The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1920-10-22
PUBLIC OPPOSES
GOVT OPERATION
Canvass of 5,154 Editors Shows
1856 Communities Against
SociaIiStiC Experiment.
OPPOSITION WING
Eiohty-seven Per Cent In 1920 a.
Against 80 Per Cent In 1919
Think Public ls Opposed
to Radicalism.


tensely opposed to Government opera
ton than it was year ago, according
to the newspaper editors of the coun-
try. Out of 5,154 editors replying to
questionable sent out by the Press
Service Company of New York, 4,466.
or Sc per cent, gave it as their Judg-
ment that the people of their commu-
mites were 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 11,42S,-
BIT, which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula-
ton and readers, constituency OF at
least 44,O0O,00O. And this constituent
cy Is pretty evenly scattered through
out the country, no considerable sec
ton 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 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 LASS
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 $50 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 I'M
favorable replies. Out Of the PA edi-
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. The
50 per cent opposition of the North
west, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and the ~ per
cent veto of the Far West group, in
Guiding Arizona, California, Idaho,
Nevada, 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-
ion on certain concrete cases as fol-
lows:
"Do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive industries to pro-
vide: (a) Fertilizeri (b) Clothing1
(c) Automobiles? (d) Farm imple-
msnts? (e) Foodstuffs?
Substantially all the editors who
gave estimates Of their readers opin-
ions also expressed their own by re-
plying to this last question. Proof OF
considerable effort to avoid personal
bias is found in the fact that In many
cases the editor differed from the
opinion he credited to his community.
The percentage of mos" ran: (a)
rs; Cb) SO; (c) SO; (d) 80; (e) 70.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved In the
Government participating in COMPETE
tive business, the so-called Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used as a concrete example Of Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill a Government-owned corporation
would be given broad powers to oper-
ate and develop Government plants
and properties 1t would produce at
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod
ucts and sell them In competition with
producers and merchants In the fer
tilizer business.
Tho strength Of the opposition to
Government operation is indicated by
the replies from Alabama, where the
Muscle Shoals war plant Ii and where,
Of course. there Is intense interest
and local pride in getting its expected
peace-time operation under way at the
earliest possible date.