Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-11-04
Canvass Of E,15A EIitors Shows
l,lG6 Communities Against
S0GlaiiGtiC Experiment.
0 OPPOSITION WIN )


ton i!.an il vas Il year ago, according
so the newspaper editors 0f the coun.
try Out Of 5,l54 editors replying TO
a guesEonaa;ra sent out b. the Press
Service Company Of New York, 4,4GG,
or SO per cent. gave IT az their jnGg-
iment that the PEOPLE OF their commu-
mites we're overwhelmingly against
the Government competing in business
with its own citizens
I In 1919 the Press Service Company
conducted a similar canvass Of editors
on the government operation Of rail-
roads That quo8tonnaire showed that
So per cent of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
ment operation of public utilities. /
! Apparently, then, if editors estimated
public opinion accurately, that opin,'
ion in a 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 l1,42S,.
SIT, which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula.
ton and readers, constituency Of at
least 100000. And this constituent
cy rs pretty evenly scattered through
out the country, no considerable sec.
ton Of any state being unrepresented
The estimate Of opinion based on this
thoroughly difrussd A per cent OF the
country's population may. therefore,
be considered fair representation Of
the people as q whole.
Another feature Of the result 10 tn
evident lack of partisan bias. The
major political affiliations Of ths pa
pers represented aye fairly evenly d.
vided, being 1857 Republican and
/ $50 Democratic. There are also 1.4S5
independent and 462 miscellaneous,
including labor organs ere.
How little the results are affected
by the politics of the papers is shown
in an analysis by sections, In the
Southern section. for instance, where
replies came from 65 Republican pa
pers and 389 Democratic, the per-
centage against Government operation
was 49, In the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, AIS Repub-
lican and 155 Democratic, the oppo-
siti0n was 81 per cent
Replies from the West Middle West
and Southwest show that it is a 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. per
cent above the average-in the South
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex
as Texas once supposed 10 be much
given to Government regulation ex-
pernents, returned 90 per cent of I'M
favorable replies Out Of the IA edi-
tors replying from that stare only
three edited Republican papers. The
g. per cent opposition of the North
west, Including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming. and the So per
c.li veto oE lie Far West group in
ending Arizona, California, Idaho,
NevaGa ~" MeTco, Oregon, Colo
raGo. Ctua avn Washington, are sig
n'&cunt q! the nre;a,llng conservative
sentiment ~ 'nlF question even In
the saoro Yu7.c' so,'tiens
judgment e~cYrcntly Unbiased.
The qnest.ehuG'Ya closes with re
quest for tie cdiror's personal epin-
ION on certain concrete cases as fol.
lows
"Y>o y0u personally believe that the
Federal Government shO1id own and
operata competitive Industries TO pro
vide: tai Ferrlfzerl CO. ClothjnEl
tc)> AutOAobiIes2 Cd) Farm irnple-
meRts7 te) F0odssUffs7
Substantially all the editors wha
gave estimates Of their readers optn.
foHs also expressed their ewn by re.
plying 70 this last question. Precf OF
considerable effort to svofd personal
hiaa fs found In ths O. et thRt ia esssH
tasss the eeRitnr dtfreRea from the.
opinion he credited 10 Shs ssnlnUutty
The pereeutaes of ''nes" ran: tsll
rs; tb) SO; ee) 60; cd 80; te) 70.
Whit. the questions were sased @a
general principles involved IN the.
government participating IN eon,pst-
tive bUsDess, the so-GafIes Muscle!
Shoals Bill now before Congress was''
used as eoncrets example OF a Coy
eminent operation scheme. Undsr this
bin a aforementioned corporation
woud he given broad powers to opers
ate and develop Government plants
and properties 1t would produce at
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer pred
ucts and sell them in competition with
producers and merchants Ia 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 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 80
were opposed to Government opera.