the use of the sidewalks of the town for bicycling is an example of a by-law.

(3) Town officers are elected. It would be impossible for all the people of a town to meet together every day for the transaction of public business. For this reason, at the annual town-meeting, officers are elected to manage the affairs of the town in the name of the people for one year.

Town Officers:

(1) The Selectmen. The general management of town affairs during the year is placed in the hands of three or five or seven or nine citizens, called selectmen. These officers carry into effect the measures passed at the townmeeting. They supervise the laying out of roads; they grant licenses; they care for the poor; they take measures to abate nuisances, check the advance of contagious disease, and otherwise preserve the health of the town; they listen to complaints against the management of town affairs; they represent the town in court when it is sued; they make out the warrant when a special town-meeting is to be called. The town-meeting is the legislature of the town, and the selectmen are its chief executive officers.

(2) The Town Clerk. This officer has numerous duties. We have seen that it is he who calls the town-meeting to order. He must always be present at a town-meeting, and keep a record of the proceedings. In addition to this he keeps a record of the births, marriages and deaths in the town, and grants certificates to those wishing to marry. In fact, most matters of town record are in his keeping, including sometimes the recording of deeds and convey

ances.

(3) Assessors (p. 282).

(4) Tax Collectors (p. 284).

(5) A Town Treasurer.

(6) Overseers of the Poor. These officers have charge of the town almshouse and give relief to the deserving poor.

(7)

(p. 354).

The School Committee, or Board of Education.

(8) Constables. These are peace officers, and every town has one or more of them. They arrest for crime, and assist the selectmen in executing the law. In some towns the constable serves as tax collector.

(9) Surveyors of Highways. These officers inspect roads and bridges, and are responsible for keeping them in repair. (10) Fence Viewers. These officers settle disputes that may arise between neighbors about partition fences or walls.

(11) Field Drivers. When cows or horses or other animals are found wandering about the town the field driver puts them into a pound, and keeps them until their rightful owner is found.

This list of officers is not complete; yet it is long enough to show that a great many people take part in the government of a town. It is quite possible that there are towns in which there is not one intelligent citizen of advanced years who has not at some time in his life held public office. It is this general participation in the business of government that makes the people of New England such a wide-awake and progressive body of citizens.

The Town as a Factor in the Civic Life in New England. It is difficult for one not residing in New England to understand how powerfully its system of local government influences its civic life. Every voter of a town is a lawmaker, and almost every one either has been, is, or very reasonably expects to be, a town officer of some kind. This direct contact with government keeps public spirit keyed up to a high pitch. If the town affairs during the year are managed unwisely or corruptly there is sure to be a speedy exposure in town-meeting by merciless

'In many towns a school committee manages the schools of a district, which forms only a part of the town. When this is the case school affairs are separated from town affairs.

critics. If improvements are needed, or if the town lags behind its neighbors in progressiveness, the discussions in the folkmoot are sure to be directed towards a remedy, and when a remedy is found it usually proves to be wise and effective. The keen, vigilant citizenship fostered by these little New England democracies awakened the admiration of Thomas Jefferson and led him to pronounce them to be the "wisest invention ever devised by the wit of men for the perfect exercise of self-government and for its preservation."

Town Government outside of New England. In those Western States which were settled largely by emigrants from New England local government is modeled to some degree on the plan of the New England town. This is especially true of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. In Michigan the voters of the townships, after electing the local officers, assemble in town-meeting and after voting the taxes for township purposes make regulations concerning such matters as the licensing of dogs, the vaccination of children, the purchase of books for the library. In certain parts of Illinois also the voters hold a town-meeting after the election of officers has been held.

The town-meetings of the Western States may resemble the New England town-meeting in form, but they lack the spirit of the original type. It is doubtful whether an institution like the New England town can be successfully transplanted. Certainly the efforts that have been made to establish local governments in the West after the New England pattern have not been attended with marked success. Local government in the West has been strongly influenced by New England ideas, but town government in its pure form has never flourished outside of New England.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. What circumstances led the Puritan settlers to choose a form of local government different from that chosen by the Virginians?

2. Describe the early New England town.

3. Illustrate how the affairs of church and state were blended in the early days of New England history.

4. Describe a New England town-meeting.

5. What are the powers of a New England town?

6. Name the officers of the New England town and state their duties.

7. What influence does town government have upon civic life in New England?

8. To what extent has town government of the New England type been adopted in other States?

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

(FOR STUDENTS IN NEW ENGLAND)

1. Examine the constitution of your State for provisions respecting the government of towns and state these provisions.

2. Of the services of local government mentioned on page 72, which are performed by your town government?

3. Bound the town in which you live and tell when it was organized. Name all the towns in the county in which you live. Have these names historical interest? Name the boroughs or cities, if any, located within the borders of your town.

4. Make out a list of the officers of your town. plays a most important part in town government?

Which one of these (Elect a committee to wait upon some town officer and invite him to give the class a talk upon town government.)

5. How may a special town meeting be called?

6. What influences are at work to make town government a less important feature of New England life than it has been in the past?

7. How many representatives has your town in the legislature? Has this apportionment been made according to the population of the town?

8. Is the town meeting a legislative or an executive body?

9. Are women and children represented in town government? 10. In what matters does the government of your town excel? In what respect is your town excelled by its neighbors?

11. How many towns in this State? What is the population of the largest town? of the smallest town? Is the largest too large for a pure democracy? Is the smallest too small for self-government?

Topics for Special Work.-New England Towns: 18, 141-146. The Town Meeting: 18, 147-163.

XXVIII

THE TOWNSHIP

The County-township System. We have learned that in the Middle States and in most of the States in the West the county shares the business of local government with a minor civil division known as the township.1 The presence of townships in the county results in a compromise system of local government often called the county-township system. Under this system the county government attends to those affairs which interest the whole body of the people of the county, while the township administers the affairs of a small area. The township, like the New England town, provides a government for a neighborhood.

The Two Types of the County-township System. Countytownship government has had two sources, and has developed into two distinct types-the New York type and the Pennsylvania type. In New York, as in New England, small self-governing communities known as towns (townships) appeared at a very early date in the history of the colony. These towns had their town-meetings and elected a full set of officers, but their powers were at no time so great as those of the New England town. In 1703 the colonial assembly of New York passed a law that has had far-reaching influence upon local government in the United States. This law provided for the annual election by each township of an officer to be known as the supervisor of 1In Delaware, townships are called hundreds, a name that has come down from the Anglo-Saxon period of English history.