The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1920-11-05
PUBLIC OPPOSES
Govt OPERATION
Canvass of 5,154 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
SociaIistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION WING
Eighty-soven Per Cent IN 1920 a.
Against ss Per Cent IN 1919
Think Public 10 Opposed
% RadIcaiIsm.
OPPOSITION GROWING


tion than II was q year ago, according
to the newspaper editors of the cOu1-
try. Out Of 6,I54 editors replying to
a questionable sent out By TIE Press
Service Company Of New Yol,xS, 4,466,
or So per cent, gave 1t as their judS-
meut 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 q similar canvass Of editors
on the government operation OF rail-
roads. That QuestionnaireYshowe that
SO per cent of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
msnt operation Of public utilities.
Apparently. then, II editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin-
ton In q year. considered BY commu-
ntties, has swung per cent farther
away from sociaiistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined cIrculattSa Of the pa
psrs whose editors replied Is l1,42a,-
sl7. which means. according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula.
ton and readers. q constituency Of at
least AA,OO0, 600. And this cOnStituen-
G. 10 pretty evsnly scattered through
sut the country, no considerable sec
don Of any state being unrepresented
The estimate Of opinion based on this
thoroughly dIfused a per cent Of the
eOuntry's population may. therefore,
% considered O fair representation Of
he people as q whole.
Another feature Of the result u itS
evident lack Of partisan bias Ths
major political aflIIatISns Of the pa
pers represented are fairly evenly d.
VIded, being 1887 Republican and
l,350 Democratic. There are also LASS
iad0pendant and 462 miscellaneous,
.AcIuding labor organs. etc.
HOW little the results are anectes
By the politics Of the papers 70 shown
b an analysis by sectiOnA La the
7euthsrn section. for instance, where
replies came from 05 Republican pa.
eers and $50 Democratic. the per
Sentags against Government operation
was So; in tie Great Lake section,
wESh conditions reversed, 47S Rspub-
llean and 1855 Democratic, the Oppo-
Lsi0n was 81 per cent
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that Il 10 O mis-
lake 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 eOwn-2 per
cent above the avsrags-In the South
vest, including Arkansas, LOuiSaaDa.
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex
a. Texas, once supposed to be much
given to Government regulation ex-
paFimenta, returned 80 per cent Of un-
favorable replies. Out Of the pa edi-
tors replying from that state only
| three edited Republican papers The
80 pei cent opposition Of the North
west, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana, Nebraska. Nerth Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and the SS per
cent veto Of the Far West group, In
Guiding Arizona, California, Idaho,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sig
| nitcant Of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
EI&hs more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with q re-
guest for the editors personal opln-
ton on certain concrete cases a. fol-
| lows
"Do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive industries TO pro-
/, vide: (a) FertilIzerl (bl Clothingl
(e) AutOmObiles1 (dle Farm imple-
rentsf (s) FOOdstuffsf
Substantially oil the. editors who
gave estimates Of their readers Opin-
| isns also expressed their own By re-
plying 70 this last question. Proof Of
considerable effort to avoid personal
BIAS is fouRd IN the fact that In many
cases the editor differed from the
opInion he creditsd to his community
| The percentage Of mos" ran: ta)
"a; (b) S.; (c) 90: (d) So; ts) 70.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved In the
Government participating in compsti'
tive buslneas. the so-cailed Muscle
/ ShOals Bill now before Congress was
I used a. q concrete example Of Gov
/ Srnmsut operation scheme Under thii
/ bill a G0VOrnment-ownsd corporation
would bs given broad powers to Oper
! asS and, develop Government plants
| Ead properties II would produce a
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod
| ncts and sell them In competition witt
urSducers and merchants In the fer
tIliIeS business
ThO strength Of the opposition u
! Government operation Ii Indicated b!
tho replies from Alabama. where th'
j Muscle Shoals war plant Is and where
Of course. there Is intense interes
and local pride in getting its expected
peace-time operation under way at th'
earliest possible date. Fifty editor
from that state replied. Of whom 81
uere orposed to Government 0psrS
a4.y, 2 IN fwwaY and 4 aeEhtful