The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1921-02-24
PUBLIC OPPOSES
Govt OPERATION
Canvass OF 5.154 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
Socialistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION WING
Eighty. seven Per Cent IN 1920 az
soains, 80 Per Cen, In 1873
Think Public 10 Opposed
10 Radiealisrn.


lensely opposed 10 Government opera.
10 the newspaper editors o. the coun.
try out ~ 5.l5i editors replying 20
4 questionable sent out by the Press
Service Company 81 New York. 4.i06,
Or 80 per cent. gave II as their judg.
uent that the people ~ their commu.
lltles we're overwhelmingly against
he Government competing In business
with It's own citizens.
In 1919 the Press Service Company
conducted 3 similar canvass 90 editors
N the government operation Of rail.
oads That questionable showed thar
- per cent OF the editors considered
heir communities against Govern.
nent operation Of public utilities
Apparently. then. II editors estimate
iubllc opinion accurately. tina, opin.
on In a year. considered by commu.
titles. has swung 3 per cent farther
way from soclalistic experiments
Eleven MILLION Circulation.
The combined circulation ~ the pa.
,ers whose editors replied - Has
NJ. which means. according To the
lsual estimated ratio between circu!a.
ion and readers constituency u ni
east 100000 And this constituent.
Is pretty evenly scattered through.
ut the country. no considerable sec
ion ~ any state being unrepresented.
The estimate OF opinion based on this
thoroughly dlffused - per cent OF the
ountrys population may. therefore.
70 considered fair representation OF
be people as n whole
Another feature OF the result 10 its
wldent lack Of partisan bias The
major political affiliations Of the pa
,ers represented are fairly evenly 81.
'lded. being 1857 Republican and
$50 Democratic. There are also i.4S5
independent and 49, miscellaneous,
including labor organs, etc.
How little the results are affected
" the politics OF the papers II shown
an analysis by sections. In the
southern section, for instance. where
eplles came from % Republican pa
/ ,ers and $50 Democratic. the per-
]
vas ss: In the Great Lake section.
With conditions reversed, AIS Repub-
/ team and l55 Democratic. the oppo-
/ ation was 81 per cent
Replies from the Wes;. Middle West
md Southwest show that Il Is a mis-
axe to consider those sections vastly
more favorable to radical Government
experiments than the East The rad
Gals can get little comfort out OF the
- per cent OF thur,hs down-2 per
'ent above the average-in the South
I vest. including Arkansss. Louisiana.
Missouri, Kansas. Oklahoma and Tex
IS Texas. once supposed to lie much
given to Government regulation ex-
| )eriments. returned ~ per cent OF IN
| adorable replies. out q the pa edi'
ors replying from that state only
hree edited Republican papers. The
e. per cent opposition OF the North
vest, including Iowa. Minnesota. Mon
ana. Nebraska. North Dakota, South
dakota and Wyoming. and the 50 per
cent veto Of the Far West group, in
'luding Arizona. California. Idaho,
Nevada. New Mexico. oregon. Colo
ado, Utah and Washington. are sig
llncant OF the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even In
he more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The questionable closes with a re-
quest for the editors personal opin-
A.. a. IL
ows:
do you personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive industries To pro
vide: (a) Fertilizer o. Clothing
te) Automobiles Cd Farm nipple
mentsf (e) Foodstuffsf
Substantially all the editors who
snve estimates Of their readers opln.
ioks also expressed their own by re.
plying TO this last question Proof Of
considerable effort To avoid personal
bias il found In the fact that In many
cases the editor differed from the
opinion he credited to his community
The percentage Of nos ran: (a)
30: (bl ~; (el 81. ca So. (e) 10
White the questions were based on
general principles involved Ia the
Government participating In compeii.
tive business. the so-cnlled Muscle
Shoals 1911 now before Congress was
used as concrete example of u Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill a Government owned corporation
would he given broad powers 10 oper
alto and develop Government plants
aud properties Il would produce al
Muscle shoals various fertilizer prod
ucts and sell them In competition with
producers and merchants In the fer
tilizer business
tho .rength OF the opposition &c
90, eminent operation Is Indicated by
tho replies from Alabama. where the
Muscle shoals war plant 10 and where
of course. there IL intense interest
aud local pride In getting Its expected
peace time operation under way at the
earliest possible date Fifty editors
from that state replied. OF whom 80