Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-11-06
Canvass of 5.154 Editors Shows
1856 Communities Against
SOClaISt.3 Experiment.
PPOSITIOH WING
Eighty seven Per Cent In 1920 as
AgaIns: 80 Fer Cent in 1919
Think Public Is Opposed
to Radicalism.

- y VIII ~ 'lI1f e'ltt'IN iStl'H lI- W
a GreSjionnaire sent oHt by The Press
Service Company If New York, 4,iGG
or So per cent gave il as their judS-
ment that The people of their commu-
mites were n-ervhelmingIy against
The Government competing in business
with It's own citizens
In 1919 the press Service Company
conducted n similar canvass of editors
on the government operation Of rail-
roads That QUESTIONABLE showed that
So per cent or The editors considered
their communities against Govern
mcnt operation Of public utilities.
Appai emily. then, if editors estimate
pubic opinion accurately, that opin-
ion in year, considered by commu-
mites. has Swun& 3 per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments.
Eleven Mi'licn Circulation.
The combined circulation of the pa
pers whose editors replied is ll,42S,
81, which means. according to The
usual estimated patio between circula-
ton and readers. constituency of at
least 44.OOO,UO0 And This constituent
cy is pretty evenly sc altered through
out the country, no considerable sec
ton of any state being unrepreSented.
The estimate of opinion hnSed on this
thoroughly dffuSed IA per cent Of The
country's population rIay. therefore,
he considered fair representation OF
the people as a whole.
Another feature of the result Is Its
evident lack of partiaan bias. The
major political affiliations Of the pa
pers represented are fairly evenly di-
vided, being 1857 Republican and
1880 Democratic. There are also 1885
independent and 49, miscellaneous,
including labor organs, exc.
How little the results are affected
by the politics Of the papers is shown
in an analysis by sections. In The
Southern section. for ius'dnce, where
replies came from e. Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, the per-
centsge against Government operation
was SIS; III the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, AS Repuh-
lean and loo Democratic. the OppO-
sitiOn WAS 81 per cent.
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that il is mis-
AXE 10 consider those sections vastly
more favorable TO radical Government
experiments than the East. The rad
icaIs can get little comfort out OF the
50 per cent of thumbs down. per
cent above The average-ln the South
west, including Arkansas. Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas. oklahoma and Tex
as Texas once supposed tn he much
given q Government regulation eX-
neriments. returned % per cent Of un-
favorable replies Out ~ the PA edi-
ors replying from that STATE only
-hree edited Republican papers. The
81 per GEM opposition OF the North
west. Including Iowa. Minnesota, Men
tana. Nehrs ska. North Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and the 81 per
cent veto Of the Far West group, in
Guiding Arizona California. Idaho,
Nevada. New Mexico. Ore ,nn, Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington. are sig
n'fcant OF The prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
the more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased
The QUESTIONABLE closes with re-
quest for the eGIor's personal orin-
.on on certain concrete cases as fol-
lows:
DO you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own anu
operate competitive industries to pro
vide: ta) Fertilizer (b) Clothlngf
(c) Automobiles? tU Farm tmpie'
ments? (e) FoodStuffs?
Substantially all the editors who
ave estimates Of their reuders' 0plh'
IONS also expressed their own by re-
plying TO this last question. Proof OF
cons tlerable 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: ta)
20; ~ So: tc) Sc; I'D 81; te) 10.
While the questions were based m
general principles involved in the
Government participating in coinpeii-
live business. the sO-cRlled Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress WAS
used as concrete example OF Gov
eminent operation scheme Under this
bin Government-owned corporation
would he 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
Jroducers and merchants 10 The ter'
tiliztr hus ness.
Tho Strength Of the opposition to
Government operation is indicated ny
rho repI;ss from Alabama. where me
Musr,s Shouls war plant is ard where.
~ eouiss. thsre Is nfsnse Interest
and local pride In gs'ling I's eS, e"tad
pepre-tlns ope alton under way NJ The
epri;est possible dsis Fifty editors
from that stnte replied, OF whom IS
were bnposed TO 60 e1rIneni opera
ton. . in favor and doubtful