The Era-leader. [volume] (Franklinton, La.) 1910-current, 1920-10-28
PUBLIC OPPOSES
GOVT Opera.
Canvass Of 5,154 Editors Shows
4,AC5 Communities Against
sociaIistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROW IN &
Ejohty- seven Per Cent IN WV 80
Against ss Per Cent In 's'S
Think Public Is Opposed
to RadicaIism.

THE American public Is more III
tensely opposed to Government op. .
tion than i, vas year ago. accolo'hs
to the newspaper editors of the co'n-
trv On, of 5,15l editors replying u
q oueslionDaire sent out by the Press
Service Company OF New YORK; 4'4oo'
or Sc per cent. gave it as their ]uus'
mem that The people of their co''.nu
mites we're overwhelmingly against
tho Government competing In business
with its own citizens.
IN 1919 the Press Service Company
conducted d similar canvass OF eu''o.'
m the government operation or ran
roads That questionable showed tna!
50 per cent of the editors cons'oereo
their communities against Govern
ment operation of public utilities
Apparently, then, if editors estimate
nublic opinion accurately, that opln'
ion In q year, considered by colnmu'
mites. has swung 2 per cent fartneI
away from soclalis'!c eApo' ''''0
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation OF the pa
,ars whose editors replied Is ll,4zo''
s17 which means. according to the
usua, estimated ratio between clrcu'a'
ton and readers, a constituency OF al
least 44,OoO,OOO And this CONSTITUENT
cy IS pretty evenly scattered through
ont tho country, TO considerable Sec
ton of any state icing unrepresenteo
The estimate of opinion based on this
thoroughly diffused "A pei cent OF the
country's population may therefore,,
he considered far representation o.
the people as whole.
Another feature Of the result 10 lts
evident lack of partisan bias line
major political affiliations of tho pa
pers represented are fairly evenly a.
vided, being 1857 Republican ano
1850 Democratic. There are also l'4si
INDEPENDENT and 1862 miscellaneous
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are affectec
by the politics of the papers is showr
IN an analysis by sections. In tn
Southern section, for instance, where
replies came from 90 Republican pa
pers and $3.50 Democratic, the per
centage against Government operation
was So; in the Great Lake section
with conditions reversed, 47S Repuo
, lican and 1855 Democratic, the oppo
eition was 81 per cent.
| Replies from the West, Middle Yves
and Southwest show that 1t Is mis-
take to consider those sections vastl;
+ more favorable to radical Government
, experiments than the East. The rae
= icals can get little comfort out OF tn
: 80 per cent Of thumbs DOWN. pc
, cent above the sverage-in the South
west, Including Arkansas. Louisiana
A Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and 10Y
! as Texas, once supr'''e! 20 he nue.
given to Government reputation q
periments returned SO pc: cent of ur
favorable replies Out CT The 244 cd
>, tors replying from that safe on'
three edited Republican papers. In
) g. per cent opposi'nn of The Nortf
. we.:, INCLUDING Iowa, Minnesota, Nor
tr;i, %eh.neka. .,G:th .Aahcjn, S0ut
9 l,r.,.i and Wyoming, and the Is pe
q cell, VETO Of the Far West group, II
y Guiding Arizona, California, 1dah'
T. Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Coli
B. RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sii
II nifcant of the prevailing conservativ
10 sentiment on this question even !
the more radical sections.
10 Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
u The questionnaire closes with r.
u quest for the editors personal opil
y Ion on certain concrete cases as TO
" lows:
g. do you personally believe that Il
u Federal Government should own an
O. operate competitive industries to pr
vide ta) Fertilizer? (b) Clothing
(c) Automobiles? I'D Farm impl
9. ments2 (e) Foodstutfs:
II Substantially all the editors WI
gave estimates Of their readers opl
30 ions ALSO expressed their own by r
OF plying 10 this last question. Proof ,
OF considerable effort to avoid person
SO bias Is found In the fact that in mar
ne cases the editor differed from Il
~ opinion he credited to his communit
be The percentage Of mos" ran: {,
7e; (b) SO; tc) IS; (d) 81: te) 70.
", While the questions were based 4
on general principles involved in II
as Government participating in compel
de tive business, the so.called Muse
ir. Shoals Bill now before Congress vi
he used as a concrete example Of a Go
N. eminent operation scheme Under tn
of bill q aforementioned corporate,
by would be given bread powers 10 OPT
of ate and de, eicp Govern! Ell: plan
We. and properties II would nmluce
NJ Muscle Shoals various fertilizer pro
ucts and SSH them III ccr;l> 'tlon wi
"A producers md merchants n the II
,oo tillzer business.
~ Tho strength Of the opposition