each other's wants in a single community. Great railroads cross the continent in a network of lines, and by them millions of people far from farms and factories are supplied with food and clothing; the mails deliver his daily paper to the farmer each morning; the telephone has become a necessity in the country as well as in the city, and the parcel post makes it possible for every farmer to supply one or more families with his produce.

All this is possible because men have worked out a great plan or scheme of coöperation. We call this plan, government. In other words, government is merely a plan of securing order so that we may go about our affairs not only without interference, but with convenience and comfort. In order to do this effectively certain laws and rules are necessary, and it should be the highest aim of every citizen to obey these, not because those in authority say he must, but because good order and community, as well as individual, welfare are impossible without such obedience.

Local, State and National Governments. Whenever a group of people cooperate they need certain rules, differing according to the object sought. Boys need rules in playing a game of baseball; automobile drivers need another set of rules, while a church congregation must observe a still different set. So the people living in a community need rules pertaining to paving streets, building sidewalks, providing schools, caring for the poor, establishing water works and street lighting. These and many other matters pertaining to towns, cities, townships and counties concern the people directly, and the regulation of them is called LOCAL GOVERNMENT. There are a great many things, however, which the people accomplish to better advantage in larger groups. People of one community have many transactions with people of other communities, and so we must have rules concerning buying and selling

property, payment of debts, regulation of marriages and thousands of other affairs regarding persons and property, which concern the people alike in all communities. Control of these matters is called STATE GOVERNMENT. Our country is made up of forty-eight states, and, if there were not a still different set of rules, we should have a great deal of confusion. We might have forty-eight different kinds of money, forty-eight post office systems with as many different kinds of stamps, and forty-eight different sets of regulations for railroads and interstate business. Uniformity in such matters and in the dealings of our country with foreign nations is necessary, and so, for this purpose, we have a NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.

The Study of Government. When boys and girls play games they must be willing to "play fair," and in order to do this they must know the rules of the game, and if they are to be patriotic citizens they must not only be loyal to the government, but must know the "rules." These "rules" are the constitutions and laws which give us the form of organization of our local, state and national governments. We shall study all three of these in their relation to us, and shall learn how to cooperate in "playing the game" of citizenship. As we do this, we shall discover how these three agencies are contributing to our happiness every day in providing for our health, protecting our lives and property, surrounding us with opportunities for education, beautifying our communities, encouraging our business enterprises, providing for the poor and unfortunate, and adding to our comfort and convenience in a thousand ways.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

1. Why may not every pupil do as he pleases in school? What is the relation of an individual to society? What is cooperation?

2. Why are rules necessary in playing a game? Why is government necessary?

3. To what three governments are we responsible? Name some things that each of these governments provides for us. Why do we have local boards of health, state pure food laws and national pure food laws?

4. Name as many ways as you can by which governments protect our lives and property.

5. What duty do pupils owe to their school? What duty do they owe the community which provides the school?

CHAPTER II

THE LAND SURVEY SYSTEM

Congressional Survey. We have learned that one of the services performed by government is to protect us in the right to hold property. If you own some land and some one claims that it belongs to him, you can prove that the land belongs to you by producing your deed. This deed will show that the land came into your possession lawfully, and it will describe the land in such a way that it cannot possibly be mistaken for any other land in the country. This description can be made as easily and in much the same manner as you would explain to a stranger which seat in the school room you occupy. You might explain that you sit in the third row from the north wall and in the fourth seat from the front. There is only one seat in the room that corresponds to this description. In 1785 Congress provided a system of surveys for locating land which is similar to the plan of locating your seat.

This system is known as the Congressional Survey. By it all government land that has been surveyed is divided into plots six miles square, and each of these plots is again divided and subdivided. The lines upon which these large divisions are based are known as principal meridians, range lines, base lines and township lines.

Before com

Principal Meridians and Base Lines. mencing the survey proper, it is necessary to establish two main lines, one extending north and south and the other east and west. These lines are purely arbitrary and they

are located without special reference to any other lines of the same kind that may have been surveyed before. The lines extending north and south and from which the

This figure shows a portion of a principal meridian, a portion of a base line, and township and range lines. Correction lines are marked C L.

survey is made are called principal meridians, and those extending east and west are called base lines. The principal meridians are numbered westward and a separate base line is established for each.

The principal meridians are long distances apart, and so are the base lines, but lines parallel with the meridians