Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1920-11-05
PUBLIC OPPOSES GOVERN
MENT OPERATION

The American public 10 moro in
tensely opposed to Government opera
ton than Il was year ago, according
to the newspaper editors Of the coun.
try. Out of 5,l54 editors replying 10
a QUESTIONABLE ssnt out by tho Press
Service Company Of New York, 4,466,
or SO per cent, gave 1t as their judg.
ment that the people Of the.- 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 thar
SO per cent Of tho 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 comml-
mites, has swung 8 per cent farther
away from sociallstic experiments
Eleven Million Circulation.
The combined circulation OF the pa.
pers whose editors replied IL l1,A2S.'
6l7, which means, according to tho
usual estimated ratio between clrcula.
ton and readers, a constituency of al
least 1900, 900 And this constituen.
cy Is pretty evenly scattered through.
out the country, no considerable SOC
ton Of any state being unreprosented
The estimate OF opinion based on this
thoroughly dlffused A per cent of the
country's population may, therefore,
be considered fair representation OF
the people as whole.
Another feature OF the result Is 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 l,4SS
independent and 462 miscellaneous
including labor organs, etc.
How little tho results are affected
by the politics OF the papers Ia shown
In al analysis by sectiOnA In the
Southern section, for instance, whore
replies came from eo Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, the per.
centage against Government operation
was So; In tho Great Lake section
with conditions reversed, 47S Repub
lican and l55 Democratic, the oppo
sition was 81 per cent
Replies from the West, Middle West
and Southwest show that It 10 a mis-
take TO consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government,
experiments than tho East The rad
icals can got little comfort out Of tho
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 e1
periments, returned 90 per cent of IN
favorable replies. Out Of the 244 ed
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. Ths
So per cent opposition of the North
west. including Iowa, Minnesota, Mon
tana. Nebraska. Nerth Dnksta, South
Dakota and Wyoming, and the IS per
cent veto OF the Far West group, In
Guiding Arizona. California. Idaho.
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
RADIO, Utah and Washington, are sig,
nlficant Of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
the moro radical sections
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE eloses with a re-
quest for the editors personal opin'
lon on certain concrete cases ~ fol.
lows:
do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive Industries to pro
vide: tO FertlliEori tb) ClothingI
(c) AutomohIlesi (d) Farm lmple-
mentsI te) Foodstuftsi
Substantially all the editors who
gave estimates Of their readers epln-
ions also expressed their swn By re-
plying te this last question. Proof Of
considerable effort To avoid personal
bias is found In the fact that In many
cases the sdtor differed from the
opinion he credited to his community
The percentage OF mos" ran: (al
70; (b) S3; tc) So; (d) 80; ts) tn.
While the questions were based sn
general principles Involved In the
Government participating In competl-
tive business, the so-ealed Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used as a concrete example Of Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill a AFOREMENTIONED corporation
would be given broad powers to oper.
ate and develop Government plants
and properties II 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 is indicated by
the replies from Alabama, whore the
Muscle Shoals war plant ia and where,
OF course. there Is intense interest
and local pride In getting In expected
peace.tlme operation under way at the
earliest possible date. Fifty editors
from that state replied, OF whom SO
were opposed to Gevernment opera
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