Milford chronicle., 1920-11-05
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PUBLIC OPPOSES
GOVT OPERATION
Canvass of 5,154 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
SociaIiStic Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROWING
EIahty.seven Per Cent In 1920 az
Against SO Per Cent In 1919
Think Public Is Opposed
to Radleaiism.

The American public ia more In
tensely opposed to Government opera
tion than II was a year ago, according
to the newspaper editors Of the coun'
try Out of 5,154 editors replying "a
a questionable sent out by the Press
Service Company of New York, 4.466
or SO per cent. gave 1t as their Judg'
ment that the people Of their commu'
mites we're overwhelmingly against
/ the Government competing In business
with its own citizens.
In 1919 the Press Service Company
! conducted a similar canvass OF editors
on the government operation OF rail-
roads That QUESTIONABLE showed that
| SO per cent Of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
ment operation Of public utilities.
Apparently, then. II editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin-
ion In a year, considered by commu-
mites, has swung per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation OF the pa.
pers whose editors replied Is l1,42S,-
Sl7, which means. according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula-
tion and readers. a constituency Of at
least 100000. And this constituent
cy is pretty evenly scattered through
out the country, no considerable sec
tion Of any state being unrepresented.
The estimate Of opinion based on this
thoroughly diffused A per cent Of the
country's population may. therefore,
be considered a fair representation OF
the people as a whole.
Another feature of the result is its
evident lack Of partisan bias. The
major political affiliations Of the pa
pers represented are fairly evenly d.
vided, being 1857 Republican and
1850 Democratic. There are also 1,4S5
independent and 462 miscellaneous,
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are affected
by the politics of the papers is shown
in an analysis by sections. In the
Southern section. for instance, where
replies came from 65 Republican pa
pers and 3S9 Democratic, the per
centage against Government operation
was So; in the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, 47S Repub-
lican and 155 Democratic. the oppo-
sitIon was 81 per cent
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that 1t is mis-
take to consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government
experiments than the East The rad
icals can get little comfort out Of the
80 per cent of thumbs DOWN. per
cent above the average-in the South
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex
as. Texas, once supposed to be much
given to Government regulation ex-
periments, returned 90 per cent Of un-
favorable replies. Out Of the PA edi-
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. The
80 per cent opposition of the North |
west, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South |
Dakota and Wyoming, and the S3 per |
cent veto of the Far West group, In
cluding Arizona, California. Idaho,
New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sig
nificant of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even in
the more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with a re-
quest for the editors personal opin-
lon on certain concrete cases as fol-
lows:
do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive industries to pro-
ride: (a) Fertilizer (b) Clothing?
-c) Automobiles7 (d) Farm imple-
nents7 (e) Foodstuffs7
Substantially all the editors who /
ave estimates of their readers opin- /
ons also expressed their own by re-
,lying TO this last question. Proof Of
considerable effort to avoid personal !
ias is found In the fact that in many I
asses the editor differed from the
pinion he credited to his community. !
NE percentage of mos" ran: (a) !
6: thl go; lei So; III 60; 60; lei TT6. +
While the questions were based on +
eneral principles involved in the y
government participating in compeu- b
I've business. the so-called Muscle s
hoals Bill now before Congress was
sed as a concrete example Of Gov
rnment operation scheme. Under this
III a Government-Owned corporation
ould be given broad powers to oper-
te and develop Government plants y
nd properties. II would produce at +,
Iuscle Shoals various fertilizer prod p
cts and sell them In competition with 2
rOducers and merchants In the fer
lizer business. r.
Tho strength Of the opposition to b
operation is indicated by Y
le replies from Alabama, where the IL
uscls Shoals war plant is and where,
course. there Is intense interest !"
ID local pride in getting its expected .
,ace-time operation under way at the 81
lrliest possible date Fifty editors al
ON that state replied, Of whom SS tn
ere opposed to Government opera n;
IN, In favor and 4 doubtful 70
" Al
ESOLUTIONS DEMAND ey