The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-04-24
Check and Double Check!

Elsewhere in today's paper appears the maj taou-
laton of returns the prohibition poll conducted ny
twenty-four Of the Scripps-Howard newspapers The
pol was undertaken at the request OF the Literary
Digest
It seems that some persons are not satisfied with
the way the Digest poll is going Notwithstanding the
vast expense involved in sending out 100000 bal
lots the long period of preparation, the ease With
which it was made possible to vote-a simple matter
Of marking self-addressed postcard and putting it
into the nail-the care that taken to put fair
share of the ballots into the hands of women, and
all that there are those who insist there is some
thing funny about it.
Naturally these critics persons who find
themselves on the minority side in the returns that
is to say those who defend prohibition For out OF
the 3716OOO votes thus far reported by the Digest,
Al per cent favor repeal of the eighteenth amend
rent and 80 per cent favor modification of the Vol
stead law, making total OF II per cent against the
present state Of affairs.
Only % per cent have declared themselves for
strict enforcement Of the eighteenth amendment and
the Volstead law
If everybody had an even chance to vote, the re-
suits would be different say the critics So to obge
the Digest and satisfy curiosity, we decided
to put the matter up to our readers.
Only quick dip into public sentiment was con-
sidered necessary and the poll was limited to seven
days. Readers responding were asked to give their
names and addresses, to minimize any suspicion OF
repeating. They were required also to indicate their
sex And it was necessary for them to mail their
ballots in or deliver them by hand.
We didn't anticipate that any vast number of
readers would take all this trouble but we thought
there would be something of significance in whatever
number should do The fact that nearly 100000 per-
sons have complied with the conditions named and
sent in their votes to Scrpps Howard newspapers is
really surprising.
Among 9sO12 votes we find that 1890 men
and sOoz2 are women. That is roughly about the
proportion Of women voters to men voters in most
elections nowadays.
We find, further. that of the 3O,O22 2l,O55.
o. two-thrds of them, have voted for repeal Adding
TO these the 1888 who voted for modification, it will
be seen that about ve-sixhs of them oppose the pro-
hibition experiment in its present stage.
The proportion OF men voting against prohibition
is larger-but not as much larger as you might have
thought.
Newspapers with their general circulation. may be
expected to reach about every sort and condition of
vcters-that was an added reason for aiding the
E-ssst to check its poll, by the way.
Newspaper circulation is real cross section of any
community, but in the case of Scrpps Howard news
papers we must anticipate very special criticism, due
to the fact that we consistently have expressed our
opposition to prohibition. However, it hardly needs
demonstrating that our readers are not confined to
persons who believe as we do on the subject.
Ii that were true, that itself would reveal that
majority of the population in of cities is
opposed to prohibition for several cities more than
half Of all afternoon newspaper readers read Scripps
Howard newspapers
So, to summarize this quick check-and- double
check Of prohibition. we find the following: