As publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Amon G. (for Giles) Carter, devout Texan, found it easy to explain his paper's success. "We get out a newspaper," he said, "that fits our city." Carter's formula, while it did not make the Star-Telegram a famous daily, made it a good one. But his rare combination of showmanship, artful buffoonery and open-handed generosity virtually made Cow-Town Fort Worth a city. Dressed in his ten-gallon hat and cream-colored polo coat, Amon Carter sang Fort Worth's praise all over the world, while passing out silver dollars, hats, 100-lb. watermelons and boxes of pecan nuts for remembrances as he went along. On his Shady Oak Farm, he often had as many as 2,000 guests as an audience for his salesmanship. Outsiders half-seriously began to call Fort Worth "Cartersville," with some justification; fully a fourth of the city's 300,000 population work in factories, businesses and offices which have moved to Fort Worth as a result of Carter's coaxing.
The West Begins. Even in Texas, where local pride and hospitality are an article of common faith, no one could match Carter's. Once, inviting a group of out-of-towners to visit Fort Worth, Carter wired with typical hospitality: "Carry only what money you need before you get to Texas. You will not be able to spend a dime in the state."
Carter's devotion to the Star-Telegram and its city was matched only by his scorn for Dallas, 30 miles away. Nothing pleased him more than his slogan for Fort Worth ("Where the West Begins"), especially when he could add that Dallas was really for effete Easterners. Carter always refused to buy anything in Dallas, including food; on his rare visits to Dallas he proudly carried a box lunch. To make Fort Worth an aviation center, he became the largest single stockholder in American Airlines, moved its headquarters from Dallas to Fort Worth. The name of
Fort Worth's new $12 million airport: Amon Carter Field. Dallas took Carter's gibes in good humor, thought (as did Amon Carter) that the competition was good for both cities. Said the Dallas Morning News: "Carter punched Dallas like cowboys are wont to do slow steers in a shipping chute."
Have Another Drink. One punch Carter struck was against a plan to build a new railroad terminal for Fort Worth that was no better than Dallas'. Carter stoutly opposed the plan, one evening got a call from Railroad Magnate Matthew C. Brush in New York, who said: "Well, we've just voted to build your damn Union Station. We're going to put up $11 million for the biggest station and shops and terminal in the Southwest. And now we're all drinking to your health. What do you say about that?" Amon Carter promptly replied: "Have another drink."