administrations is to rescind this tax. When the cat controversy brought up such a proposal, the present Board of Estimate & Apportionment promptly recommended a reduction of the tax to if per $100 and the reinvestment of museum control in City Hall. Last week the Board of Aldermen was petitioned to submit this to the people in the November elections.

When matters reached this pass, cooling St. Louisans were inclined to change their angry tune. The American Artists’ Congress warned against retarding cultural growth in St. Louis. The United Office and Professional Workers Union (C.I.O.) protested the proposal. Rich St. Louis families who have given the museum gifts and endowments worth $400,000 let it be known that these would lapse if the museum’s administration were changed. Remarked the Museum Board’s portly president, Architect Louis La Beaume: “There has been nothing like this since the monkey trial at Dayton, Tenn.”