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<v Speaker 1>Chapter fifty of Problems in American Democracy. This is a

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<v Speaker 1>LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

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<v Speaker 1>For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.

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<v Speaker 1>This reading by Alison Hester of Athens, Georgia. Problems in

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<v Speaker 1>American Democracy by Times Williamson, Chapter fifty. Rural local government

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<v Speaker 1>six thirty four. Types of rural local government. Rural local

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<v Speaker 1>governments in the United States vary widely as between different

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<v Speaker 1>sections of the country, but in general they are divisible

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<v Speaker 1>into three types. These are A the town type so

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<v Speaker 1>common in New England. B the county type found chiefly

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<v Speaker 1>in the south, the southwest, in the far west, and

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<v Speaker 1>C the mixed type of the middle, central and northwestern states.

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<v Speaker 1>These three general types will be discussed in the order

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<v Speaker 1>named A. The town type six thirty five. Nature of

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<v Speaker 1>the town. The basis of rural local government in New

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<v Speaker 1>England is the town footnote. The county exists in New

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<v Speaker 1>England as an aggregation of towns. The county has acquired

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<v Speaker 1>other functions, but it is still primarily a judicial district

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<v Speaker 1>and a footnote. In general, the New England town is

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<v Speaker 1>an irregularly shaped area varying in size from twenty to

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<v Speaker 1>forty five square miles. The area comprising the typical town

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<v Speaker 1>is primarily rural and generally contains one or more villages.

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<v Speaker 1>Although the town is primarily a rural unit, the villages

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<v Speaker 1>within its bounds may be so populous as to be

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<v Speaker 1>classed as cities. Yet these populous communities may, as in

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<v Speaker 1>the case of Brookline, Massachusetts, retain the town government. Other

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<v Speaker 1>New England cities, such as New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut,

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<v Speaker 1>have continued the town organization separate from the city government.

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<v Speaker 1>Six Origin of the town. Some authorities believe that the

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<v Speaker 1>town type of rural local government can be traced back

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<v Speaker 1>through English history to the early Teutonic tribes. Whether or

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<v Speaker 1>not this is true, it is certain that the principle

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<v Speaker 1>is an ancient one, and that when New England was

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<v Speaker 1>first settled, the colonists grouped together in small, compact communities

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<v Speaker 1>or towns, instead of scattering over larger areas six thirty seven.

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<v Speaker 1>Why town government developed in New England. Several factors are

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<v Speaker 1>responsible for the tendency of the settlers of early New

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<v Speaker 1>England to draw together in towns. From the economic point

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<v Speaker 1>of view, the bear and nature of the soil rendered

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<v Speaker 1>extensive farms impracticable, while on the other hand, the opportunities

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<v Speaker 1>for fishing and commerce encouraged small, compact settlements along the coast.

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<v Speaker 1>The hostility of many of the New England Indians also

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<v Speaker 1>discouraged sparse settlements and obliged the people to settle in

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<v Speaker 1>c close formation. Lastly, many of the New England colonists

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<v Speaker 1>came to the New World as groups or communities which,

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<v Speaker 1>in their European homes had pivoted about a common church.

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<v Speaker 1>In New England, these people naturally preferred to live very

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<v Speaker 1>near one another. Six thirty eight. Town government. The government

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<v Speaker 1>of the New England town is vested in a town meeting,

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<v Speaker 1>which consists of an annual session of the voters of

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<v Speaker 1>the town. At this meeting, the voters in act laws

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<v Speaker 1>governing such local matters as town finance, schools, police and highways.

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<v Speaker 1>A second important function of the town meeting is to

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<v Speaker 1>choose the town officers, including the selectmen footnote. In Rhode Island,

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<v Speaker 1>the selectmen are known as the council in the footnote,

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<v Speaker 1>the town clerk, treasurer, constable, and others. The chief executive

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<v Speaker 1>officers are the selectmen, varying in number from three to

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<v Speaker 1>nine and generally chosen for the term of one year.

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<v Speaker 1>The selectmen have general charge of town affairs and act

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<v Speaker 1>under authority conferred by statute or by the town meeting.

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<v Speaker 1>The town clerk keeps the records. The treasurer has charge

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<v Speaker 1>of the funds of the town and sometimes audits accounts,

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<v Speaker 1>while the constable keeps the peace of the town, serves, writs,

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<v Speaker 1>and collects local taxes. In addition, there are a number

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<v Speaker 1>of minor officials, such as tax assessors, pound keepers, guardians

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<v Speaker 1>of the poor, highway officials, and library trustees. Part B

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<v Speaker 1>the county type. Why county government developed in the South.

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<v Speaker 1>The system of county government became as firmly entrenched in

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<v Speaker 1>the southern colonies as did the concept of the town

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<v Speaker 1>in early New England. Four factors operated to discourage town

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<v Speaker 1>government and to encourage county government in the South. First,

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<v Speaker 1>the southern colonists did not come in small family groups

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<v Speaker 1>as did the New Englanders, but rather as individuals and

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<v Speaker 1>from different classes of society. Second, the Indians of the

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<v Speaker 1>South were either weak or peaceful, so that fear of

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<v Speaker 1>Indian attack did not oblige the colonists to congregate in small,

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<v Speaker 1>compact communities. Third, the climate and soil of the South

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<v Speaker 1>encouraged a plantation system, which resulted in a sparse rather

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<v Speaker 1>than in a compact population. Fourth, the aristocratic type of

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<v Speaker 1>society developing from the plantation and slave system prevented the

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<v Speaker 1>rise of democratic town meetings. Six point forty Government of

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<v Speaker 1>the Southern County. Though county government is also found in

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<v Speaker 1>the Southwest and far West, it is seen in its

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<v Speaker 1>purest form in the South. Here. The county was originally

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<v Speaker 1>a judicial district, or sometimes also a financial district, to

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<v Speaker 1>facilitate the collector of taxes. The functions of the county

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<v Speaker 1>have gradually increased until such local affairs as schools, jails, poorhouses,

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<v Speaker 1>and the maintenance of roads and bridges are concerns of

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<v Speaker 1>the Southern County. The chief administrative authority in the county

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<v Speaker 1>is either the County Court or a small board of commissioners.

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<v Speaker 1>In either case, the administrative authority is chosen by popular vote.

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<v Speaker 1>In addition, there are a number of minor officers, such

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<v Speaker 1>as the treasurer, tax assessor, and recorder, all of them

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<v Speaker 1>chosen by popular vote for terms varying from one to

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<v Speaker 1>four years. Six forty one government of the Far Western County.

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<v Speaker 1>In the Far West, likewise, the most important unit of

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<v Speaker 1>rural local government is the county. The county is governed

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<v Speaker 1>by a board, usually consisting of three commissioners. In general,

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<v Speaker 1>the officers of the Far Western county resemble those in

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<v Speaker 1>the Central States. Ce Section six h undred forty four,

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<v Speaker 1>Part C. The mixed type footnote sometimes called the township

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<v Speaker 1>county system into footnote six forty two origin of the

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<v Speaker 1>mixed type. The mixed type of rural local government is

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<v Speaker 1>a hybrid, the result of the incomplete fusion of the

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<v Speaker 1>town type with the county type. The northern parts of

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<v Speaker 1>the Central States were settled largely by immigrants from New England,

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<v Speaker 1>while the southern portions of the Middle West were settled

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<v Speaker 1>by pioneers from Pennsylvania and the states south of the

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<v Speaker 1>Ohio River. The New England immigrants were used to town

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<v Speaker 1>government and endeavored to perpetuate it in their new home.

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<v Speaker 1>The settlers from the south preferred the county form of

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<v Speaker 1>government and sought its adoption in their new homes. The

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<v Speaker 1>result was a compromise, some functions of rural local government

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<v Speaker 1>being assigned to the county and some to the township

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<v Speaker 1>six forty three. The two subtypes. In the fusion of

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<v Speaker 1>the town and county types of government, the county system

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<v Speaker 1>tended to predominate over the town or township form of

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<v Speaker 1>government when settlers from the south were in the majority

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<v Speaker 1>in the northern section of the country. On the other hand,

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<v Speaker 1>the compromise form tended to include a majority of the

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<v Speaker 1>features of the town type. The result was the formulation

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<v Speaker 1>of two subtypes. The first of these may be called

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<v Speaker 1>the Pennsylvania subtype, so named because it originated in Pennsylvania

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<v Speaker 1>and then spread with modifications to Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri,

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<v Speaker 1>and other states. In these states, the town or township

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<v Speaker 1>authority is subordinated to the county government. There is no

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<v Speaker 1>town meeting. The New York subtype exists in typical form

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<v Speaker 1>in New York, but is also found in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota,

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<v Speaker 1>the Dakotas, and other states. The town meeting is found

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<v Speaker 1>in these states, and in five of them the town

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<v Speaker 1>ships are represented on the county board six forty four

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<v Speaker 1>the New York subtype. In states possessing the New York

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<v Speaker 1>subtype of rural local government, the town meeting is still important.

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<v Speaker 1>This meeting is similar to the New England town meeting,

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<v Speaker 1>though it exercises less authority. All the legal voters of

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<v Speaker 1>the township are qualified to take part in this meeting,

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<v Speaker 1>which is held annually and on special occasions. At this

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<v Speaker 1>meeting are chosen township officers for the following year. The

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<v Speaker 1>most important of these are the supervisor, clerk, treasurer, assessor,

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<v Speaker 1>and a varying number of constables and Justices of the peace.

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<v Speaker 1>In addition to electing these and other officers, the town

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<v Speaker 1>meeting enacts legislation with regard to such local matters as bridges, roads,

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<v Speaker 1>and schools. In some of the Central States, general executive

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<v Speaker 1>authority over township affairs is vested in a township board,

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<v Speaker 1>while in other state states, administrative authority is divided between

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<v Speaker 1>a township board of from three to eleven members and

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<v Speaker 1>a supervisor or trustee. Besides these officials, there are a

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<v Speaker 1>number of minor officers, including a clerk, a treasurer, an assessor,

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<v Speaker 1>overseers of the poor, constables, and justices of the peace.

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<v Speaker 1>The county board continues to exist under the New York Plan,

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<v Speaker 1>but it is far less important than under the Pennsylvania subtype.

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<v Speaker 1>The functions of the county board are similar in these

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<v Speaker 1>two subtypes. Six forty five the Pennsylvania subtype. In those

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<v Speaker 1>states in which the Pennsylvania subtype of rural local government prevails,

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<v Speaker 1>general control of government is vested in a county board.

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<v Speaker 1>This board is composed of three commissioners, who are elected

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<v Speaker 1>by the voters of the county. In all of the

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<v Speaker 1>Central states, the county board possesses numerous powers, but the

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<v Speaker 1>powers of the board are greater on an under the

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<v Speaker 1>Pennsylvania then under the New York subtype. Under the former plan,

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<v Speaker 1>the county Board exercised four groups of powers, first the

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<v Speaker 1>levying of taxes and the appropriation of local funds, second

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<v Speaker 1>the maintenance of roads, third poor relief, and fourth the

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<v Speaker 1>supervision of local elections. Besides the members of the county Board,

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<v Speaker 1>there are a number of other county officials. The chief

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<v Speaker 1>executive officer of the county court is the sheriff. The

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<v Speaker 1>prosecuting attorney is an elective official whose duty it is

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<v Speaker 1>to conduct criminal prosecutions and to act as the legal

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<v Speaker 1>agent of the county. The treasurer has charge of county

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<v Speaker 1>funds and sometimes supervises the collection of taxes. He is

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<v Speaker 1>elected by the people, generally for a two year term.

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<v Speaker 1>The clerk or auditor is an important county officer, as

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<v Speaker 1>is the surveyor, the county superintendent of schools, and the

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<v Speaker 1>recorter or register of deeds six forty six. Home rule

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<v Speaker 1>for counties. Generally, county authorities are narrowly limited by the

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<v Speaker 1>state constitution and state statutes. This has always resulted in

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<v Speaker 1>numerous appeals to the legislature for special legislation, and has

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<v Speaker 1>lately given rise to a demand for home rule for counties.

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<v Speaker 1>In the effort to reduce the pressure for special laws

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<v Speaker 1>in the legislature, the Michigan Constitution of nineteen o eight

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<v Speaker 1>provided for a measure of home rule in the counties.

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<v Speaker 1>The legislature is authorized to confer legislative powers on the

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<v Speaker 1>county boards, which may pass laws and ordinances relative to

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<v Speaker 1>purely local affairs, provided such enactments do not conflict with

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<v Speaker 1>state law, and provided further that such enactments do not

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<v Speaker 1>interfere with the local affairs of any township, incorporated city,

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<v Speaker 1>or village within the limits of the county. Such laws

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<v Speaker 1>may be vetoed by the governor, but may be passed

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<v Speaker 1>over his veto by a two thirds vote of the

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<v Speaker 1>county board. Another step toward home rule was taken when

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eleven, California, by constitutional amendment, empowered counties to

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<v Speaker 1>frame their own charters and, on securing popular approval, to

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<v Speaker 1>put the same into effect. However, the charter, thus framed

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<v Speaker 1>and approved must first be sanctioned by the state legislature

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<v Speaker 1>end of Chapter fifty