The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-11-13
PUBLIC OPPOSES
Govt OPERATION.
Canvass Of 5,154 Editors Shows
4.466 Communities Against
sociaIistic Experiment.
oPPosITloH GROWING
s,nhtv.sexen Per Cent In 1920 a.
AoaInss o Per Cent In 1919
Think Public 10 Opposed
. RadicaIlsm.

rbe American public II more fn-
tensely opposed to Government opera
tion than 1t was year ago. according
~ the newspaper editors OF the coun-
nv Ont OF 5,154 editors replying to
= QUESTIONABLE sent out by the Press
service Company Of New York. A.46o'
or "a per cent. gave II a. their judg'
mont that the people Of their commu-
ritiaa were 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 that
"a mar cent Of the editors considered
fhair communities against Govern
marf operation Of public utilities.
Apparently, then. II editors estimate
nnhiic opinion accurately. that opin-
ion In q year, considered by commu-
miles. has swung per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation of the pa
pers whose editors replied IL ll.42S.'
617. which means. according to the
usual estimated ratio between circuia-
ron and readers. q constituency of at
least 1900, 900. And this constituent
~ II pretty evenly scattered through
ont the country, no considerable sec
lion Of any state being unrepresented.
The estimate of opinion based on this
thoroughly diffussd A per cent OF the
rountry's population may. therefore,
be considered fair representation OF
the people as 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 1.4s5
independent and 1872 miscellaneous.
Including labor organs. etc.
How little the results are afecfed
by the politics OF the papers Is shown
In an analysis By sections. In the
Southern section. for instance. where
replies came from G5 Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, the per-
centage against Government operation
was IS: in the Great Lake section.
with conditions reversed, 47S Repnh-
lican and 1856 Democratic. the oppo.
sition was 81 per cent.
Replies from thu West, Middle West
and Southwest show that II IL mis-
take to consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government
experiments than the East. The rad
icals can get little comfort out of the
80 per cent OF thumbs DOWN. par
cent above the average-in the South
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex
as Texas, once supposed to be much
given 10 Government regulation ex-
periments. returned 90 per cent Of un-
favorable repliex 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 S3 per
cent veto Of the Fur West group in
Guiding Arizona. California. Idaho,
Nevada. New Mexico. Oregon. Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are slg-
nificant Of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even in
TIE more radical sections
Jud-msnt Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with a. re-
quest for tho editors personal Opin-
ion on certain concrete cases as foi-
lows:
do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive industries to pro-
vide: ta) Fertilizer? (b) Clothing7
(c) Automobiles! <d) Farm imple-
mentsf (e) Focastuffsl
Substantially III the editors who
save estimates q their readers opin-
Ions also expressed their own by re-
plying 70 this last question. Proof OF
eohsiderabIe effort to avoid PERSONAL
bias y found Il The fact thar h many
easeo To editor differed from the
opinion ~ cfedlted to his connsnnaity.
The percentage q mos" ran: tal
-: 81 81; (cl -; td) 81; e, 10
winnie the Questiens were based on
general pEtnetples involved n the
Government participating II conpeti-b
tive bueinoG1y The s0ealled Muscle
Shoals BIN new before Congress was
unod q j eoncrete example Of Gov
ernmsnt speration scheme. Under this
All