The Neshoba Democrat., 1920-10-21
PUBLIC OPPOSES
GOVT OPERATION
Canvass Of 5,154 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
SociaIiStiC Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROWING
EIuhty-seven Per Cent IN 1920 ~
Against SO Per Cent In 1918
Think Public 10 Opposed
to Radlcallsn.

The American public is more In
tensely opposed to Government opera
tion than 1t was year ago, according
to the newspaper editors Of the coun-
try. Out of 5,154 editors replying to
a questionable sent out by the Press
Service Company of New York. 4,466,
or SO per cent, gave 1t as their Judg-
ment that the people Of their commu.
mites were overwhelmingly against
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-
roads. That QUESTIONABLE showed that
B3 per cent Of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
ment operation of public utilities.
Apparently, then, If editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin-
lon 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 10 11,428,-
BIT, which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula.
tion and readers, constituency OF at
least 44,OO0,O0O And this constituent
cy is pretty evenly scattered through.
out the country, no considerable sec
ton 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 fair representation OF
. the people as a whole.
Another feature of the result ID 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 LASS
independent and 462 miscellaneous.
including labor organs, etc.
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, whers
replies came from 65 Republican pa.
pers and $3.50 DemocrattaS the peri
centage against Government operation
was SO; In the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, 478 Repub-
lican and 1866 Democratic, the oppo-
sition was 81 per cent. u
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 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 to be much
given to Government regulation ex-
perlments, returned 90 per cent Of un-
favorable replies. Out of the 244 edi-
tors replying from that state only
s 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 So per
cent veto of the Far West group, in
cluding 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 70.
quest for the editors personal opln-
ion 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) Automobiles2 (d) Farm imple-
ments2 (e) Foodstuffsf
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
considerable 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)
70; (b) So; (c) ss; (d) 80; (e) 70.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved In the
: Government participating in compete
tive business, the so-called Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used as concrete example of Gov
ernment operation scheme. Under this
bill Goyernment-owned corporation
would be given broad powers to oper-
ate and develop Government plants
and properties. It would produce Al
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
Government operation is indicated BY
the replies from Alabama, whore the
Muscle Shoals war plant Is and where
OF course. there Ia intense interest
and local pride In getting Its expected
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