The Owosso times., 1920-10-29
Canvass of 5,154 Editors Shows
+,466 Communities Against
SociaIistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION GRO WIN G
Eiphty-seven Per Cent In 1920 az
Against 80 Per Cent In 1919
Think Public is Opposed
to RadicaiIsr.

Service Company Of New York, 4,466
or S6 per cent, gave 1t as their judg
ment that the people of their commu
mites were overwhelmingly agains,
the Government competing In business
with Its own citizens.
In 1919 the Press Service Company
conducted similar canvass of editors
on the government operation Of rail-
| pads. 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 year, considered by commu.
mites, has swung 3 per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation Of the pa
pers whose editors replied Is 11,42S,-
SIT, which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula-
ton and readers. constituency Of at
least 44,00O,000. 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 q whole.
Another feature Of the result Is It's
evident lack Of partisan bias. The
majsr 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 tho papers is shown
In an analysis by sections. In the
Southern section. for instance, where
replies came from IS Republican pa
psrs and $50 Democratic. the per-
centags against Government operation
was 90; in <ths Greats Lake section,
with conditions reversed, <78 Repub-
lican and 15S Demstfatic.s the oppo.
sltion was 81 per cent.
Replies from the West. Middle West
and Southwest show that 1t Is q mis-
take to consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government
experiments than the East. The rad
icals can gct little comfort out of the
% per cent Of thumbs DOWN. per
cent above the avsraEe-in the South
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex"
as. Texas, once supposed to be much
given to Government regulation eI-
periments, returned 90 per cent Of un-
favorable replies. Out Of The pa edi-
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. Tho
So 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
rado, 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 re-
quest for the editors personal opin-
len 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) Fertilizer (b) Clothing7
(c) Automobiles? (d Farm imple-
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
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)
76; (b) SO; (c) SO; (d) 80; (e) 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
srnment 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
operation Is indicated by |
tho replies from Alabama, where the |
Muscls Shoals war plant Is 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 Fifty editors
from that state replied. OF whom
were opposed TO Government epsras t,
ton, s In favor aud doubtful.
%{I.S