The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1920-10-26

country's population may, therefore
be considered fair representation Of
the people as q 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 d.
vjdod, being 1857 Republican and
1850 Democratic. There are also LAST
independent and 462 miscellaneous,
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are affected
by the politics'of the papers is shown
In an analysis by sections. In the
Southern section. for instance. where
replies came from IS Republican pa.
pers and $50 Democratic, the per.
centags 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. Il
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that It Is 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
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 eY.
periments, returned 90 per cent of un-
favorable replies. Out Of the PA edi-
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. The
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
nificant Of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
the more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
Tho questionable closes with q re,
quest for tho editors personal opin-
ion On certain concrete cases as fol-
lows:
do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive industries to pro-
vide; (a) Fertilizsr1 (b) Clothing7
(c) Automobiles? (d) Farm imple-
mentsl (e) Foodstuffs1
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" ram: (a)
70; (b) So; (c) SO; (d) 81; 10y 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 a. concrete example Of a Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill a Govsrnment-owned corporation
would BE- 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
tllizer business
Tho strength Of the opposition to
Government operation II indicated BY
tho replies from Alabama, where the
Muscle Shosls war plant IL and whore,
Of course. there Il intense interest
and local pride In getting it, expected
peace-tine operation under way At the
earliest possible date. Fifty editors
from that state replied, Of whom ~
we're opposed to Government opera
tisn. . In favor and ! doubtful