The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1920-11-18
PUBLIC OPPOSES
Govt OPERATION
Canvass of 5,154 Editors Shows
Ass Communities Against
SocialiStic Experiment.
OPPOSITION WING
Elphty-seven Per Cent IN 1920 az
Against SO Per Cent In 1919
Think Public 10 Opposed
70 Radicallsm.

Inc American public 10 more In |
tensely opposed to Government opera |
ton than II 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 It 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 |
SO per cent of the editors considered
their communities against Govern
ment operation Of public utilities.
Apparently. then, II editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin-
ion In q year. considered by commn-
mites. has swung per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments
Eleven Million Circulation
The combined circulation of the pa
pers whose editors replied 10 l1,42S,.
usual estimated ratio between circula-
ton and readers. a constituency Of at
least 44.O0O,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
couptry's population may. therefore,
be considered a fair representation of
the people as a whole.
Another feature Of the result 10 Its
evident lack Of partisan bias The
| major political affiliations Of the pa
pers represented are fairly evenly di:
vided, being 1857 Republican and
1850 Democratic. There are also 1.485
independent and 462 miscellaneous.
including labor organs. etc
| How little the results are affected
by the politics of the papers IL shown
IN an analysis by sections. In the
Southern section, for instance, where
replies came from 65 Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic. the per-
centage against Government operation
was So; In the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, 478 Repub'
lican and 1855 Democratic. the oppo
sition was 81 per cent
Replies from the West. Middle Wesl
and Southwest show that II 10 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. pei
cent above tfiS 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
periments, returned 90 per cent of un
: favorable replies. Out of the 244 edi
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. Th'
81 per cent opposition Of the North
west, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Soutl
! Dakota and Wyoming, and the SO pc
cent veto of the Far West group, In
GLIDING Arizona, California. Idaho
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
!, RADIO, Utah and Washington. are sig
nificant of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even II
the more radical sections.
II Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
} The questionable closes With re
quest for the editors personal opin
ion on certain concrete cases as fol
lows:
do you personally believe that tn
Federal Government should own, ant
operate competitive industries to pro
vide: {a) Fertilizer (b) Clothing
(c) Automobiles td) Farm imple
mentsf (e) Foodstuffsf
Substantially, all the editors VIII
gave estimates Of their readers opin
ions also expressed their own by re
plying to this last question. Proof 0
considerable effort to avoid persona
| bias Is found In the fact that 10 man
| cases the editor differed from tn
| opinion he credited to his communit!
| The percentage of NOS ran; "a
Il 76; (b) 50; (c) 49, (d) 80; (e) 10
II While the questions were based
Il general principles involved In IN
II Government participating in compet
II tive business. the so-called Muse
II Shoals Bill now before congress WI
y used as a concrete example Of Go
eminent operation scheme Under tn
bill q Government-owned corporate
would be given broad powers to ope
ate and develop Government plan
= and properties II would produce
Muscle Shoals varfoas fertilizer pro
ucts and sell them In competition wi
= producers and merchants In the fe
" tilizer business.
- Tho strength Of the opposition
Government operation is indicated
70 the replies from Alabama, where Il
. Muscle Shoals war plant is and wher
'e of course. there is intense intere
e and local pride In getting Its expecte
IS peice-tine operation under way at Il
n earliest possible date Fifty edtol
D. | from that state reDlied of whom