Government in the United States, National, State and Local

PREFACE

My aim in the preparation of this book has been to present in an elementary way the leading facts concerning the organization and activities of national, state, and local government in the United States. I have given rather greater emphasis than is customarily done in textbooks of this character to what may be called the dynamics of government, that is, its actual workings, as contradistinguished from organization. Likewise, I have laid especial stress upon the activities and methods of political parties, party conventions, primaries, the conduct of political campaigns, the regulation of campaign methods, and the like. The increasing importance of citizenship has led me to devote a chapter to that subject. To encourage wider reading among students, I have added to each chapter a brief list of references to books which should be in every high school library. The great value of illustrative material as a means of acquainting students with the spirit and actual methods of government is now recognized. For the convenience of teachers, I have therefore added at the end of each chapter a list of documentary and other illustrative material, most of which can be procured without cost and all of which may be used to advantage in supplementing the descriptive matter in the textbook. To stimulate the spirit of research and to encourage independent thinking among students, I have also added at the end of each chapter a list of search questions bearing upon the various subjects treated in the chapter.

I am under obligations to a number of teachers for reading the proof sheets of this book and for giving me the benefit of their advice. Among those to whom I am especially indebted are Mr. Clarence O. Gardner, formerly assistant in political science in the University of Illinois, Mr. W. A. Beyer, of the Illinois State Normal University, Mr. C. H. Elliott, of the Southern Illinois State Normal University, Mr. E. T. Austin, of the Sterling Township (Ill.) High School, and Mr. William Wallis, Principal of the Bloomington (Ill.) High School.

Urbana, Illinois.

CHAPTER I

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: TOWNS, TOWNSHIPS, AND COUNTIES

Kinds of Local Government.– Most of us live under at least four different governmental organizations: the government of the United States, the government of a state, the government of a county, and the government of a minor division, usually called a town or township. In addition to (or sometimes instead of) the county or township government, many of us live under a special form of government provided for urban communities, – cities, villages, or boroughs, – where the population is comparatively dense and where, therefore, the somewhat simple form of government provided for rural communities is insufficient. If the people of the smaller communities are allowed to choose their own public officials and, within certain limits, to determine their own policies in public matters of a local character, they have a system of local self-government. If, on the contrary, they are governed by some distant central authority which determines their local policies and by which their local officials are appointed, they live under a system of centralized government.

Merits of Local Self-Government.– In the United States, the privilege of local self-government is regarded as one of the chief merits of our political system, and it is often declared to be one of the inalienable rights of the people. One great advantage of local self-government is that it brings government near the door of every citizen, and permits the people of each locality, who are most familiar with their own local conditions and who know best what are their local needs, to regulate their own affairs as they see fit. Also, such a system is well calculated to secure responsibility. So long as the local authorities are chosen by the community from its own inhabitants and are constantly under the eyes of the people, to whom they are responsible, they can be more effectively controlled by local public opinion than is possible where they are chosen by authorities distantly removed. Another important advantage of local self-government is that it serves as a training school for the political education of the citizens. Allow them the privilege of choosing their own local officials and of regulating their own local concerns, and their interest in public affairs will be stimulated and their political intelligence increased and broadened. This not only will tend to secure more responsible government (local, state, and national), but will produce a more active type of citizenship.

Importance of Local Government.– With the growth and congestion of population in centers, and the increasing complexity of our industrial and social life, the importance of local self-government has enormously increased. The local governments touch us at many more points to-day than does either the state or the national government; they regulate a far larger proportion of the concerns of our everyday life; and hence we feel the effects of corrupt or inefficient local government more keenly than we feel the effects of inefficient state or national government. We depend largely upon our local governments for the maintenance of the peace, order, and security of the community; for the protection of the public health; for the support of our schools; for the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges; for the care of the poor; and if we live in a city, for protection against fire, for our water supply, usually, and for many other services essential to our comfort and happiness. Finally, the larger proportion of the taxes we pay goes toward the support of local government – a fact which makes it very important that our local governments should be efficiently, honestly, and economically conducted.

Types of Local Government.– The form of local government existing in each state is such as the state itself provides, the national government having no authority whatever over the matter. Such differences as exist are more largely the result of historical conditions growing out of the early settlement of the states, than of any pronounced differences of opinion among the people in regard to forms of government. Since colonial times there have been three general types of local rural government in America: the town system, in New England; the county system, which originated in Virginia and spread to other colonies and states; and the county-township type– a combination of the first two forms – which developed in the middle colonies of New York and Pennsylvania and was carried to many Western states by settlers from the middle states, and is now the most common form to be found.

Town and County in New England.– The characteristic feature of the town system of government is that the management of local affairs devolves mainly upon the town (or township, as it is usually called outside of New England), while the county is little more than an administrative district for judicial and election purposes. In some of the New England states, where the town system originated and where it exists in its purest form, the county is almost ignored as an area for local government. In Rhode Island it performs practically no duties of local government and is merely a judicial district; there no county officers are to be found except the sheriff and clerks of the courts. In the other New England states the county plays a more important part than it does in Rhode Island, but in none of them does it share with the towns in anything like an equal measure the burden of local government.

The New England Town.– The towns of New England are the oldest political communities in America, some of them being older in fact than the counties and states of which they are a part. Generally they vary from twenty to forty square miles in area, and are irregular in shape, being in this respect unlike the townships of many Western states, which were laid out in squares, each with an area of thirty-six square miles. In population they vary from a few hundred persons to more than 130,000 as is the case with New Haven, which, though an incorporated city, maintains a separate town organization.

Powers of Town Government.– The functions performed by the town governments are varied and numerous. The most important, however, are the support and management of public schools, the laying out and maintenance of roads, the construction of bridges, the care of the poor, and in the more populous towns, fire protection, health protection, the maintenance of police, lighting, paving of streets, establishment of parks, public libraries, etc. The towns also have power to enact ordinances of a police character, relating to such matters as bicycle riding on sidewalks, the running of animals at large, etc.

In addition to the management of the purely local affairs of the community, the town acts as the agent of the state government for carrying out certain state laws and policies. Thus it assesses and collects the state taxes, keeps records of vital statistics, enforces the health laws of the state, and acts for the state in various other matters. Finally, except in Massachusetts, the town is a district for choosing members of at least one branch of the legislature, and everywhere in New England it is a district for state and national elections.1

The Town Meeting.– The central fact in the system of town government in New England is the town meeting, or assembly of the qualified voters of the town. The annual meeting is usually held in the early Spring (except in Connecticut, where it is generally held in October) and special meetings are called from time to time as necessity may require. All persons qualified as voters under the state laws are entitled to attend and take part in the proceedings of the meeting. Formerly non-attendance was punishable by a fine, but that is no longer resorted to; it being supposed that each voter's interest will be sufficient inducement to secure his presence. The attendance is larger in the towns of New England than in the states of the West where the town meeting exists, and it is larger in urban towns than in those of a rural character. Formal notice must be given of the time and place of the meeting, and this is done by a warrant issued by the selectmen, which specifies also the matters of business to be considered. This notice must be posted in conspicuous places a certain number of days before the meeting. No other matters than those mentioned in the warrant can be introduced or considered. The meetings are usually held in the town hall, though in the early history of New England they were frequently held in the church, which was thus a "meeting house" for civil as well as for church purposes.

The meeting is called to order by the town clerk, who reads the warrant, after which an organization is effected by the election of a presiding officer called a moderator, and business then proceeds in accordance with the customary rules of parliamentary law. The next order of business is the election of the town officers for the ensuing year. This done, appropriations are made for the payment of the public expenses of the town, and the other measures necessary for the government of the town are then discussed and adopted. The most interesting fact about the New England town meeting is the lively discussion which characterizes its proceedings. Any voter may introduce resolutions and express his opinion on any proposition before the assembly. One great advantage of this system of local government is its educative effect upon the citizens. It affords a means of keeping alive interest in public affairs and thus tends to develop a more intelligent citizenship. Important measures may be carefully discussed and criticized before the final vote is taken, and it is difficult to "railroad" or smuggle an objectionable measure through, as is sometimes done in the legislatures and city councils. Everything the officials and committees of the town have done is subject to be criticized, everything they are to do is subject to be regulated by the meeting. The final action of the meeting, therefore, is pretty apt to represent the real wishes of the people.

Conditions Unfavorable to Government by Town Meeting.– Various causes, however, are at work in some parts of New England to weaken the system of government by town meeting and to render it less suited to the modern conditions under which it must be operated. The growth of manufacturing industries in many of the towns has introduced a conflict of interests between factory owners and operators on the one hand, and farmers on the other. The result is occasional squabbles and controversies which are not favorable to government by mass meeting. The influx of foreigners who are unaccustomed to local self-government and who are therefore unfamiliar with the duties of citizens in self-governing communities has in recent years also introduced an unfavorable element. Finally, the caucus has gained a foothold in many towns so that the election of officers and the determination of important policies are often controlled by a small group of persons who get together prior to the town meeting and prepare a "slate" which is put through without adequate discussion. It is also to be noted that with the growth of population, many of the towns have become too populous to be governed effectively by mass meeting. Frequently the town hall is too small to accommodate all the voters who attend, and satisfactory debate under such conditions is impossible. Often when a town reaches this size it organizes itself into a municipal corporation, and a city council takes the place of the popular assembly, but there are many places of considerable size which still retain the town organization.

Town Officers.—Selectmen.– From the beginning of town government it was necessary to choose agents to look after the affairs of the community during the interval between town meetings. These persons were called selectmen, and they have retained the name until the present day.

Every town now has a body of selectmen chosen at the annual meeting, usually for one year (in Massachusetts for three years) to act as a general managing board for the community. The number for each town varies from three to nine according to the size of the town, three being the most usual number. Reëlections are frequent; one selectman in Brookline, Massachusetts, served nearly forty years. Their duties vary in the different towns. Generally they issue warrants for holding town meetings, lay out roads, impanel jurors, grant licenses, abate nuisances, arrange for elections, control the town property, hear complaints, sometimes assess taxes (especially in the small towns), and may appoint police officials, boards of health, overseers of the poor, and other local officers if they are not chosen by the voters assembled in the town meeting.

The Town Clerk.– Besides the selectmen, there are various other officers of the town, the number varying according to its size and importance. One of the most important of these is the clerk, who performs some duties discharged by the county clerk in states outside of New England. The town clerk is elected at the annual town meeting, and is frequently reëlected from year to year. His principal duties are to keep the records of the town meetings, and of the meetings of the selectmen, issue marriage licenses, and keep registers of births, marriages, and deaths.

Assessors and Treasurer.– In the large towns there are assessors of taxes, who prepare tax lists; in the smaller ones, as stated above, the selectmen act as assessors. In all of the towns there is a town treasurer who receives and takes care of all taxes collected from the citizens, turning over to the proper officers the portion which goes to the state and to the county. He also keeps an account of all receipts and disbursements and makes an annual report to the town meeting.

Overseers of the Poor.– To care for the pauper and dependent class there are usually one or more overseers of the poor elected by the town meeting, though in the smaller towns the selectmen perform this duty. Their principal function is to determine who shall receive public aid.

Constables.– In every town one or more constables are elected. Formerly this office, like that of sheriff, was one of dignity and influence, but it has lost much of its early importance. As the sheriff is the peace officer of the county, the constables are the peace officers of the town. They pursue and arrest criminals and execute warrants issued by the selectmen and by the justices of the peace. In addition they sometimes summon jurors and act as collectors of the taxes.

School Committee.– Generally there is also a school committee elected at the town meeting. It is charged with establishing and visiting schools, selecting teachers, prescribing the courses of instruction, and appointing truant officers.

Other Town Officials are justices of the peace; road surveyors or similar officers with other titles, charged with keeping public roads and bridges in repair; field drivers and poundkeepers, who take up and keep stray animals until claimed by their owners; fence viewers, who settle disputes among farmers in regard to partition fences and walls; sealers of weights and measures, who test the accuracy of scales and measures; surveyors of lumber; keepers of almshouses; park commissioners; fish wardens; inspectors of various kinds; and a host of other minor officials, some of whom bear queer titles, and many of whom serve without pay or receive only trifling fees for their services. In some of the small towns, officials are so numerous as to constitute a goodly proportion of the population. The town of Middlefield (Mass.), for example, with only eighty-two voters recently had a total of eighteen officials.2

Town Government in the West.– Town government is not confined to New England; it has been carried to many Western states where immigrants from New England have settled, though in none of them does it possess the vitality or play the important part in the management of public affairs that it does in the older communities where it originated. In the states of the South and the far West, there is no general system of town government. Counties, however, are usually divided into districts for a few unimportant purposes.

The County.– The county3 is a civil division created by the state partly for purposes of state administration and partly for local government. New York city embraces within its boundaries five counties; other cities, like Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Cincinnati, contain within their limits the larger part of the population of the counties in which they are situated. The population of a large majority of the counties, however, is predominantly rural rather than urban in character, and where there is a large city within a county, most of the affairs of that portion of the county lying within the city limits are managed by the city government.

Population and Area.– The population of the counties, and their areas, vary widely. Several counties in Texas in 1910 had less than 400 inhabitants each, New York county, on the other hand, had more than 2,750,000. The most populous counties are in the Eastern states, and the least populous in the South and West. There are now about 3,000 counties in all the states, the number in each state ranging from three in Delaware and five in Rhode Island to 244 in Texas. In proportion to population Massachusetts has a smaller number (fourteen) than any other state in the Union. In many states the minimum size of counties is fixed by the constitution. The minimum limit where it is fixed by the constitution is usually 400 square miles, though in some states it is 600 or 700 and in Texas it is 900 square miles. Where no such restrictions have been prescribed, however, as in some of the old states, the area is sometimes very small. In Rhode Island, for example, there is one county with an area of only 25 square miles. New York has one county (New York) with an area of 21 square miles, and another (St. Lawrence) with an area of 2,880 square miles. On the other hand, Choteau county in Montana has an area of over 16,000 square miles, being considerably larger than the combined area of several of the smaller states.

To prevent the legislature from creating new counties or altering the boundaries of existing counties against the wishes of the inhabitants, and to secure to the people home rule in such matters, the constitutions of a number of states provide that new counties may be formed, or the area of existing counties altered, only with the consent of the inhabitants concerned, given by a direct popular vote on the question.

Functions of the County.– The county is a judicial and elective district, and the jails and courthouses and sometimes the almshouses are county rather than town institutions. Outside of New England the county is also often the unit of representation in the legislature; and it acts as an agent of the state in collecting taxes and executing many laws.

County Officers.—The County Board.– The principal county authority is usually a board of commissioners or supervisors (in Louisiana it is called the police jury), elected by the voters either from the county at large or from districts into which the county is divided. In most states it is a small board, usually three or five members; in some it is larger, being composed of one member from each township in the county. In a few Southern states (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas), the county court of justices of the peace still acts as the county board, as in Colonial days.

This board is both a legislative and an administrative body for the county, for the executive and legislative functions in local government are not always kept so separate and distinct as they are in the state and national governments. It levies taxes, appropriates money for meeting the public expenses, has general control of county finances, has charge of county buildings and other property, settles claims against the county, approves bonds of county officials, and in many states it establishes roads, lets contracts for the erection of bridges and other public works and for repairing them, licenses ferries and sometimes inns, saloons, peddlers, etc., cares for the poor and dependent classes, and performs numerous other services which vary in extent and character in the different states.

The Sheriff.– The most important executive officer of the county is the sheriff. This office is a very ancient one, though it has lost much of its former dignity and importance. The sheriff is elected by the people of the county, in all of the states except Rhode Island (where he is chosen by the state legislature), for a term ranging from one to four years, the most usual term being two years. The sheriff is usually assisted by a number of deputies, who are either regularly employed by him or especially summoned in case of emergencies. He is the general conservator of the peace of the county and is charged with attending the court as its executive officer and with carrying out its orders, whether it be to sell property for nonpayment of taxes, to seize and sell property in execution of a judgment, or to hang a convicted criminal. He has the power, and it is his duty, to arrest offenders and commit them to the jail, of which he is usually the custodian, and to this end he may summon to his aid the posse comitatus, which consists of the able-bodied male citizens of the county. In case of serious disturbance and riot he may call on the governor for the aid of the militia. He must exercise reasonable care for the safe-keeping of prisoners in his custody, and in some states he may be removed from office by the governor for negligence in protecting them against mob violence. In some of the Southern states he is ex officio tax collector and in some he is also ex officio public administrator. Other duties of a special nature are imposed upon sheriffs in different states.