638. TOWN GOVERNMENT.—The government of the New England town is vested in a town meeting, which consists of an annual session of the voters of the town. At this meeting the voters enact laws governing such local matters as town finance, schools, police, and highways. A second important function of the town meeting is to choose the town officers, including the selectmen, [Footnote: In Rhode Island the selectmen are known as the council.] the town clerk, treasurer, constable, and others. The chief executive officers are the selectmen, varying in number from three to nine, and generally chosen for the term of one year. The selectmen have general charge of town affairs, and act under authority conferred by statute or by the town meeting. The town clerk keeps the records, the treasurer has charge of the funds of the town and sometimes audits accounts, while the constable keeps the peace of the town, serves writs, and collects local taxes. In addition there are a number of minor officials, such as tax assessors, pound-keepers, guardians of the poor, highway officials, and library trustees.
B. THE COUNTY TYPE
639. WHY COUNTY GOVERNMENT DEVELOPED IN THE SOUTH.—The system of county government became as firmly intrenched in the Southern colonies as did the concept of the town in early New England. Four factors operated to discourage town government, and to encourage county government, in the South. First, the Southern colonists did not come in small family groups, as did the New Englanders, but rather as individuals and from different classes of society. Second, the Indians of the South were either weak or peaceful, so that fear of Indian attack did not oblige the colonists to congregate in small, compact communities. Third, the climate and soil of the South encouraged a plantation system which resulted in a sparse rather than in a compact population. Fourth, the aristocratic type of society developing from the plantation and slave system prevented the rise of the democratic town meeting.
640. GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUTHERN COUNTY.—Though county government is also found in the Southwest and Far West, it is seen in its purest form in the South. Here the county was originally a judicial district, or sometimes also a financial district to facilitate the collection of taxes. The functions of the county have gradually increased until such local affairs as schools, jails, poorhouses, and the maintenance of roads and bridges are concerns of the Southern county. The chief administrative authority in the county is either the county court, or a small board of commissioners. In either case the administrative authority is chosen by popular vote. In addition there are a number of minor officers such as the treasurer, tax assessor, and recorder, all of them chosen by popular vote for terms varying from one to four years.
641. GOVERNMENT OF THE FAR WESTERN COUNTY.—In the Far West, likewise, the most important unit of rural local government is the county. The county is governed by a board, usually consisting of three commissioners. In general the officers of the Far Western county resemble those in the central states. (See Section 644.)
C. THE MIXED TYPE [Footnote: Sometimes called the township-county system.]
642. ORIGIN OF THE MIXED TYPE.—The mixed type of rural local government is a hybrid, the result of the incomplete fusion of the town type with the county type. The northern parts of the Central states were settled largely by immigrants from New England, while the southern portions of the Middle West were settled by pioneers from Pennsylvania and the states south of the Ohio River. The New England immigrants were used to town government, and endeavored to perpetuate it in their new home; the settlers from the South preferred the county form of government, and sought its adoption in their new homes. The result was a compromise, some functions of rural local government being assigned to the county and some to the township.
643. THE TWO SUB-TYPES.—In the fusion of the town and county types of government the county system tended to predominate over the town or township form of government when settlers from the South were in the majority. In the northern section of the country, on the other hand, the compromise form tended to include a majority of the features of the town type. The result was the formulation of two sub-types.
The first of these may be called the Pennsylvania sub-type, so named because it originated in Pennsylvania, and then spread, with modifications, to Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and other states. In these states the town or township authority is subordinated to the county government. There is no town meeting.
The New York sub-type exists in typical form in New York, but is also found in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and other states. The town meeting is found in these states, and in five of them the townships are represented on the county board.