Hermanner Volksblatt. [volume] (Hermann, Mo.) 1875-1928, 1920-10-22
PUBLIC OPPOSES
Govt OPERATION
Canvass of 5,154 Editors Shows
1855 Communities Against
SooIaIiStje Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROWING
1Iphty-seVsn Per Cent In 1920 a
Against ss Per Cont In 1918
Think Public 10 Opposed
70 Ra6lcaIIGm.

The American public Is more In
tsnsely opposed t Government opera
ton than II was q year ago, according
D. the newspaper editors Of the coun'
try. Out Of 6,l54 editors replying TO
questionable sem out by the Press
Service Company Of New York, 4,466,
o. 90 per cent. gave II as their judg'
mSnt that the people Of their commu'
hitiss we're overwhelmingly against
he Government competing In business
With its own citizens.
In 1919 tho Press Service Company
Ueoducted q similar canvass Of editors
% the government operation OF rail-
roads. That QUESTIONABLE showed that
% per cent Of the editors considered
tAeir communities against Govern
msnt operation Of public utilities.
Apparently. then. II editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin.
aa In n year, considered by commu-
Aides, hAs swung 8 per cent farther
away from Socialistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation Of the pa
baSs whose editors replied 10 ll,429,'
ktT, which means, according TO the
hSHGl estimated ratio bstwOeH c!rcula'
don and readers, q constituency OF at
tNaSt H 1000 0C. And this constitusn'
y k pretty evenly scattered through
INt the country, no considerable sec
dOR OF any state being unrepressnted
The estimate Of opinion based on this
thoroughly difuset A per cont OF the
ssuntry'S population may, therefore,
10 considered q falc representation o!
ne pSopls as q whole.
Another feature Of the result 10 It's
SVident lack Of partisan bias. The
major political affiliations Of the pa
DsrS represented are fairly evenly d.
Vided, being 1887 Republican and
1850 Democratic. There sire also l,+SS
Independent and 1872 miscellaneous,
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results ars affected
~ the politics OF the papers 10 shown
IL an analysis By sections. IN the
Southern section, for Instance, where
replies came from IS Republican pa.
Hsrs and 3se Democratic, the par
esntaEs against Government operation
was IS In the Great Lake section,
with conditions re- ersed, AIS Repuh.
licab and 1855 Democratic, the oppo.
htlon VaS 81 per cent.
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that It II q mis-.
take to consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government
experiments than The East. The rad.
IaAls can get little comfort out Of the
0 per cent OF thumbs down. per
Pent above tho avsraGe-in the South.
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex.
"a. Texas, ace supposed to he much
Sven to Government regulation OF.
hsrimSntS, returned 90 per cent Of IN.
favorable replies. Out OF the 244 ed.
tern replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. The
~ per cent opposition OF the North.
vest, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
A0na. Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming, anu The SO per
cent veto Of tho Ear West group, In.
dpainE Arisona, California, Idaho.
Nevada, New Mexico. Oregon, Colo.
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sig
nifcant OF the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
the more radical SsctionA.
Judgment Apparently unbIaSsd.
The o~uoStiSnnaire closes with a 70.
quest for The editors personal opIn,
ion on certain concrete cases az fol.
lows:
40 you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive Industries to pro
vide: (a) FsrtilIEsri b) Clothing
(e) Automobiles (d) Farm nipple
nSntsf (s) Foodstufrs1 -~,.
Substantially all the editors who
gate estimates OF their readers opIn
ions also expressed their W by re
plying to this last question. Proof o.
considerable effort to avoid persona
bias is found In the fact that In many
cases tMc .itor differed from tn,
OplniOa he credited TO his community
The percentage OF mos" ran: Ca
70; (bl 81; Cc) SO; (d) So; te) 70.
While the questions were based OF
general principles involved in th'
Government participating In compstl
tive business. the so-cRllSd NuScl,
Shoals Bill now before Congress wa
used as q concrete example Of q Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under thl
bill q Govsrnmsnt-ownsd cooperation
would he given broad powers to oper
ate and develop Government plant
and properties It would produce q
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod
eats and sell them In competition wit
FsPducers and merchants In the Ter
tfitker business,
TAs strength Of the opposition 4
Government operation 10 indicated b.
Tie replies from Alabama, where III,
Muscle Shoals war plant Is and where
q course. there is Intense lnteres
and lecal pride In getting Ito eIpscts,
psacs-time operation uneeR way At tn
earliest possible date. y1fy editor
fren that state replied, Of Shom 81
were opposed 10 Government sssra
tion. 9 In favor and 4 doubtful.