Mexico weekly ledger., 1920-12-16
PUBLIC OPPOSES
GOVT OPERATION
Canvass Of 5.154 Editors Shows
4.466 Communities Against
SociaIistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROWING
Elphty.seVen Per Cent In 1920 as
Against SO Per Cent In 1919
Think Public Is Opposed
to R~sdIcaiism.

tensely opposed TO Government opera
ton than II was q 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 II as their judS-
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 anvas OF editors
Oh the government operation Of rail-
roads. That questionable showed thai
SO per cent of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
mem operation OF public utilities.
Apparently, then, If editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin.
ion In a year, considered by commu-
mites, has swung 3 per cent farther
away from soclalistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation of the pa.
pers whose editors replied Ia LAPS.
817, which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula.
tIon and readers, a constituency Of at
least A. 00,000. 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 dltfused 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 1887 Republican and
1850 Democratic. There are also l,485
Independent and 462 miscellaneous,
Including labor organs, etc.
How llttle 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 60 Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, the per.
centage against Government operation
was So, In the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, AS Itepuh.
Iican and $50 Democratic. the oppo
sition was 81 per cent.
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that 1t is a mis-,
take to consider those sections vastly
p,nra 20 ynr1D1n g, rnltanI Eprprnu,ppt
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 cen Of In
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
taua. Nebraska. North Ddhyta, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and the 50 per
cent veto Of the Far West group, In
gliding Arizona, California, Idaho,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sig
nifcant of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question wen in
the more radical sections,
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The questiounaire closes with q re.
quest for the editors personal Opin
ion on certain concrete cases as fol
lows:
80 you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive Industries to pro.
vide: (a) Fertilizer (b) Clothing?
(c) Automobiles? I'D Farm nipple.
ments? (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 NOS ran: (a)
76; % 50; (c) So, (d) 81; te) 70.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved in the
Government participating in cumpeti.
tive business. the s0-caIIed Muscle
Shoals Bin NOW before Congress was
used ms a concrete example Of a Gov.
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill a Goyernment-owned corporation
would he given broad powers 10 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
hlizer business.
The strength Of the opposition to
Government operation is indicated by
the replies from Alabama, where the
Muscle Shoals war plant IL and where,
Of course. there IL intense Interest
and local pride In getting its expected
p~eace-time operation under way at the
earliest possible date. Fifty sditsrs
from that state replied, sf when %
we're opposed to Government opera
ton, 0 In favor ana 4 doubtful.