The value of having a plan.

Is your community more like that represented by the chart on page 402, or by that on page 403?

The extent to which voluntary organizations in your community co operate with and through the local government.

The extent to which your state agricultural college promotes community organization.

The feasibility of organizing your town (or community) by some such plan as that outlined on page 402.

The value of a community “forum” as a means to good government.

Why the official town meeting should (or should not) be encouraged in your state.

Procure and examine recently published official reports of your township government.  What do these reports tell you?  What is the value of such reports?  Are the reports of your township generally read by the people of the township?  Why?  Discuss ways in which your township reports could be made more useful.

THE COUNTY

The other unit of local government with which the colonists were familiar was the county, which in England embraced a number of townships.  In the colonies of New York and Pennsylvania the county and the town ship were developed together as in England; in the southern colonies the county was organized without the township.  Today the county exists in every state of the Union, including the New England states.  In Louisiana it is called the parish.

TYPES OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT

There are two main types of county government.  According to one plan, as in New York, each township elects a representative to a county board of supervisors, which is sometimes quite large.  According to the other plan, as in Pennsylvania, the people of the county as a whole elect a small board of commissioners, the townships not being represented as such even when they exist.  The board of supervisors or commissioners levies taxes and makes appropriations for various county purposes, such as constructing and maintaining roads, bridges, and county buildings, paying the salaries of county officers, caring for the county poor, and conducting the county schools.  It is sometimes spoken of as the county legislative body, but it is rather an administrative body, its lawmaking powers being very slight.

COUNTY OFFICERS

Among the important county officers are the sheriff, who is chief guardian of the peace in the county, has charge of the jail, is the chief executive officer of the county court (see p. 439), and sometimes acts as tax collector; the county prosecutor (also called the prosecuting attorney, the district attorney, or the state’s attorney), who prosecutes all criminal cases in the county and represents the public authorities in civil suits; the county clerk, who keeps the county records; the register of deeds, who records all transfers of property; the coroner, who investigates the cause of violent and mysterious deaths; the tax assessor; the treasurer; the auditor, who examines the accounts of county officers; the surveyor; the school superintendent; the health officer.  Some times there are others.