The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1920-11-05
PUBLIC OPPOSES
Govt OPERATION
Canvass Of 6,15+ Editors Shows
A4e6 Communities Against
Seeiallstic Experiment
OPPOSITION GROWING
gl9h<y.oevon Per Cent On 1o2o -
Against % Per Cent IN 1919
Think Public % Opposed
% Rad)eajlom.

% Radleallsm.
The American public 10 more II.
tonsoly opposed to Government opera.
ton than It was year ago. according
to the Newspaper editors Of the coun.
try. Out Of 5.154 editors rsplyin: to
Z QUESTIONABLE sent cut BY the Press
Service Company Of New York, l,46&
Or % per cent, gave 1t a. their 5udg'
ment that the people Of their comnu-
mites were overwhelmingly against
the Government competing In business
with ito own citizens.
In 1919 the Press Service Company
conducted similar canvass Of editors
on the government operation Of rail-
roads That questionable showed that
81 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 a year. considered by commit
mites. has swung per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments
sbevVU Wttlt0U VoTOUUOtS0Us
The combined circulation Of the pa.
pers whose editors replied 10 l1.42S.-
ST. which means, according to he
usual estimated rate between circula-
ton and readers, q constituency Of at
least 44,O0o.O 900. And this constituen.
cy 10 pretty evenly scattered through.
out the country, no considerable sec
zion Of any state being unrepresented.
The estimate Of opinion based on this
thoroughly dinused IA per cent Of the
c0untry's population may, therefore.
be considered a fair representation Of
the people as 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 LASS
independent and 462 miscellaneous,
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are affected
by the politics Of the papers II shown
in IN analysis by sections. In the
Southern section. for instance. whore
replies came from IS Republican pa.
psrs and $50 Democratic, the per.
centays against Government operation
was IS; in the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, 47S Repub-
llcan and 155 Democratic, the oppo-
sition was 81 per cent.
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that 1t is mis-
take to consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government
experiments than the East. The rad
lcals can get little comfort out Of the
SO 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-
periments, returned 81 per cent Of I'M
favorable replies. Out Of the PA edi.
tors replying from tina, state only
three edited Republican papers. Tho
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
Guiding Arizona, California, Idaho,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon. Colo
RADIO. Utah and Washington, are Sig
aifieant Of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
the more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with q re-
quest for the editors personal op!n-
ion on certain concrete cases as fol.
lows:
'Do you personally believe that the
operate competitive industries 10 pro
vide: (a) Fertilizer! (b) Clothing?
(c) Automobiles? I'd Farm nipple
ments? (e) Foodstuffs?
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: ta)
rs; (b) So; (c) Sc: (d) So: te) 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 a Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill q Government-owned corporation
would b given broad powers to oper-
ate and develop Government plants
and properties. It would produce at
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod.
ucts and sell them in competition with
producers and merchants In the fer.
tilfxop huAfnosa