Local government in the colonies.

The Beginnings of Local Government in the United States.—Local government is the oldest branch of government; both the state and the national government have grown out of it. When colonists first came from England to Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay they settled on small farms and built their houses within short distances of one another. In Virginia, on the other hand, the colonists took up large plantations for the growing of tobacco and cotton; their homes were spread over a wide area. Because of the difference in the manner of settlement the New England colonists organized themselves into towns (or townships) while the Southern colonists created larger units of local government known as counties. From the Atlantic seaboard these two types of local administration—township and county government—have spread out over the rest of the country. In the course of this spread they have been considerably altered from their original forms.

County Government

Nature of the county.

The County.—Every state in the Union is now divided into counties.[[59]] The division is made by the state legislature, but when county boundaries are once fixed they are seldom changed thereafter. In the older states the counties are often small; in the newer states they sometimes cover several hundred square miles.[[60]] Counties, like cities, are public corporations, that is to say they have the right to own property, to raise taxes, to borrow money, and to make contracts. They may sue and be sued in the courts. But counties have no inalienable rights of their own. All their powers are derived from the state. They are merely political divisions of the state, created for the more convenient administration of local affairs. In a few states the people of each county are permitted to select and establish such form of county government as they may choose, but as a rule the state legislature prescribes a uniform type of county government for all the counties within the state.

The County Officers.—The chief governmental authority of the county is the county board, the members of which are usually known as commissioners or supervisors. These members are either directly elected by the voters of the county or sent as representatives from the townships. County boards may have only three members or as many as fifteen—each state has its own regulations on this point. The board has its headquarters at the county seat, where the county courthouse is located.

County functions.

The functions of the county board may be summarized under six heads. 1. Financial. Most county boards have the right to levy county taxes and to make appropriations for expenditure. They have authority from the state legislature to borrow money on the county’s credit. This borrowing power is exercised in order to construct county roads, build bridges, or provide county buildings. 2. Highways and bridges. In many states all the main highways are designated as state or county roads. The towns and townships are responsible for the construction of minor highways only. The state roads are built by state highway commissions or some such body; the county roads are constructed and maintained by the county board. In some states these county roads are numerous; in others they are very few. Main bridges, which connect two cities, towns, or townships, are also built and maintained by the county board. 3. Public buildings. Every county requires certain public buildings, including a courthouse, a county jail, a registry of deeds, a county poorhouse, and sometimes a county hospital. These buildings are erected and managed by the county board. 4. Poor-relief and correction. The function of providing public poor-relief is to some extent performed by the state and municipal authorities but a good deal of the responsibility still rests upon the county boards. 5. Elections. In most states of the West and South the county board has charge of the local arrangements for state and national elections. It designates the polling places, appoints the election officers, and provides the ballots. The county, in most of the states, serves as the unit for the selection of senators and assemblymen in the state legislature. 6. Miscellaneous. Finally, the county boards have sundry other functions. Occasionally they grant charters of incorporation to companies. In some states they construct irrigation works and arrange for the abolition of grade crossings on railroads. They often help in the selection of jurors and have authority to grant certain licenses.

The faults of county government.

Have County Boards been Satisfactory?—The work of the county boards has not received much public attention in most of the states until the last few years. The county has been called “the jungle of American politics” because the masses of the people know so little about what is going on in the offices of the county authorities. On the whole county government has not been conspicuously bad, but it has been far from what it ought to be. American counties, as a rule, have been more honestly and more economically governed than American cities. The fundamental objection to the existing system of county government is that it places in the hands of an elective body, the members of which are usually chosen for purely political reasons, the performance of many difficult executive functions. The management of finances, construction of roads, bridges, and public buildings, the proper treatment of the poor, the sick, and the insane are all tasks which require ability, skill, and experience. Elective county supervisors cannot reasonably be expected to perform them well, and this is especially the case when the nominations and elections are dominated by professional politicians.