CHAPTER XXVIII

SUBDIVISIONS OF THE STATE

269. Country Districts. We have seen how cities and villages are governed. These thickly settled communities have many kinds of work in which they are much interested; and the citizens sometimes think this part of the government is more important to them than is that of the State as a whole. But a large number of people live in the country. These support the State government; but they, like the city people, have some local community interests which are closer to them than are the general affairs of the State. It is necessary for them to have some kind of organization to attend to these interests. This chapter speaks of the way the country people coöperate in attending to these local matters.

270. Kinds of Rural Local Government. In different parts of the United States there are different kinds of local government, but all are near enough alike for us to describe them in one chapter in so far as it can be done in this little book. All of our States, except Louisiana, are divided into counties. The counties are divided into smaller units called towns or townships. In New England, where the town government does most of the work, the citizens are particularly interested in this small division. In the South, where the county officers do most of it, the larger division is given more attention by the citizens. It is important to remember that the difference between the sections of the country in the matter of rural local government is that in

one the smaller division has more duties, while in the other the larger division has more. The same kind of work has to be done by some one in all sections. There is a third arrangement, as in Pennsylvania, where the work is about equally divided between the townships and the counties.

271. The Work To Be Done. It is very difficult to draw a line between the work done by local officers and that done by State officers. The schools are better in some counties or towns than in others because the local school officers are more efficient and the citizens are more attentive in one section than in another. But the work of the State school officers is constantly overlapping that of the local government. The counties and towns build some roads and bridges, but the State also builds great highways through these local communities and helps them sometimes to build their own smaller roads. Local officers attend to the public health and provide some police officers to keep the peace and protect property. But we have seen that the State police force in some communities also aids the rural governments in keeping order. Counties and towns also care for the poor, the sick, and other unfortunates; they build court houses and jails; some aid agriculture by helping to stamp out weeds and to exterminate troublesome animals such as rabbits and hawks. All of these and many other kinds of work have to be done by some officers if the local community is to be well ordered.

272. Organs of Town Government. The town has the simplest of all organizations. In New England its government begins with a meeting of all the citizens who have a right to vote. They assemble in the spring or autumn to talk over the affairs of the community, make rules for the general welfare, and elect officers to carry out the rules.

Their government is very much like that of a class which exercises self-government. They elect more officers, of course, because there is much more work to do. First they provide three or more selectmen who are the general agents of the town meeting. They are a sort of executive committee to do almost anything the town meeting would do if it were in session all the time. In most towns the meeting also elects such officers as the following: town clerk, treasurer, constable, road officer, school officers, overseer of the poor, and so on. The more work there is to do the more officers they elect. These serve for one or more years, and have to give account of what they have been doing when the town meeting assembles.

273. Organs of County Government. In those parts of the country where most of the work is done by the county this district has about the same kind of officers as the towns have in New England. But there is one important difference. All of the people of a county cannot assemble as they do in the town. The counties are too large, the citizens would have to travel too far, and there are too many of them. Therefore they have representative government. They elect members to a legislature variously called board of supervisors, freeholders, overseers, or commissioners. The people of the county elect the other officers as they elect the officers of the State, and not in a meeting as they do in the towns. Most of these officers are the same as those mentioned for the towns; but counties also have each a sheriff who is the police officer for the whole county, and who has also other duties. Either counties or towns have another sort of work to do which is important. This is the keeping of records about births and deaths, wills, and the sale of real estate. All land that is sold is described

in books kept either by the town or the county; and all wills must be recorded before they can be used to dispose of property.

274. A Better County Government. We have seen that some cities have what is called Commission-Manager government. Many people think that the work of the county

The People of the County who may vote

Treasurer

Surveyor

Supt. of

Schools

Etc.

This diagram suggests the duty of the voter under long-ballot county government. Not all of the officers are noted, but even this large number discourages the citizen from any effort to vote carefully. His task is hopeless. The boss appoints the officers.

would be better done if such an organization were adopted by the counties also. The counties now elect so many officers that the citizens pay little attention to the candidates or to the work they do, with the result that officers are not carefully selected. The students of government would have the county elect a commission of seven or more members and have this commission appoint a manager. The manager would appoint all the officers who do the county work, such as building roads, bridges, and public buildings. Advocates of this plan would have the governor of the State appoint the sheriff, the district attorney, and other officers who attend to the enforcement of the State law and to doing other things such as recording deeds, which must be done about the same way all over the State. This is a part of the "short-ballot reform," as it is called. Those who ask for

this reform think that when the citizen has to vote for a long list of officers he does not pay much attention to most of the names. They find that many citizens do not know even the names of the men or women they vote for; and

This diagram suggests a short-ballot arrangement of the county government, in which the people elect only the council and the council elects a manager. Then the manager appoints those who do the local work, and the governor appoints those who aid him in doing the work of the State. The arrows do not connect because it it is still uncertain which officers the governor should appoint and which the manager should.

that the voters do not understand the kind of work the officers have to do. If this is true it is clear that the officers are not now wisely selected.

275. Counties and Towns in Cities. We must remember

Etc.