The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1921-01-01
Canvass Of 5,154 Editors Shows
1856 Communities Against
SOCialiStiC Experiment.
OPPOSITION WING
Ei0hty-seven Per Cent In 1920 as
against 80 Per Cent in 1919
Think Public Is Opposed
to RsdieaIlsm.

The American public Is more In.
tensely opposed to Government opera
ton than 1t was year ago, according
to the newspaper editors of the c0un-
try Out of 5,154 editors replying to
a QUESTIONABLE sent out by the Press
Service Company of New York, 4,46G,
or SO per cent, gave ii as their judg-
ment that the people Of their commu-
mites were Overwhelmingly against
the Government competing in business
with its own citizens.
In 1919 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, if editors estimate
public opinion accurately, that opin-
ion in year, considered by commu-
mites, has swung per cent farther
away from socialistic experiments.
Eleven Million Circulation,
The combined circulation of the pa
pers whose editors replied is 1l,42S,-
S17, which means, according TO the
usual estimated ratio between circuia-
ton and readers, constituency of at
least 44,000,000 And this constituent
cy Is pretty evenly scattered through
out the country, no considerable sec
ton of any state being unrepresented
The estimate Of opinion based on this
thoroughly diffused A per cent of the
cOuntry'S population may, therefore,
be considered a 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 1885
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 65 Republican pa
pers and $50 Democratic, the per-
centage against Government operation
was IS; in the Great Lake section,
with conditions reversed, AIS Repub-
lican and 155 Democratic, the oppO-
sition was 81 per cent.
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
icaIS can get little comfort out OF the
SO per cent of thumbs down. per
cent above the avsrage-in the South
west, including Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tex
ss. Texas, once supposed to be much
given to Government regulation ex-
periments, returned 80 per cent of I'M
favorable replies. Out u the PA edi-
tors replying from that state only
three edited Republican papers. The
81 per cent opposition OF the North-
Wert, 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
,rado, Utah and Washington, are sig
nifeant of the prevailing conservative
sentiment on this question even in
the more radical sections.
Judgment Apparently Unbiased.
The QUESTIONABLE closes with re-
quest for the 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) Fertilizer? (b) Clothing?
(c) Automobiles? (d) Farm nipple
ments? (e) FO0dstuffS?
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" ran: (a)
rs; (b) SO; (c) So; (O 50; (e) 70.
While the questions were based on
general principles involved in the
Government participating In COMPETE
tive business, the SO-called Muscle
Shoals Bill now before Congress was
used as a concrete example Of Gov
eminent operation scheme. Under this
bill a Government-owned corporation
would DO given broad powers to oper-
ate and develop Government plants
and properties. 1t would produce at
Muscle Shoals various fertilizer prod
iucts and sell them in competition with
producers and merchants in the fer
tiiiz6r business.
The strength Of the opposition to
Government operation is indicated by
the repliss from Alabama, where the
Muscle Shoals war plant Is and where,
=