Jackson County sentinel. (Gainesboro, Tenn.) 1914-current, 1921-01-20
PUBLIC OPPOSES
GOVT OPERATION
Canvass Of 5,154 Editors Shows
4,466 Communities Against
SOCiaIistic Experiment.
OPPOSITION GROWING
EIuhty seven Per Cent In 1920 as
Against 80 Per Cent In 1919
Think Public ls Opposed
to Radicalisn.

The Ameuran public is more In
tensely opposed to Government opera
ton dian II was year ago, according
to the newspaper editors of the cOuh'
try Out of 5,154 editors replying 10
QUESTIONABLE sent out by the Press
Service Company Of New York, l,l60'
or S. per cent. gave IL as their Judg'
menl that the people of their conIhu'
mites we're overwhelmingly against
the Government competing In business
with its own citizens
IN 1919 the Press Service Company
conducted d similar canvass OF editors
on The government operation OF ran
roads That questionable showed mar
SO 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 commu-
mites, has swung per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments
Eleven Million Circulation
The combined circulation Of the pa
hers whose editors replied Is ll,42S,'
PIT, which means, according to the
usual estimated ratio between circula'
ton and readers, constituency of al
east 100000 And this constituent
ry is pretty evenly scattered through
out the country, NO considerable sec
lion of any state being unrepresented'
The estimate of opinion based OH this
thoroughly diffused A per cent Of the
country's population may, therefore,
he considered a fair representation OF
the people as whole.
Another feature Of the result is It's
evident lack of partisan bias. The
major political affiliations of thee pa
pers represented are fairly evenly d.
vided, being 1857 Republican and
1850 Democratic. There are also LASS
Independent and 462 miscellaneous,
including labor organs, etc.
Eow little the results ara affected
By the politics Of the papers is shown
10 en- analysis by sections In the
Southern section, for instance, where
replies came from 90 Republican pa
ners and $50 Democratic, the per-
fentage against Government operation
was So; in the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, AS Repub'
Iican and l55 Democratic, the oppo
lItlou was 81 per cent
KeulleS from the West Middle West
and Southuesl show that II Is mis-.
AXE to consider those sections vastly
more favorable Ia radical Government
Aperiments than lie East The rad
lcaIs can get little comfort oul 81 The
10 pei cent nl thumbs down. per
REM above the average in the South
Nest. Including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri. Kansas, oklahoma and Tex.
ss. Texas, once supposed 10 he much
given TO Government regulation ex-
periments, returned 81 per cent Of I'M
favorable replies Oul Of the III edi-
ors reply ing from that state only
Ihree edited Republican papers. The
- per cent opposition IF he North
vest, including Iowa, Minnesota Mon
tana, Nebraska North Dakoiu, South
Dakota aud Wyoming and the 81 per
snt veto of The Far West group. in
rluding Arizona California, Idaho,
Nevada. New Mexico, Oregon, Colo
RADIO. Utah and Washington, are sig
nificanl of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even in
the more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with u re-
guest for the editors personal npin-
Ion on certain concrete Eases as fol
lows:
DO YOU personally believe that the
Federal Government should own and
operate competitive Industries 10 pro.
vide; (a) Fertihzsrf (b) Clothlngf
(c) Automobiles? (d) Farm nipple
ments: (e) Foodstuffsf
Substantially all the editors who
gave estimates of thsir readers opin-
ions also expressed their own by re
plying to this last question Proof OF
considerable effori 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 mos ran: ts)
70; (b) So; (c) S. I'D - (e) 80
While The questions we're based on
general principles involved in the
Government participating in cOmpeti.
tive business. the so-called Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used As n concrete example of Gov
eminent operation scheme Under this
bill a Government owned corporation
would be given broad powers to oper.
ate and develop Government plants
and properties u would produce at
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod
ucts and sell lhsm Ia competition with
producers and Merchants 10 the fer.
tilIzer bus ness.
The surength Of fhe opposition to
Government Opers ton Is indicated By
the replies from Alabama where the
Muscle Shoals war plant is and where,
Of course. there is intense interest
and local pride IN getting It's expected
peace time operation under way at the
earliest possible dahe Fifty editors
non hat stale replied. of whom IS