The Delta independent., 1920-11-12
Canvass Of 5,154 Editors Shows
1855 Communities Against
SociaIistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROWING
Iiehty-seven Per Cent In ts2o -
Against ss Per Cent In 1919
Think Public 10 Opposed
to Radicailam.

tonS6ly OppOSeu 10 1oN0i SPS~
ton than 1t was year ago, accorolns
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. 4.46e.
or SO per cent, gave 1t as their 5udg-
ment that the people Of their commu-
mites were overwhelmingly against
the Government competing in business
With its own citizens.
In 1919 tho Press Service Company
conducted a similar canvass OF editors
on the government operation OF rail-
roads. That questionable showed that
q Dor cent Of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
mont operation Of public utilitisA
Apparently. then, II sAitsrs estimate
sublic opinion accurately. that opin-
Iea IN q year, considered BY conAu-
nitaes. has swung per cent farthsr
away from secialistie exDsrtmsA@
Elsvsn Million Circulation.
ne cembinsA eire1iatisav q Tie -
Dssu vAsse editors replied u 11,%2e.'
o17, which nsanA according 70 Tie
v1ual estimated ratie between s1re1la'
tisa and readers, . constituency 81 at
least lAooo,o ~. And this esAsttssA'
a IL pretty evsAly scattered through
sat the country. ne esnsidsrabls sec
usn Of any state being unrspressntsA
The sstimats Of opinion based On hh
thoroughly diftussd ~ per cent Of the
esuntry's population may. Therefore.
hs considered q fair representation OF
ths people A. q whole.
- - PAan1f n ffl
evident lack Of partisan bias. The
mater Political af1liations Of the pa
psrs represented are fairly evenly d.
vided, being l.s57 Republican and
l,8t0 Democratic There are also 1.4S5
Independent and 4o2 miscellaneous
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are a6sctsA
by the politics Of the papers II shown
h an analysis By ssctiena In the
Southern section, for instance, whers
replies came from 65 Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, the pr
esntags against Government eperados
was o; in the Great Lake section
With eonAitions reversed, ]7e Rspub
Mean and 1855 Dsmocratic. the eppo
sitisa was q per cent
Replies from the West, Middle WeU
and Southwest show that It 10 . 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
% per cent Of thumbs down. per
cent above the average-in the South
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex
a.. Texas, once supposed to be much
given to Government regulation ex'
perimsnts, returned 90 per cent Of un.
favorable repliss. Out Of the 244 ed.
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. The
e per cent opposition Of the North
west, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana, Nebraska, Nsrth Dakota. South
Dakota and Wyoming. and the - Per
cent veto Of the Far West group, In
eluding Arizona. California, Idaha
Nevada, New Mexico. Oregon. Cole
rado, Utah and Washington, are sig
nincant Of the prevailing conservative
sentiment sn this question even II
he more radical ssctionA
judgment Apparently Unblassd.
The qusstisnnairs closes With Q rs'
Guest for tie editors personal eDin.
len on certain conerete cases ~ 1ea.
lsws:
DO yo1 personally believe that the
FEDERAL Government should own and
operate competitive industries to pro
vide: (a) Fertilixsr1 (b) Clothingi
(c) Autemobilesf (d) Farm impls-
nsntsf (s) Foodstuffs1
Substantially all the editors who
eavs estimates of their readers opin-
lens 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)
7e; (b) 80; (c) Sc; td) 80; (O 10.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved In the
Government participating in competi-
tive business. the so-called Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used as concrete example Of Gov.
srnment operation scheme. Under this
bill a Government-owned corporation
would be given broad powers to oper.
ate and develop Government plants
and properties. 1t would produce at
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 II 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
peace time operation under way at the
earliest possible date Fifty editors