Part 58 (1/2)

The services performed by your towns.h.i.+p government.

A complete list of your towns.h.i.+p officers, and the duties of each.

(Committees of pupils may interview some of the more important officers to get a description of their daily routine, kinds of service performed, etc. Also discuss with parents.)

Officers of the colonial New England town that do not exist now, and their duties.

What is parliamentary law? (Valuable training may be secured by conducting school meetings, club meetings, or occasional regular cla.s.s exercises, in accordance with parliamentary procedure.)

Why public discussion is a check upon the conduct of persons holding responsible positions.

The popular interest in public questions in your towns.h.i.+p.

If there is a finance committee in your towns.h.i.+p (p. 399), how does it serve the community? Does it hold hearings? (Attend and report upon some such hearing.)

Town planning in your community (what has been, or what might be, done).

The value of having a plan.

Is your community more like that represented by the chart on page 402, or by that on page 403?

The extent to which voluntary organizations in your community co operate with and through the local government.

The extent to which your state agricultural college promotes community organization.

The feasibility of organizing your town (or community) by some such plan as that outlined on page 402.

The value of a community ”forum” as a means to good government.

Why the official town meeting should (or should not) be encouraged in your state.

Procure and examine recently published official reports of your towns.h.i.+p government. What do these reports tell you? What is the value of such reports? Are the reports of your towns.h.i.+p generally read by the people of the towns.h.i.+p? Why? Discuss ways in which your towns.h.i.+p reports could be made more useful.

THE COUNTY

The other unit of local government with which the colonists were familiar was the county, which in England embraced a number of towns.h.i.+ps. In the colonies of New York and Pennsylvania the county and the town s.h.i.+p were developed together as in England; in the southern colonies the county was organized without the towns.h.i.+p.

Today the county exists in every state of the Union, including the New England states. In Louisiana it is called the PARISH.

TYPES OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT

There are two main types of county government. According to one plan, as in New York, each towns.h.i.+p elects a representative to a county BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, which is sometimes quite large.

According to the other plan, as in Pennsylvania, the people of the county as a whole elect a small BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, the towns.h.i.+ps not being represented as such even when they exist. The board of supervisors or commissioners levies taxes and makes appropriations for various county purposes, such as constructing and maintaining roads, bridges, and county buildings, paying the salaries of county officers, caring for the county poor, and conducting the county schools. It is sometimes spoken of as the county legislative body, but it is rather an administrative body, its lawmaking powers being very slight.

COUNTY OFFICERS

Among the important county officers are the sheriff, who is chief guardian of the peace in the county, has charge of the jail, is the chief executive officer of the county court (see p. 439), and sometimes acts as tax collector; the county prosecutor (also called the prosecuting attorney, the district attorney, or the state's attorney), who prosecutes all criminal cases in the county and represents the public authorities in civil suits; the county clerk, who keeps the county records; the register of deeds, who records all transfers of property; the coroner, who investigates the cause of violent and mysterious deaths; the tax a.s.sessor; the treasurer; the auditor, who examines the accounts of county officers; the surveyor; the school superintendent; the health officer. Some times there are others.

LACK OF INTEREST IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Although practically every citizen of the United States is also a citizen of a county, the people have as a rule shown surprisingly little interest in county government. As generally found it affords a striking example of poor service resulting from a lack of teamwork. County government has the reputation of being one of the weakest spots in our whole system of government.

WILL COUNTY GOVERNMENT SURVIVE?