government is the same. In the first place, there is always the law-making body, prescribing the regulations to which men must subject themselves if they are to live together in harmony. Again, because laws do not enforce themselves, officers are selected to see that these provisions are carried out. Finally, since men frequently disagree as to the meaning of laws, and because there are always those who wilfully violate them in order to secure some personal advantage, courts are established in which the laws are interpreted and offenders are judged. We have, then, the three departments of government-legislative, executive, and judicial.

The system of local government to which you are accustomed did not grow up spontaneously, nor was it established arbitrarily. There are reasons to be found in history and in the nature of the environment which explain many of its details. The same may be said of our State and National systems. In consequence, we shall find it advantageous to trace briefly some historical origins of government in our country. Again, it is evident that no system of human government is perfect. In every community the defects of laws and their nonenforcement are familiar topics of discussion, while the failures of State and National governments at certain points are no less conspicuous. These are the problems to which our attention will be directed in the course of our study.

For the most part, however, it will be our task to study government as it now exists in town and city, State and Nation. We shall look backward into history only when this is necessary for the understanding of

our present forms and practices. We shall look forward to the solution of a few of the simpler problems that now confront us. A study of the deeper origins and of the more profound problems must be postponed to the years of advanced work in college.

PART I

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER I

TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT

WHEN, in the seventeenth century, Englishmen made settlements along the Atlantic coast, some form of local government became an immediate necessity. They adopted consequently the political usages to which they had been accustomed at home, selecting those offices and forms of procedure that seemed best adapted to their needs and surroundings. Because natural conditions and the ideas of the settlers varied considerably in the different colonies, we find several varieties of local government growing up. But since these local governments were all established by Englishmen, and, moreover, by Englishmen of very similar habits and social grades, we find, on the whole, great similarity in their fundamental features.

The most marked differences are seen in a comparison of local governments in New England and in Virginia. The settlers of New England found themselves upon a coast indented by many bays and harbors; the country was hilly and the soil stony; streams were abundant but generally small, rapid, and unfit for navigation; the sea abounded in fish and the forests yielded excellent timber. These physical conditions hindered the

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The town type.

rapid spread of population over large areas and offered many inducements for the gathering of the inhabitants into towns. Moreover, this tendency was in accord with the wishes of the Puritans. They desired, above everything, to foster the religious life of the little church communities into which they grouped themselves. They believed that all settlers should take an active part in worship and in the government of the church, and that consequently all should live within a short distance of the meeting-house.

Under these circumstances the New Englanders put into practice those features of the ancient English township government that were best suited for governing their little towns. Once a year, or oftener, the voters assembled in town meeting to elect officers and to engage in general discussion of town affairs. Here taxes were levied, and the support of the poor, the maintenance of highways, church, and school were provided for. The officers of the town were the selectmen, a board having general oversight of town affairs, the treasurer, clerk, constables, school committee, assessors, fence - viewers, and frequently many others. The remarkable features of New England town government were the freedom with which all matters of public interest were discussed in the town meeting, and the care with which all affairs of government were guarded by officers and people alike. Early in the history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony towns were grouped into counties, and justices were appointed who held court in the towns of each county. Scarcely any but judicial matters were intrusted to the county government. The centre of political life in New England was the town, hence we have here the town or township type of local government.

A very different type of local government was de