Community Civics and Rural Life Part 59

Such faulty business methods are gradually being corrected by the introduction of the short ballot, as in California and elsewhere, by businesslike methods of keeping accounts, by the appointment of county and state auditors, and by giving full publicity to reports of county business.

THE FAULT WITH THE CITIZEN

"But after all," says the county official quoted above, "a great part of the shortcomings of county officials and a great deal of the looseness which prevails in the management of county affairs can be charged to the citizen people themselves." Another student of the situation says,

Among the country people themselves there is no demand for better local government or almost none; they are satisfied or content themselves with grumbling about taxes and in fierce partisan politics. ... The country people of America lack an adequate sense of civic and social responsibility, and the deficiency is rising into critical, national importance. [Footnote 2: E.C. Branson, Report of subcommittee on local government, National Country Life Conference, Baltimore Proceedings, 1919, pp. 68, 69.]

Another says,

The first thing to be reformed in county government is not the officers down at the courthouse, but our own att.i.tude toward the county, and particularly toward public office. For, after all, public officers in this country are just what the people make them ...

[Footnote 3: H.S. Gilbertson, Forms of County Government, in the University of North Carolina Record, No. 159, October, 1918, p. 38.]

There are those who advocate breaking up the county into smaller units for purposes of local self-government, as in New England.

Thomas Jefferson, living in Virginia where the county was the sole unit of local government, was a great admirer of the New England town meeting, and said that "public education and the subdivision of the counties into wards," or towns.h.i.+ps, were the "two hooks"

upon which republican government must hang. On the other hand, we have observed an opposite tendency to concentrate the administration of schools, roads, health, and other matters, in the county government (see pp. 294,325). The fact is that both the organization for centralized, county-wide government, and that for the government of local communities within the county, have their uses. Neither can do its best work without the other. The problem is to deter mine what the business of each should be and to establish a proper balance between them. One thing is sure, namely, that the government of the county cannot be effective unless the people of the various communities within the county are organized to cooperate both for their local interests and for the interests of the county as a whole. This may be provided for in part through towns.h.i.+p governments, where they exist, and in part through such unofficial organization as that described for the New England town (p. 402), or as that furnished by the farm bureau with its local community committees (p. 30).

One of the most progressive states in the matter of county government is North Carolina. One of the chief instruments by which this progress has been made is the NORTH CAROLINA CLUB, organized by the University of North Carolina for the study and promotion of the interests of the state. The North Carolina Club has affiliated with it COUNTY CLUBS, each of which studies its own county and promotes its interests. In North Carolina they are working in both directions suggested above: in the direction of an effective central county government, and in the direction of organization of all local communities for the study of needs and for teamwork in providing for them. See references.

THE COUNTY AS A SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE

Another important factor in county government is the control exercised over it by the state. The county is not only a local self-governing unit, but it is also a division of the state for the administration of state laws. Its powers of self-government are given to it by the state, and along with these powers it has imposed upon it certain duties for the state. First of all, the county is a STATE JUDICIAL DISTRICT. The most important building at the county seat is the courthouse. The COUNTY COURT is one of the state courts described in the next chapter. The county judge is sometimes chosen by the people of the county, but he is really a state officer. In New England the county is almost solely a judicial district, and in all states its judicial purposes are of supreme importance.

But more than this, the county schools are a part of the state school system and must be administered in accordance with state laws, though by county and towns.h.i.+p officers. County officers must enforce the health laws of the state. County authorities not only levy and collect county taxes, but also collect state taxes from residents of the county.

THE NECESSITY FOR STATE CONTROL

Here again we have an ill.u.s.tration of the necessity for a careful balance between matters properly subject to local self-government and those properly subject to state control. Counties have suffered both from too much state control in some respects, and from too little in others.

The whole state is injured ... if one towns.h.i.+p lets its citizens.h.i.+p deteriorate through ignorance or drunkenness, and so the state has a right to say that at least six months school term must be given in every towns.h.i.+p and that no whiskey-selling shall be permitted. Or if one towns.h.i.+p is infested with cattle ticks, other towns.h.i.+ps are injured, and so the state may set a minimum standard here ...

It often happens that the citizens of one county pay more than their share of the state taxes because it has better methods of a.s.sessing and collecting taxes and of keeping accounts than other counties in the state. One of the greatest needs of counties, and one least provided for, is uniformity among the counties of a state in methods of keeping accounts (see example on page 410).

Some states have established state systems of auditing county finances.

"HOME RULE" FOR COUNTIES

On the other hand, state governments often interfere in matters that might better be left to local determination. Usually all the counties of a state have exactly the same form of government, with exactly the same officers who exercise exactly the same duties.

Yet some counties within a state are almost wholly rural, some are almost wholly urban, others are mixed in character. A form of government adapted to one may not be suited to another. So there has arisen a demand for a larger degree of "home rule" in counties. In Illinois, counties have had the right to determine for themselves whether the towns.h.i.+p should or should not be given prominence in local government, and whether the "supervisor" or the "commissioner" plan of government should be used. California now has a law which provides that counties may apply for "charters" in the same way that cities do in all states. The "charter," like a const.i.tution, determines the form and powers of the government, and is framed by the people of the county themselves, though it must then have the approval of the state legislature.

THE GROWTH OF URBAN COMMUNITIES

We have noted how the growth of cities with their elaborate organization for service tends to divert attention from the less conspicuous county government. While probably half the counties of the United States contain no city, or "town," or village of 2500 people, there is in almost every towns.h.i.+p at least one compact settlement that has grown up around the trading center. Sometimes there are several of them in a towns.h.i.+p and many in a county. In such compact communities cooperation becomes necessary to provide for needs that are not felt in more rural districts, such as paved streets, sewers, public water supply, fire and police protection, and so on. A separate government becomes necessary. The people of such communities may appeal to the authorities of towns.h.i.+p, county, or state, for incorporation as a village, borough, town, or city. "Village" and "borough" are simply two names used in different localities for the same thing. The difference between them and an incorporated town or city is princ.i.p.ally one of size and corresponding complexity of organization.

GOVERNMENT OF VILLAGES AND INCORPORATED TOWNS

The chief governing body of a village, or borough, or incorporated town, is a small council, or board, elected by the people. It has legislative powers in a small way, enacting ORDINANCES for the regulation of local officers and in the public interest.

In Michigan ... they may prescribe the terms and conditions for licensing taverns, peddlers, and public vehicles. They have control of streets, bridges and public grounds; and have authority to construct bridges and pavements, and to regulate the use and prevent the obstruction of the highways. They may establish and maintain sewers and drains. They may construct and control public wharves, and regulate and license ferries. They may establish and regulate markets. They may provide a police force and a fire department. They may construct or purchase and operate water works and lighting plants. They may own cemeteries, public pounds, public buildings and parks.[Footnote: John A. Fairlie, Local Government in Counties, Towns, and Villages, pp. 207, 208.]

The council also has limited power to levy taxes and to borrow money for public purposes.

There is a chief executive officer, sometimes called MAYOR, sometimes president, or by other names. Subordinate to him are various other officers, such as the police marshal, the street commissioner, fire marshal, tax a.s.sessor, treasurer, clerk, and so on. In larger villages boards of health and other boards and commissions exist to administer various forms of public service.

The village may also have its minor court presided over by a justice of the peace.

CITY GOVERNMENT

When villages or towns reach a certain population usually fixed by state law, they may be incorporated as cities. The change that takes place is simply one of elaborating the governing machinery and giving to it larger powers to correspond with the larger needs of city life. The complex problems of city government we shall not attempt to study in this book.

CHANGES IN URBAN GOVERNMENT FOR BETTER SERVICE AND BETTER CONTROL

Great improvement in the government of towns and cities has been made in recent years. The latest plan of government to be adopted, and it has spread to a considerable number of towns and cities in the United States, is the CITY MANAGER, or TOWN MANAGER, form of government. By this plan the voters elect a small council, or board of directors, who in turn appoint a MANAGER who serves as a superintendent over the affairs of the city or town. He is a trained specialist, often an engineer, and cities and towns sometimes search the country over for the best man available for the place. The manager appoints the heads of the various departments of government, such as health, police, public works, etc., and is responsible to the council for their work. It is the application to town government of methods long used by successful business corporations.

Investigate and report upon:

How the county in Louisiana came to be called a "parish."

Organization and powers of your county board.

A list of your county officers and their duties.

The sentiment in your county with regard to the efficiency of your county government. Is the sentiment justified?

Recognized defects in your county government.

The long (or short) ballot in your county.

Extent to which the people of your county study the reports of your county government (consult at home and with older friends).

What do you find of interest in your county reports?

Are reports of your county published in the newspapers? Do you understand them? Ask your father to explain them to you.

Extent to which your county board exercises control over other county officers.

Extent to which the farmers of your county interest themselves in politics.

Whether or not the experience of the officer quoted on page 410 could be duplicated in your state.

The fee system in your county.

How and why public officers "are just what the people make them."

The meaning of Jefferson's remark that "public education and the subdivision of counties into wards are the two hooks upon which republican government must hang".

The feasibility of a "county club" in your county similar to those in North Carolina.

The balance between county government and towns.h.i.+p government in your county.

State control of your county government--too much, or too little?