The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1920-10-28
Canvass Of 5.l54 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
SOCianstiC Experiment.
OPPOSITION GRO WING
Eighty seven Per Cent In 1920 as
Against 80 Per Cent In 1919
Think Public 10 Opposed
to Radicallsm.

10 the newspaper editors or lne cOuO'
try. Ont Of 5,l5i editors replying TO
q QUESTIONABLE sent ont by the Press
Service Company Of New York, 4,466,
or sc per cent gave II as their Judg.
ment that the PEOPLE OF their cOmmu-
miles were overwhelmingly against
the Government competing In business
with It's own citizens.
In 1910 the Press Service Company
conducted a 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 estimute
public opinion accurately, that opln'
ion In a year, considered by commu
mites, has swung 3 per cent farther
nway from soclalistlc experiments.
Eleven million Circulation.
The combined circulation of the pa
pers whose editors replied Is 1l,42S,'
BIT. which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula
ton and readers. q constituency OF at
least 44.OO0.O00. And this constituent.
cy Is pretty e;enly scattered through.
out the country, no considerable sec
: lion OF any state being unrepresented
The estimate OF opinion based on this
| thoroughly dlffused A per cent of the
rountry's population may. therefore.
be considered fair representation OF
the people as whole.
Another feature of the result Ia Its
evident lack OF partisan bias The
major political affiliations Of the pa.
pers represented are fairly evenly d.
vided, being 1887 Republican and
! 1850 Democratic. There are also l,4S5
Independent and 4G2 miscellaneous.
Including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are affected
by the politics Of the papers Is shown
In on anaiy, nv sections. In the
Southern section. rnr instance, where
replies came from ~ Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, he per-
centage against Government operation
was 49, In the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, 4IS Repub-
lican and 1855 Democratic. the oppo-
sltion was 81 per cent
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that u Is a mis-
take TO consider those sections vastly
more favorable 70 radical Government
experiments than the East. The rad.
icals can get little comfort out OF the
50 per ceut Of thumbs DOWN. per
cent above the average-ln the South.
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana.
Missouri. Kansas. Oklahoma and Tex
as. Texas, once supposed to he much
given to Government regulation ex-
periments, returned % per cent OF un-
favorable replies. Out of the 244 eU.
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. Tho
81 per cent opposition OF the North
west, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tnna, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota and Wyoming. and the SO per
cent veto OF the Fur 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.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with q re-
quest for the editors personal opin-
ion on certain concrete cases az fol.
lows:
do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive Industries to pro
vide: (a) Fertilizer (b) Clothing
(c) Automobiles? (d) Farm nipple.
menlsi (e) Foodstufrsf
Substantially all the editors who
give estimates of thslr readers opIn
ions also expressed their own by re-
plying 10 this last question. Proof OF
cGns derable effort to avoid personal
bias j. found In the fact that In many
'-ises the editor differed from the
nlnnion he credited 10 Ills community
The percentage OF mos" ran: thJ
20 O) Sd; (c) SO; tdl So; te) 10
While the questions we're based OF
general principles involved in the
Government participating IN competi
live business, the socalled Muscl,
Shoals Bill now before Congress wal
used as concrete example Of q Gov
eminent opera tion scheme. Under thl
, bill a Govsrnmeat-owned corporation
would be given bread powers TO oper
ate and develop Government plant
and properties. II would produce a
, Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod
! ucts and sell than In competition witt
! producers and merchants In the fer
tillzer business.
: Tho strength Of the opposition L
Government operation is indicated b.
tho replies from Alabama, where tn
Muscle Shoals war plant 10 and where
of course. there Is intense interes
and local pride In getting Its expects
peace-time operation under way at III
earliest possible date. Fifty editor
from that state replied. Of whom 8
were opposed to Government opsrs
. | ttar n IN 70 var and 4 Harhtftxl