Cottonwood chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1917-current, 1920-11-19
Canvass Of 5,l54 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
SociaIistic Experiment.
PPOSITION GRO WIN G
Against % Per Cent In 1919
Think Public 10 Opposed
70 Radicaiisn.


try. Out OF 5.l5i editors replying TO
a QUESTIONABLE sent out by the Press
Service Company OF New York. 4.46o
or SO per cent. gave II 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 q similar canvass OF editors
on the government operation OF rail-
roads. That questionable showed thar
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 q year. considered by commu.
mites. has swung 8 per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation Of the pa
pers whose editors replied Is ll,42s..
S17. which means, according 10 the
usual estimated ratio between circula.
ton and readers. q constituency OF al
least 44,000,0O0. And this constituen.
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 dlffused "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 LASS
Independent and 462 miscellaneous.
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results ara affected
by the politics of the papers 10 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 IS; In the Great Lake section.
with conditions reversed, AIS Repub-
lican and l55 Democratic. the oppO-
sition was 81 per cent
, Replies from the West. Middle Wesi
and Southwest show that Il Is a mis-
take to consider those sections vastly
more favorable 10 radical Government
experiments than the East The rad
lcals can get little comfort out Of the
50 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
81 per cent opposition of the North
west, including Iowa. Minnesota, Mon
tana. Nebraska. North Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and the SO per
cent veto OF the Far West group, In
Guiding Arizona, California, Idaho.
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sig
nlacant OF the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
the more radical sections
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with q 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) Fertillzer7 tb) Clothlngf
(c) Automobiles I'D Farm imple-
ments1 (e) Foodstuffs7
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)
70; (bl SO; (c) Sc: td) 80: te) 70.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved In the
Government participating In competi-
tive business. the so-called Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used as a concrete example of a Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill Government-owned corporation
would be given broad powers to oper-
ate and develop Government plants
and properties. II 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 10 and where. |
OF course. there Is intense interest
and local pride In getting its expected
peace-tlme operation under way at the |
earliest possible date. Fifty editors |
from that state replied, OF whom IS |
were opposed 20 Government opera
ton. 8 In favor and & doubtful.
Tip Top. the flower of flours. |